Game Recap-Canada vs. Australia; 2019 Premier-12; November 7th, 2019

Dalton Pompey began the game with a fly-out to deep right-center after an eight-pitch at-bat vs. Australia starter Tim Atherton. Wes Darvill popped up to third for the second out. Eric Wood knocked a two-out single into left field, but Michael Saunders left him stranded, grounding out to second to end the inning.

Tim Kennelly crushed a long drive to left just inside the foul line off of Canada starter Brock Dykxhoorn for a double to start the bottom half of the first. He then advanced on a ground-out to second by Andrew Campbell. Rob Glendinning followed with a deep fly to the warning track in right field, scoring Kennelly on the sacrifice fly. Logan Wade flied out to center to end the inning, but the Aussies put a run on the board first.

In the top of the second, Tristan Pompey demolished a 1-0 off-speed pitch off the wall in right for a lead-off double, missing the homer by about half a meter. Lennerton followed with a hard-hit grounder to first off a first-pitch curve that caught the heart of the plate, moving Pompey to third on the 3-unassisted putout. Leblanc chased a 2-2 fastball after Atherton dropped a big, slow curve on him, striking out swinging for the second out. Tosoni tied the game on a blistered liner to right that Kennelly dove to stop, losing the ball just under his glove but keeping the short bounce in front of him.

Atherton would give way to LHP Josh Tols after Tosoni's RBI. (Note: A seven-year pro at multiple levels and leagues, Tols made 24 appearances with the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley in 2019). Deglan whiffed on a big, sweeping 2-2 curve to end the inning.

Aaron Whitefield led off the bottom half of the inning, popping up to Leblanc on a 0-1 fastball. Mitchell Nilsson followed with another infield pop-up, this time to Wood at third. Darryl George hit a 2-2 fastball to shallow left-center, T. Pompey chasing it down for the third out, ending an exceedingly-quick inning for Dykxhoorn.

D. Pompey led off the third, popping up to Glendinning at second on the first pitch he faced. Darvill went down in the count on back-to-back fastballs, then had to bail out of the box on a curve that got away from Tols. After working the count full, he struck out swinging on an outside fastball that finished just off the outside corner. Wood worked a fantastic nine-pitch at-bat to draw the walk after being down 0-2 and fouling off several slow curves. Saunders made it back-to-back walks, bringing T. Pompey to the plate. Australia manager David Nilsson made the call to the pen, once more, ending the day for Tols.

Fellow lefty Steven Kent entered to face the Canadian left fielder. Kent dealt Pompey three straight balls, but then spotted a fastball over the outer third of the plate for the first strike. Pompey flied out to Whitefield in center on the next pitch to end the threat.

David Sutherland stepped in to start the bottom half, striking out swinging on a fastball high in the zone. Alan De San Miguel, taking over for Ryan Battaglia, fouled off a 3-2 curve that struck HP umpire NAME in the right forearm, who had to be checked out by the Team Canada trainer before the game resumed. On the very next pitch, a fastball in the dirt got past Deglan on a swinging strike three, De San Miguel hustling down to first to reach on the play. Kennelly took a 2-2 fastball on the black for the second out. Campbell grounded out to Leblanc to end the inning.

Lennerton started off the fourth, just topping a sweeping curve to ground out to first. Leblanc hammered a fastball on the outer third into right-center for what looked to be a double, but Kennelly got to it too quickly for Leblanc to advance to second. Tosoni drew a walk to move Leblanc into scoring position. Deglan couldn't check his swing on a short 0-2 curve in the dirt and went down on strikes. D. Pompey grounded out to Kent, who took the ball to first himself to end the scoring threat.

Glendinning struck out swinging to start the bottom of the fourth. Wade was able to reach on an error by Darvill, followed by a swinging strikeout by Whitefield. Nilsson stranded the runner with a 4-3 ground-out.

The fifth saw Darvill fly out to left on a 1-2 fastball to start things off, followed by a swinging strikeout for Wood. (Note: Kent is going to the fastball noticeably more often now, and seems more confident.) Saunders made it back-to-back K for Kent with a swing-and-miss on a high 2-2 fastball out of the zone to end the top half.

George flew out to T. Pompey to begin Australia's half of the fifth. A well-timed dive by Leblanc to his left made it two outs for Australia. De San Miguel finished off a quiet inning for the Aussies by striking out on a 1-2 fastball. (Note: Dykxhoorn has also found his rhythm, at this point. He's in cruise control; De San Miguel is his 6^th strikeout of the game.)

T. Pompey struck out on three straight pitches to start the sixth, with Lennerton following that by striking out looking on a front-door, late-breaking 1-2 curve, middle-in. Leblanc flied out to right to end the inning. (Note: Kent, through 3 1/3 innings, now has only one less strikeout than Dykxhoorn. He's looking awfully dominant.)

