[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Canadiens (0-0) – April 5-6, 2067

The season kicked off on Tuesday with a 2-game set against the vile Elks, who the Raccoons had not taken a season series from in five years, and had only won six games against in each of the last two seasons.

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (0-0) vs. Ken Nielsen (0-0)
Nick Walla (0-0) vs. Ray Rath (0-0)

These were all right-handers.

The Raccoons signed lefty reliever Bob West on the morning of the game, but he did not get put in a fitting uniform by game time and was not on the roster for the opener.

Game 1
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – CF Atkins – 1B Whetstine – C Varner – SS D. Moore – LF Chenette – P Nielsen
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Nakayama

Carlos Castro opened the season by drawing a walk, but was caught stealing. However, the Elks still got a first-inning run since Matt Kilday and Chad Whetstine put out singles and Nakayama also walked Rick Atkins in a muddy maiden inning. The Raccoons got going with 2-out singles by Lopez and Monck and then immediately left them on base, so we were right back in the groove. Starr and Novelo then began the bottom 2nd with singles, Starr going to third base on Novelo’s hit to left-center. Mike Roberts then grounded out so that Starr could score, tying the game, and while Nakayama grounded out unhelpfully, Jaden Wilson added an RBI single to center for Portland to take the lead. Corral then struck out to leave him aboard. Early-inning singles galore continued with two more Elks singles in the third inning, but those runners remained on base as well. Nakayama then held the 2-1 lead through five, but then was taken deep to center by Rick Atkins to tie the game.

The Raccoons after a few silent innings were at the corners in the bottom 6th when new arrival Justin Dowsey drew a walk and was singled to third base by Starr with one out, but Novelo ripped an 0-2 pitch right at Matt Kilday for an inning-ending double play and I cursed for the first time in the new season. While I wasn’t expecting greatness, I was desperate to finally win the season series against the dastardly Elks!

Nakayama held up in the seventh, then was retained to bunt Mike Roberts to second base after Roberts had drawn a leadoff walk from Nielsen, who was replaced with Josh Meighan, to begin the bottom 7th. Jaden Wilson’s soft single moved the go-ahead run to third base, but Corral lined out to Kilday, and Lopez went down on strikes to waste that particular chance. The Raccoons then rapidly emptied the pen and filled the bases in the top 8th. McMahan nailed Roberto Lozada, Josh C failed Atkins and Whetstine on base, and when Nick Vaughn pinch-hit from the left side in place of Dan Moore, the Coons went to Evan Alvey with three on and two down. Corral ran down a fly in the gap to end the inning. Alvey put Andy Friend and Carlos Castro – left-handed batters – on base in the ninth inning, but they remained stranded. The game right away went to extras, where Juan Soriano pitched a scoreless inning before boarding a bus to the airport, and the Raccoons frittered away Corral and Lopez reaching base in the bottom 10th in the second inning of Jon McGinley pitching when Monck struck out and Randy Tallent batted for Dowsey, who was weak against left-handers, but grounded out.

Dover was next with a scoreless inning in the 11th. His spot came up after Robbie Lingard gave up soft singles to Starr and Arantes, the latter having pinch-hit for Roberts the previous time through the lineup. With the winning run at second base, Jamie Colter pinch-hit for Dover, but found a double play to extend the game. We went on to waste two innings from Yamauchi, which then left only the Rule 5er Holzmeister in the pen. He struck out the first ABL batter he faced, Tyler Chenette, and had a 1-2-3 14th inning before being pinch-hit for with Marquise Early, the last stick on the bench, while Gabriel Rios, the scheduled #5 starter, was warming up in the pen to go until the bitter end from here. Wilson hit a 2-out single in the bottom 14th against Dallas Samson, got second base on a wild pitch, but Corral grounded out and the game dragged on.

Rios then entered, taking the #2 spot, with Early to left and Tallent to right. Rios began his Coons career with a Kilday fly to center, but then allowed a single to Lozada and walked Atkins before striking out Whetstine and Steve Varner, who by this point was 1-for-7 with a *platinum* sombrero. The Coons did nothing in the bottom 15th, and Rios added another shutout inning, only to be ignored again. He retired the Elks in order in the 17th inning and between half-frames Tony Gaytan walked his way down to the bullpen, just in case, y’know… The bottom 17th began with the #9 spot, which still held Marquise Early, and Marquise Early had seen enough. He cranked a 400-footer to end the ballgame…! 3-2 Blighters! Wilson 4-7, RBI; Lopez 2-6, BB; Starr 3-7; Early 1-2, HR, RBI; Nakayama 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; Yamauchi 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Rios 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Juan Soriano (0-0, 0.00 ERA) ended up on waivers as the Raccoons activated Bob West for the second and final game of the series.

Justin Aguilar also got the start behind the dish in place of Lopez, who caught all 17 innings of the opener.

Game 2
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – CF Atkins – 1B Whetstine – C Varner – SS Barraza – LF Chenette – P Rath
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – C Aguilar – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Walla

Everybody but Yamauchi was readily available for this game, and of course if push came to shove there were yet more starters just sitting around on the bench… Nick Walla was cordially invited to go nine though. He blazed five Elks on strikes in the first three innings, allowing a single to Whetstine, who was doubled up by Varner to clean up. However, Rick Atkins got him for a 2-out solo homer in the fourth inning, which marked the first score in the game, as the Raccoons were on one base hit themselves after three innings. Rich Monck doubled to right leading off the bottom 4th, but was stranded by the 4-5-6 batters, while Varner led off the fifth with a single to left. Roberto Barraza got the runner forced out, but Chenette then drew a walk, Rath bunted the runners over, and Castro drove them in with a clean single through the left side, 3-0. Walla continued to get battered in the sixth, giving up two more runs on hits by Atkins, Whetstine, and Barraza, before being yanked down five, with two outs and a runner on first. Bob West came in right away and struck out Chenette to end the inning.

West got two more outs in the seventh before Kilday and Lozada reached with a 2-out single and walk, respectively. Carrington came in for Atkins, gave up a single to him to load the bases, and then an RBI single to Whetstine before Varner was kind enough to strike out to leave the bases loaded in a 6-0 game. The Coons pieced the last two innings together between Josh C and McMahan, who did not allow additional runs, but neither did the Elks, as Rath and Lingard pitched a combined 5-hitter between them to shut out the Critters. 6-0 Canadiens. Novelo 2-3;

Raccoons (1-1) vs. Knights (1-2) – April 8-10, 2067

The Knights had lost two of three to the Condors to begin the year, scoring just nine runs, which was still dandy compared to the Coons’ three runs in 26 innings… Atlanta had won the season series for the last two years, going 5-4 on Portland in ’66. The Raccoons would play ten straight games without another off day from here, all at home.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Musgrave (0-0) vs. Keith Thompson (0-0)
Tony Gaytan (0-0) vs. Luis Briseno (0-0)
Gabriel Rios (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Adam Lunn (0-1, 10.38 ERA)

Those were also all right-handers lined up for the Knights. The Coons were unlikely to see a southpaw before next Wednesday.

Game 1
ATL: RF V.D. Morales – C Hart – LF J. Acuna – CF J. Evans – 1B Giles – SS J. Munoz – 2B Fumero – 3B R. Cox – P K. Thompson
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Musgrave

Musgrave in his Coons debut did not get a strikeout the first time through against the Knights, and until after Keith Thompson hit a third-inning double off him. He then walked Victor David Morales, then struck out Justin Hart and Javier Acuna to get going. The Raccoons took the lead in the bottom 3rd when Wilson walked and was singled in by Lopez with two outs, but Monck then flew out.