Kennelly struck out on a low 3-2 fastball straight down Broadway. Campbell hit a very hard grounder to Lennerton at first, who tossed to Dykxhoorn at the bag for the second out. Glendinning swung hard on a hanging curve and smacked a hard liner between third and short for a two-out single. Now with the go-ahead run at first base, Dykxhoorn induced an inning-ending fly-out to center to strand Glendinning.

Tosoni flied out to center for the first out of the seventh. Dustin Houle, entering as a pinch-hitter for Deglan, struck out swinging. D. Pompey just missed an extra-base hit when a 1-2 fly to right fell just outside the foul line, then struck out swinging to end the inning. Kent pumped his fist and yelled while walking back to the dugout, the first overt sign of emotion from the calm lefty.

Taking over for Dykxhoorn, RHP Brandon Marklund entered for the bottom half of the inning. He retired Whitefield on a grounder to short to start the action. Nilsson hit a hard one-hopper off of Marklund's right thigh, reaching first as the ball caromed away from the pitcher. As he reached the ball, Marklund hopped once or twice on his left leg, but appeared to be alright as Whitt came out to check on him. He then struck out George on three straight sliders, and induced a 4-3 ground-out on the first pitch to Sutherland to strand Nilsson.

LHP Jon Kennedy, the fourth pitcher of the game for Australia and the third-straight lefty, entered the game in relief of Kent in the top of the eighth. Darvill struck out swinging to start things off. Wood cracked his bat while flying out to center on a 2-2 fastball down the heart of the plate. Saunders grounded out to second, making it a short inning for the new Aussie reliever.

Marklund returned for the bottom half of the eighth, struggling a bit to locate his pitches and giving up a walk to Luke Hughes, who was pinch-hitting for De San Miguel. Kennelly worked the count to 3-1 before grounding into what looked to be a double play, but a low throw from Leblanc to Lennerton allowed him to reach first. A review of the play at second, on which Leblanc had to leap just a bit to reach the high throw from Wood at third, was held up as a force-out and fielder's choice. Campbell grounded out on a slow, weak two-hopper to Marklund, who tossed to first for the second out, but Kennelly advanced into scoring position. Glendinning drew the second walk of the inning on a 3-1 low-and-away slider in the dirt, prompting Whitt to make a call to the pen for RHP Scott Mathieson, who got the save vs. Cuba in Canada's first game of the Opening Round.

On a 1-2 knee-high fastball, Wade crushed a triple into the right-center gap, scoring Kennelly and Glendinning and giving Australia the 3-1 lead. Whitefield flied out to right to end the inning, but the damage was done, as Australia entered the ninth inning with a two-run lead on a night in which neither team had been able to break through, offensively.

T. Pompey worked a tough, eight-pitch at-bat against Kennedy into a lead-off walk, taking a 3-2 slider that missed the low-and-outside corner by a very narrow margin. Lennerton grounded into a rare 1-6-3 double play, hanging back on a middle-of-the-zone curve from Kennedy but making weak contact on the grounder back to the pitcher. Nilsson relieved Kennedy for the final out, bringing in the RHP and closer Ryan Searle. Lefty pinch-hitter Connor Panas entered the game for Leblanc, drawing the walk on a very close 3-2 curve just off the outside corner and keeping the game alive for Canada. Tosoni followed up by flying out to center for the third out, an upset win vs. Canada, and Team Australia's first-ever victory in the WBSC Premier-12 Tournament. 

Team Canada Falls to Australia in Premier-12 Action, 3-1

In opening-round competition of the 2019 Premier 12 Tournament on Friday (Thursday, 7 PM PST), Team Canada fell to Boral Team Australia, 3-1. Australia's win is their first ever in WBSC Premier-12 competition.

A two-out, two-run triple off the bat of Australia SS Logan Wade, the first batter faced by closer Scott Mathieson, scored RF Tim Kennelly and 2B Robert Glendinning to give the Aussies a two-run lead, and the eventual win.

The back-and-forth battle between opposing pitchers maintained a 1-1 tie after Glendinning drove home Kennelly on a sacrifice fly to deep right in the bottom of the first inning, while Canada DH Rene Tosoni responding with an RBI double in the top of the second to score LF Tristan Pompey.

RHP Brock Dykxhoorn went six strong innings, allowing one run on only two hits, walking no batters while striking out seven in getting the no-decision. RHP Brandon Marklund entered the game in the seventh, lasting 1 2/3 innings, but apparent issues with command (2 BB, 1 K, 50% strike pct.) saw him give way to closer Mathieson. Marklund finished with the loss after Mathieson allowed the two inherited runners to score on the aforementioned triple in the eighth.

Australia used five different pitchers during the game, with starting righty Tim Atherton lasting only 1 2/3 innings, giving up one run on three hits and striking out one, before Manager Dave Nilsson pulled him and dipped into his bullpen. Interestingly enough, all four Aussie relievers in the game were lefties.

Josh Tols posted a scoreless inning, walking two and striking out two (28 pitches, 57% strike pct.). Lefty Steven Kent put on the pitching performance of the night, going 4 1/3 innings of one-hit ball, walking one and striking out seven (65% strike pct.). Jon Kennedy, who was credited with the win, followed with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless, hit-less relief, with Ryan Searle getting the final out to end the game and earn the save.

Canada third baseman Eric Wood finished 1-3 with a walk, while Pompey had a double, one walk, and a run scored, and 2B Charles Leblanc had a hit of his own. In a game during which both sides' bats remained relatively quiet throughout the night, the team's 4-5-6 hitters (Michael Saunders, Tristan Pompey, Jordan Lennerton) combined to go 1-10 (1 R, 1 2B, 2 BB, 3 K). Canada's batters went down in order in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth inning.

Australian veteran Tim Kennelly had a double and two runs scored on the night, while DH Mitchell Nilsson added a base knock. Both Team Canada and Team Australia finished with only four hits, each.

One interesting and not immediately-explained move by Australia: the team removed starting catcher Ryan Battaglia for Allan De San Miguel at the beginning of the top of the third. 

The loss drops Team Canada's record to 1-2, eliminating them from Premier-12 competition. The team is scheduled to depart Seoul and return home on Friday night. 

Game Recap-Canada vs. Cuba; 2019 Premier-12; November 5th, 2019

RHP Carlos Viera started on the mound for Cuba.

Dalton Pompey led off the game with a walk, with Wes Darvill flying out to center for the first out. Eric Wood drew a full-count walk, but Michael Saunders struck out swinging to end the inning.

RHP Phillippe Aumont started the game for Canada.

The bottom half of the first was uneventful for Cuba, as Roel Santos grounded out to Aumont, followed by Erisbel Arruebarruena and Yurisbel Gracial striking out swinging.

Charles Leblanc led off the top of the second, attempting to check on a 1-2 curve well off the plate for a called strike three. Jordan Lennerton followed with a big swing and miss on a 1-2 change, swinging very early on the pitch. Tristan Pompey was grazed by a curve to give Canada their first base-runner of the inning, but was stranded after Tosani grounded to first base for the third out. Yordanis Samon quite nearly lost the handle on the grounder, but made it to first just about a step ahead of Tosani.

In the bottom half, Aumont struck out Alfredo Despaigne looking on a 2-2 fastball middle-in to start it off, with Frederich Cepeda striking out swinging on a splitter at the knees, and Alexander Ayala grounding out to Leblanc to end the inning.

Kellin Deglan started off the third by flying out to Santos in center on the first pitch he faced. Dalton Pompey was called out on a slow 3-1 grounder, with Viera beating him to the bag by about a foot and a half. Darvill struck out to end the Canadian half of the inning.

In the bottom of the third, Samon reached base with the first hit of the game for either side, while Yosvany Alarcon weakly popped up a bunt attempt that somehow fell between Aumont and Deglan two meters in front of home plate, but was still successful in moving Samon into scoring position. Cesar Prieto went down swinging on a low splitter, and Santos grounded out to Leblanc to leave the runner stranded.

The fourth inning began with Wood sending a 2-2 outside curve to right field, perhaps a meter inside the foul line, and legging it out for a lead-off double. This would be the only extra-base hit for either team. Saunders immediately brought Wood home with a grounder off the first pitch he saw from Viera, a fastball, between third and short. Leblanc flew out to right on a curveball that hung up in the zone. Lennerton hit into what appeared to be an inning-ending double play, but Samon lost the low throw from Arruebarruena, allowing the ball to shoot past him. Lennerton advanced to second on the error.

Viera walked Tristan Pompey, who was then thrown out at third by Santos when he tried to advance on the up-the-middle grounder by Tosani, negating the run scored by Lennerton, who was still at least three meters away from home when the tag at third was made.

In the bottom of the fourth, Arruebarruena was thrown out at first thanks to a friendly bounce on the throw from Darvill at short. Gracial grounded out to Leblanc for out number two. Despaigne took two huge hacks on back-to-back sinking fastballs from Aumont after a first-pitch inside curve, then grounded out softly to Wood at third.

Deglan went down swinging on a 1-2 change to lead off the fifth. Dalton Pompey slapped a 1-1 fastball to short for the second out (6-3). Darvill struck out swinging on a 3-2 inside curve to end the inning. (Note: Viera had thrown a curve for a called strike with a 3-1 count, then went about six inches further inside and lower with the next breaking ball. Both had very tight spin and good 11-5 break.)