Both teams were on just two base hits in the bottom 5th but the Raccoons had the bases loaded with Roberts (who doubled for that second hit), Corral, and Lopez, who had been walked aboard with two outs for Rich Monck, who was 2-for-13 out of the gates, and struck out to not make it any better. Acuna and Steve Giles singled for Atlanta in the sixth but Wilson tracked down Jorge Munoz’ 2-out fly to end the inning. Dowsey opened the bottom 6th with a single to right, his first Raccoons hit after an 0-for-8 start. Starr popped out, Novelo singled to left, and Roberts popped out. With Musgrave on 89 pitches after six shutout innings, the Raccoons chose violence and batted Colter for him with two outs. He grounded out to Carlos Fumero, and that was that…

The Raccoons then wished for the 7-8-9 batters to be seen by Jason Holzmeister in the seventh inning, which immediately derailed the entire ballgame. Fumero led off with a single, advanced on a wild pitch and stole third base, and scored on a safety squeeze with Thompson poking and reaching first base to add insult to injury. He scored on Justin Hart’s 2-out double to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead. Bottom 7th, Thompson walked Wilson, who then scored on Corral’s double into the rightfield corner, tying the score right back up. Thompson issued a sixth walk to the outing to Lopez, then was yanked in favor of Kody Mello, who got BOMBED by Rich Monck for a 3-run homer to right!!

Up 5-2, the Raccoons went to Alvey for the eighth inning. Alvey put two guys on, then surrendered a run when Dowsey dropped a fly ball for a run-scoring error. At least PH Casey Ramsey, who could have been the Coons’ a thousand times over during the previous 12 months, pinch-hit and popped out in the #9 spot, ending the inning. Former Raccoon Elijah LaBat got the bottom 8th, and three straight singles by Roberts, Early, and Wilson loaded the bases with nobody out. He struck out Corral then and Lopez hit into a double play, ensuring that no runs were tacked on and Jesse Dover got to try his paw on a save for the first time in ’67. He gave up a ninth-inning run on singles by Morales and Jake Evans before finally slamming the damn door shut… 5-4 Raccoons. Roberts 2-4, 2B; Early (PH) 1-1; Musgrave 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

First career W for Jason Holzmeister. Who else on the team didn’t have a win for his career? No pitcher, unfortunately.

Game 2
ATL: RF V.D. Morales – C Hart – LF J. Acuna – CF J. Evans – 1B Giles – SS J. Munoz – 2B Fumero – 3B R. Cox – P K. Thompson
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Arantes – P Gaytan

Tony Gaytan was the #4 starter, but the last guy to touch the baseball in earnest due to Rios’ late-night outing on Opening Day. He faced Knights Opening Day starter Adam Lunn as they delayed Briseno for later use and preferably none at all.

Gaytan ran a few full counts to begin the game, allowing a single to Justin Hart, who was then doubled up on a bouncer to third base by Acuna, 5-4-3. Jake Evans began the second with a double to left, but Gaytan struck out both Steve Giles and Jorge Munoz in more full counts. Evans was left stranded by Fumero, just like Dowsey, who also had a second-inning double. The third was calm, while Justin Hart hit a homer to right off Gaytan in the fourth to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead that was immediately erased on back-to-back doubles by Starr and Novelo in the bottom of the inning, although that go-ahead run was again left in scoring position.

Gaytan ran up seven strikeouts through five innings before Morales’ leadoff double to left and Acuna’s RBI single to right gave the Knights a 2-1 lead in the sixth. Gaytan struck out two more for nine total in seven innings before his pitch count and the fact that his spot led off the bottom 7th ended his day. Colter batted for him and singled, then was forced out by Wilson, who stole second, and reached third base when the Knights’ middle infielders failed to contain Hart’s throw between them and the ball got into centerfield. That allowed Corral to tie the game with a sac fly to Acuna in left, 2-2. Lopez hit another single, but Monck popped out to second to leave him on. Colter remained in Monck’s spot then, with Yamauchi pitching a 1-2-3 eighth from the #4 hole. Dowsey hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, but was immediately doubled up on a 4-6-3 bouncer by Starr. Yamauchi and West held the line in the ninth, and Brad Fales retired Arantes to begin the home half of the ninth, but Colter singled. Tallent ran for him, stole second, and then was left on second base anyway as the top of the order amounted to an intentional walk to Corral and nothing else. Lopez struck out to send the game to extras.