Aumont continued to cruise in the bottom half, having thrown only 41 pitches to this point. He retired Cepeda on a called 3-2 fastball off the outside corner that seemed to be well off the edge of the plate. Ayala quickly went down 0-2 in the count, then popped up to Darvill for the second out. Samon grounded out weakly to Leblanc to end the inning. Aumont had retired nine in a row, at this point in the game.

The sixth inning started off with Viera striking out Wood looking on an 0-2 outside curve. Saunders drew the walk after first attempting to call for time, though too late for the umpire to grant it. RHP Yariel Rodriguez then took over for Viera, with Leblanc striking out swinging on a curve in the dirt and well outside and Lennerton swinging through a fastball down the heart of the plate for the third out.

Cuba's half of the sixth began with Alarcon popping up to Leblanc for the first out. Prieto grounded out to short for out number two. Santos reached base on error when Darvill threw low to Lennerton (E6), then promptly stole second despite a very good throw from Deglan. Arruebarruena took a called first strike, then Deglan came close to gunning down Santos on the back-pick attempt before Aumont finished off the batter for the third out.

Tristan Pompey went down swinging on a low-and-inside curve in the dirt to start the seventh, though he appeared to have checked his swing. Tosoni worked the count to 3-1, but struck out swinging on a 3-2 curve down the heart of the plate. Deglan ripped a curve into right field just out of reach of a lunging Samon at first to give Canada a two-out base-runner. Dalton Pompey poked a slow grounder to second but was called out on a very close play at first while sliding into the bag.

The bottom of the seventh saw Aumont strike out Graciel on a shin-high fastball to start off the action. Despaigne grazed a 1-2 pitch that rolled about six feet up the third-base line, with Deglan throwing him out at first. Cepeda struck out swinging on a low-and-away 2-2 splitter to end the inning, as Aumont continued to cruise through the Cuba lineup.

LHP Livan Moinelo took over for Rodriguez to start the eighth. Darvill was hit in the upper right arm and left bicep by a high-and-inside fastball that got away from Moinelo. Wood beat out a slow grounder to short, though Cuba challenged the call to no avail. Saunders laid down an excellent bunt up the third-base line which Ayala had to charge just to get Saunders at first. Leblanc was immediately intentionally walked to load the bases. Lennerton flew out to left, but not deeply enough to get a runner home. Tristan Pompey took a bases-loaded, 3-2 fastball high and outside the zone to make it a 2-0 Canada lead, and Tosoni took four straight balls to walk in another run to make it 3-0.

Righty Andy Rodriguez entered the game with two outs in the top of the eighth in relief. His warm-up pitches were momentarily paused by the home plate umpire, who told Rodriguez that he had to remove the gold sticker that was still on the bill of the cap. Deglan struck out on a 1-2 curve to end the threat and a long half-inning for Cuba.

Ayala grounded out to first to start the bottom half. Samon drew the first walk given up by Aumont, who was approaching the ninety-pitch mark (88 pitches). Willian Saavedra entered the game to pinch-run for Samon. Alarcon hit a grounder to short, but a sliding Darvill couldn't keep the hard-hit ball in the infield and Saavedra advanced to second.

Whitt then paid a quick visit to Aumont, who was at 90 pitches and had lost a touch of velo off of his fastball, but he chose to stay with the big righty.

Raul Gonzalez, pinch-hitting for Prieto, flew out to Dalton Pompey in center (note: the first out recorded by a Canadian outfielder, tonight), and ended the inning on a grounder and a strong throw from Darvill.

D. Pompey hit a sharp grounder off the glove of the new second baseman Gonzalez to lead off the top half of the ninth. Darvill worked a walk off of Rodriguez, the tenth walk given up by Cuban pitchers on the night, leading to another pitching change for Cuba as righty Vladimir Garcia entered in relief. Wood greeted him by drawing yet another walk, rather abruptly ending Garcia's night.

Cuba's sixth pitcher of the game, the third of the top half of the ninth inning, would be LHP Yudiel Rodriguez, entering the game with the bases loaded and no outs. Saunders sent a fly-ball to center, too shallow to score Dalton Pompey at third, for the first out. Jonathan Malo, pinch-hitting for Leblanc, followed with a fly-out to center, as well, and Pompey was easily thrown out at home by Santos to end the inning on the 8-2 double play. (Note: While Santos had to lean back slightly to make the catch on Malo's fly-out, he made an outstanding throw to home to cut down the runner.)

RHP Scott Mathieson took over in the bottom half to close out the game, striking out Arruebarruena to start it off. Gracial grounded weakly to Darvill, whose low throw got away from Lennerton for Darvill's second error of the night, allowing Gracial to advance to second. Despaigne went down swinging on a sharp, late-breaking 3-2 slider. Mathieson quickly worked the count to 0-2 on Cepeda, then put him away on a 12-6 curve low and inside to secure the upset win for Team Canada.