West had a scoreless tenth, but the Raccoons’ Roberts, Dowsey, and Starr failed to reach base against Fales in his second inning in the bottom 10th, and at this point I *did* fear another long game. McMahan handled the 11th before Novelo struck a leadoff double to center to begin the bottom 11th against LaBat. Arantes flew out, but Tallent walked. The runners then embarked on a double steal, which only led to an intentional walk to Wilson to get the force play at home set up for Corral, who was .133 early on. Early batted for him against the southpaw, and got his second walkoff RBI of the season when he laid off the garbage LaBat tried to bait him with. The game ended on a walkoff walk…! 3-2 Blighters. Early (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Lopez 3-4, BB; Dowsey 2-5, 2B; Novelo 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Colter (PH) 2-2; Gaytan 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K;

Marquise Early, walkoff machine! At this point he had earned himself a start on Sunday. That would come against Vince Ellison (1-0, 2.25 ERA).

Game 3
ATL: CF Fumero – C Hart – 1B M. Medina – RF V.D. Morales – LF J. Acuna – 2B J. Munoz – SS C. Ramsey – 3B R. Cox – P Ellison
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – C Lopez – 3B Monck – RF Dowsey – 1B Starr – LF Early – 2B Roberts – P Rios

Rios did not reconnect to his Tuesday success, walking Fumero and drilling Hart hard to begin the game. He allowed a run to score on Morales’ single, and then fumbled a Munoz grounder for an error before finally getting Ramsey out to leave the bases loaded in a dragging first inning. Rios got into more of a groove from the second inning and struck out five through that many innings, while nursing a 3-hitter at that point. However, he still trailed 1-0, which the Coons’ offense, on two singles through five, made seem like a whole bunch.

The sixth was then again tedious for Rios, who walked Miguel Medina – forced out by Morales on a grounder – and Acuna, and then had Dowsey run down a 2-out drive to right by Ramsey to keep the Knights from tacking on runs. Rios got two outs in the seventh before Fumero struck a triple against him and he lost the switch-hitting Hart on balls, after which Josh C replaced him against Medina, but Medina was hit for with the left-handed hitting Steve Giles, who however flew out easily to Early and left the insurance runs on the corners.

Instead, Monck hit a leadoff jack to get even at one in the bottom 7th, after which Carrington resolved to walk the bases full without retiring anybody in the eighth inning. Dover retired the 7-8-9 in order, but allowed the go-ahead run to score on a Ramsey sac fly. Roberts drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 8th and got doubled up, 4-3, when Jose Corral pinch-hit and lodged a screamer right into Munoz’ mitten, with Roberts far off first base and easily doubled up. Top 9th, Alvey got the ball, faced four batters, and retired none of them. Single, single, single, run-scoring wild pitch, and a four-pitch walk to Morales went the Knights against him before he was chased and replaced with Yamauchi, who fanned Acuna and got a 1-6-3 double play bouncer from Munoz to kill the rally, but the gap was now two runs. Novelo and Lopez made quick outs to begin the bottom 9th before Monck legged out an infield single to bring up Dowsey as the tying run against Fales. Dowsey singled narrowly over Munoz, and Monck stopped at second base. Starr was now the winning run, but grounded out to Ramsey to end the game. 3-1 Knights. Monck 3-4, HR, RBI;

The Raccoons had five hits, and Monck had a majority of them.

We had scored just 12 runs in six games’ worth of innings in this first week…

Raccoons (3-2) vs. Aces (5-2) – April 11-13, 2067

The Aces in turn had pounded out 32 runs, fourth in the CL, and allowed 39th, nearly bottoms, in their seven games in the first week. Whether that opened a gap for the limp Raccoons offense at all remained to be seen.