Team Canada Downs Cuba To Open WBSC Premier-12, 3-0

Team Canada got underway in the 2019 Premier-12 Tournament tonight, taking on Team Cuba in Seoul, South Korea, in what turned out to be a night for pitchers.

The men's national baseball tournament, scheduled to run until November 17^th, will award a berth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to the team who finishes in first place among those teams from the Americas, as well as the top team from the Asia/Oceania region. Canada is one of four teams in Group C, with Australia, South Korea, and Cuba the other three.

The Canadian National Team, currently ranked tenth among the world's national teams in baseball, edged fifth-ranked Cuba 3-0, with Gatineau, QC native Phillippe Aumont shouldering the lion's share of the the work on the hill for Canada.

The veteran righty recorded eight shutout innings, allowing two hits and walking one, striking out nine. Aldergrove, BC's Scott Mathieson, currently the closer for Nippon Professional Baseball's Yomiuri Giants, pitched a scoreless ninth to complete the shutout.

Michael Saunders (Victoria, BC) drove in what would turn out to be the only run Canada needed, scoring Eric Wood from second after Wood's lead-off double in the fourth inning. Tristan Pompey and Rene Tosoni drew back-to-back bases-loaded walks to add a couple of insurance runs in the seventh inning.

Cuba's starting righty Carlos Viera pitched around eight base-runners and mitigated the damage very well, allowing one run on three hits, walking four and striking out seven. Viera managed to locate only 57.6% of his 85 pitches for strikes. A total of five relievers would enter the game after Viera walked Saunders with one out in the sixth inning.

Those five relievers would combine for five strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and five walks. RHP Yariel Rodriguez (1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 33 pitches, 19 strikes) got the relief corps off to a very strong start, but lefty Livan Moinelo struggled during his 2/3 IP in relief (1 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 0 K, 23 pitches, 10 strikes). RHPs Andy Rodriguez and Vladimir Garcia combined with LHP Yudiel Rodriguez over the remaining 1 1/3 innings, allowing only one hit and two walks, striking out one batter on a combined 54.2% strike percentage (24 pitches, 13 strikes). Garcia faced only one hitter, walking him on five pitches.

Aumont threw 95 pitches in this start, 70% of them for strikes. Mathieson tossed fifteen of eighteen pitches for strikes in a three-K ninth.

Wood led the Canada offense, going 2-3 with two runs scored, one double, and two walks. Tosoni, Saunders, and Tristan Pompey had one RBI, each. However, Canadian hitters combined to leave 11 base-runners stranded.

Canada next faces off against third-ranked South Korea on November 6th at 7 PM (November 7th at 2 AM, Pacific Time).

Time Flies

The final home series for the Lexington Legends starts today, and I find, from my perspective, that the season seems to end more quickly, as the years pass. It’s a poignant reminder that time is a matter of perception and experience; the longer we live, therefore, the shorter the coming years seem. And yet, in our minds, our earliest memories seem eternal. 

When we’re kids, even a day seems like it will last forever. As teenagers, time seems to move just a bit faster, though often not fast enough to assuage our impatience with it. 

As young adults, life gets a lot busier. Jobs. Kids. Work. Married life, for some of us. And we start to learn that, as it’s beginning to pass at an ever-increasing rate, we don’t have the ability to fit in everything we want to do. 

Middle age arrives, and we’re gobsmacked by how time seems to fly, now. From this point, we find ourselves “wondering where all that time went”. As we continue to get older and older, days seems like minutes. Weeks seem like days. And the years are gone, before we know what hit us. 

I say all this because these players are experiencing what may be some of their most memorable moments. They’re in the early days of their professional lives. Some of them are advancing up the chain, some are released after their first year. Still others make it all the way to the majors. They’re all young, inexperienced with life’s ups and downs, comparatively, to most of us. But as they get older, and the time seems to speed by them, they’ll remember these days fondly; even the bad times will seem, somehow, bittersweet. 

And though they’ve learned, as they’ve grown older, how time is ever-fleeting and intangible, in a corner of their minds, those diamonds and pearls will last forever. 

On This Day: Columbia 15, Wesleyan 2-Gehrig Crushes Record-Setting HR

NEW YORK, MAY 19th-It was 1923, and Columbia was thoroughly enjoying a season of outstanding mound work and tape-measure homers from a young Lou Gehrig. On this day, Wesleyan was paying a visit to the Lions at South Field, a game that Columbia would win going away, 15-2. 

Gehrig had already become a legend at Columbia, blasting homers at distances previously unseen at the Ivy League school. He would finish the 1923 season having set offensive marks that still rank in the top ten of Columbia's all-time single-season performances; his .444 batting average is still fifth, all-time, his .937 slugging percentage is the top mark in school history, and his seven home runs were the all-time mark up to that point. As a pitcher, his six wins are still tied for eighth and only two behind the all-time mark of eight, shared by five different pitchers. He also struck out 77 batters that year, which is still sixth all-time. That alone is surprising, considering that Columbia only played nineteen games, that year.

Gehrig played ten games at first, another eleven on the mound, and played both positions in three games. He set a single-game record of 17 strikeouts against Williams College on April 18^th, a record which stood for 45 years.

Scouts were already calling him “the next Babe Ruth”. As a side note, Gehrig very well could have ended up with the Washington Senators, had Clark Griffith's scout bothered to show up to see him play. The Giants also had a shot at Gehrig, but for reasons that escape me (comments welcome), McGraw refused to even consider giving him a chance to try out. Funny, how these things work out (see Robinson,Jackie; Boston Red Sox).

Anyway, Gehrig was working his magic as per usual on this day, going three shutout innings on the mound while allowing three hits and striking out five. He also went 2-3 at the plate, with a home run that left the stadium altogether and struck the School of Journalism building just outside of the center-field wall. The ball struck the steps of the building, over 450 feet from home plate and still considered the longest home run ever hit at South Field.

By June, Gehrig was a New York Yankee, and the rest is history.

From the Hartford Courant; May 20th, 1923: 

On This Day: Ron Necciai Strikes Out 27 Batters

BRISTOL, TN, May 13th—In the Class D Appalachian League on this night in 1952, a 19 year-old righty from Monongahela, Pennsylvania, pitched one of the most impressive games in the history of professional baseball. 

Ron Necciai, a Pittsburgh prospect then on option with the Bristol (Va.) Twins, absolutely dominated the Welch Miners in a game in which he struck out twenty-seven batters in a nine-inning no-hitter. 

Twenty...seven. Let that sink in. And yet, three years later, Necciai was out of baseball at age twenty-two.

From The Cincinnati Enquirer; May 15th, 1952

It was Shaw Stadium in Bristol, Virginia, that would be the stage for this fairy-tale performance. Necciai had a special bond with the manager of the Twins. George Detore was a baseball lifer, and had been a longtime friend and mentor of Necciai's since the death of Necciai's father Attilio at age thirty-one. He was a steadying influence on the teenage fireballer, one that he sorely needed. The difficulty of adjusting to professional baseball was causing Necciai a tremendous amount of stress, most of which was being internalized, and would soon lead to a bleeding ulcer and a visit to a specialist. 

Necciai was tremendously gifted; he had a fantastic arm. The problem was, he didn't know how to use it. He was all over the place. A Pittsburgh barber named Tony Rockino discovered Necciai while he was pitching for Monongahela High in the suburbs, and passed this information on to the Pirates. The Pirates actually signed him as a first baseman, as Necciai had been moved to the position after breaking two ribs of an opposing batter with a wayward fastball, but after seeing his arm strength on display during practices they quickly moved him to the mound. It was Detore who broke the news to Necciai. 

After two frustrating weeks struggling to learn a new position, Necciai quit the game and returned to Monongahela. He was working in an auto parts plant when Charlie Muse, the scout who originally signed him, finally persuaded him to return to baseball. 

After only the briefest of moments with Salisbury and Shelby, Class D teams in the North Carolina State League and West Carolina League, respectively, Necciai returned to Salisbury and the steadying presence of Detore. Branch Rickey, who watched Necciai throw in spring training, convinced him to drop down to a sidearm delivery, and also taught him an overhand curve. Still, consistent control eluded him. Once again, Necciai was ready to head back to Pennsylvania and the auto parts plant, but Detore convinced him to remain.

The stress continued to eat him up, inside. The Pirates saw fit to push him all the way up to Class-AA (referred to as Class-B, back then) and the New Orleans Pelicans in the Southern League, an awful long way from the ranks of the Class-D ball, and the results were fairly predictable: 1-5 record, 8.45 ERA in 33 innings, but he did strike out 42, in the process.

Still, the organization was continually impressed with his potential, and he received an invitation to Spring Training for 1952. He performed reasonably well, all things considered, though he was now struggling with the bleeding ulcers, frayed nerves (chain-smoking in order to cope), and unpredictable control. He gave up two runs on four hits in three innings in an appearance vs. the St Louis Browns on March 9^th. He picked up a win vs. the San Francisco Seals on March 15^th, then struck out two and walked only one in five shutout innings on March 18^th against the Giants. In a 4-2 loss to the White Sox, Necciai gave up a run on two hits in two innings, striking out one. The Browns touched him up for four runs in the first inning of his March 26^th appearance, but he shut them out over the next four innings in the 4-2 loss. On April 5^th, the Cubs touched him up for three singles and a double, while Necciai cut loose two wild pitches, and allowed four runs in the 7-1 loss.