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (0-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Chris Monahan (0-0, 3.00 ERA)
Nick Walla (0-1, 7.94 ERA) vs. Matthew May (0-0, 7.20 ERA)
Ryan Musgrave (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Gabe Molina (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

May would be the first southpaw we would see all year in game #7, and Wednesday could be either the left-hander Molina or righty Tim Henderson (0-1, 3.38 ERA). Both had pitched in a double-header on Saturday and would have to go on short rest.

Game 1
LVA: SS Hatakeyama – CF Marazzo – LF Lorenzo – 3B A. Alfaro – 2B Vic. Morales – 1B M. Davis – RF Caceres – C A. Perez – P Monahan
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – C Aguilar – LF Dowsey – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Nakayama

The Raccoons reached in one way or another seven out of nine times the first time through, but of the two that didn’t Rich Monck hit into an inning-ending double play with Wilson and Starr on the corners in the first inning. Aguilar, Dowsey, and Novelo then all reached base to begin the bottom 2nd. Mike Roberts dropped a soft RBI single behind Koji Hatakeyama for the game’s first run, and Nakayama’s grounder was then mishandled by Monahan himself for a run-scoring error. That allowed Wilson to hit a sac fly to make it 3-0, and while a soft Corral single loaded the bases again, Starr flew out to leave the bases loaded.

Nakayama faced the minimum the first time through, offering a walk and getting a double play grounder from Mike Davis in the second inning. He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before ex-Coon Vic Morales took it away with a single to left. Jorge Caceres also singled in the inning, but Angel Perez, another ex-Coon, flew out to center to leave the runners on base. Hatakeyama hit a single in the sixth, but got doubled off on Nate Marazzo’s grounder to Monck, 5-4-3. While Nakayama kept clicking off innings, the Raccoons were silent for a long time until the bottom 7th, when Nakayama reached on an error by Hatakeyama, and the Coons proceeded to have a single from Wilson against Adam Johnson, who was then taken very deep by Jose Corral for a 3-run homer that doubled the score. The shutout then ran out in the eighth for Nakayama, as he issued a walk to Caceres and then got plonked for three singles, including 2-out RBI singles by Hatakeyama and Marazzo that got the Aces on the board. Dover then replaced him for a 4-out save, popping out Vic Lorenzo to second base to quell the most immediate threat, and then got the 4-5-6 batters in order in the ninth inning. 6-2 Raccoons. Wilson 2-4, RBI; Corral 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Starr 2-4; Colter 1-1; Nakayama 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

Game 2
LVA: SS Hatakeyama – CF Marazzo – LF Lorenzo – 3B A. Alfaro – 2B Vic. Morales – 1B M. Davis – RF Caceres – C A. Perez – P May
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – C Lopez – 1B Starr – LF Early – 3B Monck – 2B Roberts – RF Tallent – P Walla

The Aces scored first on a Marazzo double and Alex Alfaro’s RBI single, both to left in the first inning, but the Raccoons’ best player – Marquise Early, obviously – tied the game back up in the bottom 1st with an RBI single that scored Novelo. Starr was also on base, but Rich Monck grounded out to strand that pair. Walla didn’t look right though, and brought no stuff. In exchange he got hit around a bit. The defense held up for a while, but in the fourth inning the 4-thru’-7 batters for the Aces hit a pile of singles to get the go-ahead run across against Walla, and then left the bases loaded. The Coons took hm off the hook again in the fifth inning with hits from Randy Tallent and Pablo Novelo, but Walla was already on 91 pitches through five innings, having given up seven hits and a walk along the way. Angel Perez hit a single off him in the sixth, but was left on; however due to the advanced pitch count, Walla was then out of the game after six gnarly innings.