His lost time and continuing struggle with ulcers wore him down all through spring training (he was down to around 150 pounds, at the time), and the 6'5” righty pushed through it the best he could. He asked the organization to return him to Bristol in order to give him a little more time to get into game shape. On Opening Night in 1952, Necciai faced the Kingsport Cherokees and sent twenty of them down on strikes. In his next start, it was nineteen Ks vs. the Pulaski Phillies.

Then came the masterpiece that was his May 13^th start.

His catcher was an eighteen-year-old named Harry Dunlop (more on Mr. Dunlop, in a later post), a young man who was unknowingly beginning a lifetime career in baseball that would begin with 980 games at various levels in the minors, stints as a minor-league coach and manager, then 21 seasons as a major-league coach with the Royals, Cubs, Reds, Padres, and Marlins. Dunlop later recalled that Necciai threw an unnaturally-light fastball; that it barely felt like it hit the glove, as compared to other so-called “heavy” fastballs. He said it had a natural rise to it (perhaps owing to a tremendous spin rate), and that his curve would drop either to the left or right depending on subtle changes in fingertip pressure by Necciai.

Necciai cruised through the first six innings, and all the while the 1,183 fans present were beginning to count the strikeouts, yelling out the K count as the number became more and more unbelievable. At one point in the game, Detore had to send a glass of milk and a couple of stomach pills to the mound, as Necciai's gut was roiling like an active volcano. Detore said that he remembers Necciai throwing up in the dugout, at some point in the game.

In the ninth inning, pinch-hitter, Frank Whitehead managed to make just enough contact to lift a foul pop-up between home and first. First baseman Phil Filiatrault yelled at Dunlop, who had the ball in his sights, to drop it. Dunlop, of course, denies dropping the ball intentionally, instead blaming poor stadium lights. Nevertheless, the ball fell foul, Dunlop took the big “E” for his trouble, and Whitehead ended up striking out looking. 

Miners center-fielder Billy Hammond was strikeout #26, breaking the previous record of 25, set by Hooks Iott in 1941 and at the time the accepted nine-inning strikeout record. However, Hammond swung and missed at a curve that hit the plate and skipped past Dunlop, and reached first before Dunlop could make a play. 

Bob Kendrick, the Miners' cleanup hitter, stepped in representing the final chance that Welch had to break the mystical hold that Necciai seemed to hold over them, that night. It wasn't long before he, too, was out on strikes. That made it twenty-seven. 

Since Dunlop let a third strike get past him in the ninth inning, that meant the team would end up recording 28 outs that night. Two batters managed to put the ball in play: the aforementioned error came when shortstop Don DeVeau couldn't find the handle on a grounder in the third inning, and the other on a groundout to DeVeau in the second. Necciai was seemingly unfazed by his monumental performance, although the true meaning of it didn't set in until statisticians and writers began checking the record books. 

“I don't know what did it,” Necciai said after the game. “I just did my best and kept it up all the way.”

Interestingly, Necciai told bullpen catcher Don Becker before the game started that he didn't think he'd be able to go the distance, that night. 

In his final start for Bristol, May 21^st, Necciai was showered with gifts from fans in appreciation for his record-setting feat. That game, appropriately, was on “Ron Necciai Night”, an honor shown to him by the Twins and the Pirates organization. Necciai actually handed out his own gifts, as well: to Detore, he gave a watch with the inscription “To the man who made it possible”, and to every teammate he gave a fountain pen inscribed with the words “We did it on May 13th”. His mother even made the trip to Bristol, which Necciai hadn't expected.

Facing Kingsport that night, he struck out 24 batters and allowed a meager two hits in the shutout. 

At the end of his final game in Class-D for the 1952 season, Necciai had put up numbers which seem like typos: 109 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings, 20 walks, two earned runs on ten hits. His season ERA was 0.42. Nobody could touch him, at least that year. 

Even so, the 27-K game had a legitimate challenger for “most impressive performance of the season” in the Appalachian League. More on that, to come. 

On This Day: Detroit, Philadelphia Form Conga Line on Basepaths

PHILADELPHIA, MAY 9th-It was on this day in 1916 that the Detroit Tigers took on the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, in what would become a game for the ages. Some such games are better than others; this one was a farce, with a sequel.

One could say that neither the Tigers nor A's pitchers had their best stuff, that day, and one would be spot on. The two teams combined to walk a total of thirty batters, an astounding total in any era.