Carrington got three groundouts in the seventh inning, which was preferable to walking the sacks full, while the Coons faced Steven Hudson – one of their failed Rule 5 picks from the year before – in the sixth and seventh. Hudson was a Rule 5 pick *again*, and this early time came in with an ERA over ten. He had a quick sixth before allowing singles to Tallent and Dowsey to start off the bottom 7th. However, Wilson popped out and Novelo hit into a double play to fritter the chance away before new Coon Bob West and old Coon Jeremy Garvey shared a scoreless eighth. The Raccoons then boldly went on to use their own Rule 5er, Jason Holzmeister, in the ninth inning. Perez hit a leadoff single, but Phil LeVan popped out and Hatakeyama whiffed before Marazzo grounded out to short. The Raccoons failed to score either, however, and soon found themselves in their third extra-inning game in seven tries. We hung with Holzmeister, who now gave up a leadoff triple to Vic Lorenzo, and three more hits throughout the tenth inning to have the game explode all over his face. The Raccoons reserved a potential answer for tomorrow, failing to reach base against Jon Dominguez in the bottom 10th… 5-2 Aces. Novelo 2-4, BB, RBI; Tallent 2-4; Dowsey (PH) 1-1;

We *did* get another left-hander with Gabe Molina for the rubber game. Since the Loggers did not carry a righty starter for the weekend set of four games, every lefty stick that had yet to get a day off, got that day off on Wednesday: Wilson, Monck, and Starr were all on the bench to begin that game, while Dowsey was back in.

Somehow, Randy Tallent ended up batting cleanup?

Game 3
LVA: SS Hatakeyama – CF Marazzo – LF Lorenzo – 3B A. Alfaro – 2B Vic. Morales – 1B M. Davis – RF Caceres – C A. Perez – P G. Molina
POR: SS Novelo – RF Corral – C Lopez – CF Tallent – 1B Dowsey – LF Early – 3B Arantes – 2B Roberts – P Musgrave

Portland took a lead after three batters in the bottom 1st, as Corral found the right-center gap for a 1-out triple and then scored on Lopez’ basic single up the middle. Tallent then hit into a double play. The lead didn’t last; Musgrave had no stuff, and while he retired the first six Aces he faced, Jorge Caceres then singled, stole second, and reached third base on Lopez’ throwing error. Since Musgrave couldn’t fool anybody, not even the pitcher Molina, he surrendered the game-tying groundout to the #9 batter. The Aces then took a lead in the fourth with a sharp leadoff double from Lorenzo and Alfaro’s RBI single. However – the Coons had Early in the lineup, and Early didn’t disappoint and followed a Dowsey double to right with an RBI single of his own. This gave Marquise Early four RBI, all of which had come to tie or win a game.

Things continued to not work out well for Musgrave; when he singled in the bottom 5th he was doubled up by Novelo, and then he gave up another four singles for the go-ahead run in the sixth, but the Aces didn’t bat for Molina with three on and two outs, and Molina grounded out to Starr to end the inning. It was also the end of Musgrave’s trying outing, giving up nine hits for a singular strikeout. Yamauchi pitched a scoreless inning after Musgrave left, then was hit for with Monck with two outs and Arantes on first base in the bottom 7th. Molina had Monck at 1-2 before giving up a drive that was surely 400 feet… but it went to the 418’ part of the ballpark and Marazzo made it back in time to make a running catch.

Both teams then put a pair on without scoring in the eighth. Dowsey struck out after a 2-out double by Lopez and a walk drawn by Tallent against Molina, who was holding out pretty long for having come in on short rest… Evan Alvey, who was tasked with getting six outs at the tail end here, then unraveled and was beaten up for four hits and three 2-out runs in the ninth inning, driven in by Alfaro and Vic Morales. Thankfully the Raccoons did not have any offense in the bottom 9th anyway…. 6-2 Aces. Lopez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Arantes 1-2, BB;

In other news

April 4 – Opening Day ends with a broken finger and six weeks on the DL for NAS 3B Rick Healey (3-for-4, 0 HR, 0 RBI) after getting hit by PIT CL Ryan Croft (0-0, 0.00 ERA) in a game that the Blue Sox eventually win, 4-1 in 11 innings.
April 5 – OCT SP Ben Seiter (1-0, 0.00 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Bayhawks in his first start for the Thunder.
April 8 – Left-handed MR Ubaldo Piteira, who tore his UCL with the Raccoons in 2066 and signed a contract with the Stars in the offseason, re-tears his elbow during rehab and has to get surgery again, although his arm will no longer be able to be used for baseball purposes and he is forced to retire. The 27-year-old went 28-18 with a 3.78 ERA and got 16 saves in a 6-year career.
April 8 – The Condors beat the Loggers, 14-7 in 12 innings with a 7-run outburst in the top of the 12th. Rule 5 pick LF/RF/1B Trent Brassfield (.389, 0 HR, 6 RBI) has four hits and four RBI in the game.
April 8 – Denver beats Cincy, 12-5 in 15 innings, also breaking out for a 7-run inning in the 15th. DEN RF/SS Ted Lloyd (.667, 1 HR, 4 RBI) goes 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBI despite not entering the game until the eighth inning.
April 8 – The Rebs stuff the Scorpions, 16-7. Six runs are driven in by RIC 1B Jerry Morejon (.267, 2 HR, 9 RBI) on two hits, including a grand slam.

April 9 – The Cyclones beat the Stars, 1-0 in ten innings. CIN OF/1B/3B Dallas Baker (.238, 0 HR, 1 RBI) draws a bases-loaded walk from DEN MR Bill Goda (0-1, 4.50 ERA) to force in the game’s only run for a walkoff.
April 9 – For curiosity, of the six CL games on Saturday, three end with a score of 3-2, and the other three end with a score of 4-1.
April 10 – Rebs SP Luis Olvera (1-0, 0.53 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Stingers for a 6-0 win.
April 10 – New Bayhawks signing SP Juan Sanchez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) hits the DL with bone chips in his elbow and will miss four months at least.
April 10 – The Crusaders thrash the Aces, 16-2, putting up three separate 5+ spots. New Crusaders catcher David Johnson (.278, 0 HR, 5 RBI) drives in five runs on three hits, including a bases-clearing double.
April 12 – The Condors beat the Crusaders, 3-0 in *14* innings. Both teams only muster four hits apiece through a game-and-a-half, with the Condors having just a C/1B Mike Brann (.294, 2 HR, 7 RBI) single through 13 innings.

FL Player of the Week: SFW OF Danny Perez (.520, 2 HR, 5 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Rick Atkins (.538, 2 HR, 3 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Eight games down, and the Raccoons scored a whole 22 runs in the process. Never mind that we actually played more innings due to all the overtime shenanigans. We have a -8 run differential, which obviously extrapolates to -162 for a full season, although that’s perhaps a silly calculation in the second week of the season. But yeah, the offense is already showing all sorts of red flags again, all of which one could see coming, minus perhaps Dowsey hitting NOTHING through eight games.

I will claim ignorance as to why 2066 Raccoons pitchers that went elsewhere are dropping like flies.

Ricky McMahan got the 7,600th regular season W on Saturday against the Knights when Marquise Early ended the game by drawing the bases-loaded walk. He’s the first reliever in six years (Ruben Mendez) to grab a hundo win for the Raccoons, which is partially also down to the general lack of wins around here.

Chance Fox will start his rehab assignment to St. Pete these coming days.

The Loggers will come in for four games over the weekend and then it’s right away off for a 2-week, 3-country road trip.

Fun Fact: Today is the anniversary of both a Loggers no-hitter against the Crusaders, and a Crusaders cycle against the Loggers.

Michael Foreman wore the forest-green cap in a no-hitter against the Crusaders, 2-0, on April 13 in 2018. Exactly 40 years later, Gunner Epperson hit his second career cycle in a 14-8 game against the Loggers.