RHP George Cunningham started for the Tigers, while fellow righty Jack Nabors took the mound for the Athletics, and both put up some ugly numbers. For Nabors, he faced only nine batters, five of whom accounted for three hits and two walks in the second inning. He walked three, allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits, and struck out not a single batter. Harry Weaver took over to pitch in the second inning, but he wasn't able to stem the onslaught. Weaver gave up four runs on only two hits, managed zero strikeouts and walked three in facing seven batters.

But it was southpaw Carl Ray who would upstage the pitchers of both teams. He took over in the third and promptly gave up a double and two walks but stranded them all. He also put up a scoreless fourth, despite the somewhat-less-than-perfect control. The fifth inning saw him surrender six more runs, but by now it hardly mattered to either side.

Ray went seven innings in relief, giving up seven runs on six hits (four earned), striking out three and walking an absurd twelve batters.

Cunningham, however, had an unusual line. He went only 2 1/3 innings, but allowed no hits and gave up only one run while walking six in the process, so he certainly mitigated the damage well enough. RHP Bernie Boland took over for Cunningham and performed slightly better; he went 6 2/3 to finish out the game, allowing one run on three hits, struck out two, and also walks half a dozen batters.

The A's further sabotaged themselves by committing five errors, two of which belonged to Nabors, both occurring in the first inning when he threw away a pair of comeback grounders. Philly shortstop Whitey Witt tacked on a pair of miscues, himself, in a season that would see him commit seventy-six more.

A bit of trivia about Witt: he was the first Yankee to bat in Yankee Stadium, and the first to score on a Babe Ruth homer.

Among the best performers that day at the plate were Ty Cobb (2-5, 2 R, 2 doubles, 4 RBI), LF Harry Heilmann (3-5, 2 R, 1 double, 3 RBI), and 1B George Burns (2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 Sac Hits). As for the A's, if any of them could have been considered "standout performers" on this particular day, it would have to be LF Bill Stellbauer, who went 2-4 with a double, a triple, and an RBI.

Often, when a team (or teams, as the case may be) has a poor performance like this, they bounce back in a big way the next day. For both the Tigers and A's, not so. Three pitchers (one Tiger, two Athletics) combined for eighteen walks in a 9-3 Detroit victory. Philadelphia righty Tom Sheehan went seven innings, giving up six runs on six hits (none earned; we'll get to that), walking seven ans striking out one batter. Nabors was at it again when he came in to relieve Sheehan, as he gave up three runs on four hits, struck out one and walked four in two innings. Once more, the A's committed five errors, one by Sheehan and two more by Witt (remember him?), while 3B Charlie Pick and C Wally Schang added one, each.

For the Tigers, George Boehler went the distance, allowing three runs on five hits, striking out seven but walking seven, as well. Considering the seven walks, five hits, one error by Donie Bush at short, and one hit batsman, the fact that Boehler allowed only three runs from fourteen base-runners that day was fairly impressive.

From The Philadelphia Inquirer; May 10th, 1916 (written by "Jim Nasium"...heh):

Back From The Dead

MAY 9th-Here we are in the second week of May, and I find myself missing my old digs.

Last year, it was SB Nation's Minor League Ball, where I got to work for and with one of my favorite writers from my early days as a fan: Mr John Sickels. Then I joined Baseball Prospectus, which was a real joy for me and a milestone in my relatively-nascent career as a baseball writer. At the end of the year, both sites shut down their minor-league coverage and we all went our separate ways. John ended up at The Athletic, which seems to have become The Home For Wayward Writers; seriously, they're snapping up some big, big names.

This year, I've been a writer/photographer for a site called Big Blue Banter, which helped me land a season pass to the University of Kentucky's baseball games. I also covered my first college softball game (also at UK), and that was a real blast. Talk about fast action; it's certainly not like covering baseball. It seemed like every single grounder led to a bang-bang play. I'd wanted to cover girls' softball for some time, and now that UK is heading to the SEC Tournament and further postseason play, I'll get to cover a bit more.

Apart from BBB, I haven't had a regular byline in 2019 apart from my occasional freelancing with The Jessamine Journal in Nicholasville. I started wondering why I didn't just write for myself, for a while, instead of putting in so much work at sites which paid little to nothing. After all, if I'm going to do this anyway, why not write what I want?

So I decided to dust off this old blog, where my earliest work was posted, and thought I'd take a shot at writing about whatever struck me as interesting. That covers an awful lot of ground. One day, I might write about current minor-league prospects. The next, I may bring up a bit of the history of professional baseball in Australia. It's likely that posts will be somewhat erratic, in the interest of full disclosure; sometimes, the spirit is plenty willing, but the flesh is a weak lump of dog poop.

Let's see where this road takes us, shall we? Oh, and I'll also take requests, from time to time.

Welcome to The Grand Old Game.