MCSN: July 9, 2011

Mid-Term Exam

Week 5 Recap

Thu, Jul 14, 2011

The season has reached the halfway mark and the teams have turned in good grades, some more than others.

The Franchise passed its mid-term exam by surpassing the .500 mark, winning its third consecutive game after edging the Nitros 9-7.

Since their record-tying 10-run outburst in the first two innings of their Week 2 game, the Nitros (0-3-2) have only scored 9 runs in their last three games combined.

The Franchise jumped out to a 4-1 lead at the end of the first inning, but Nitros manager Sam Baturoni attributed that to tardiness.

"[W]e were evenly matched up," Baturoni said. "We were done in by some late arrivals for the first inning. We were shorthanded and had people out of position."

Baturoni did tip his hat to The Franchise's defense.

"Their defense held back our offense until we hit the 5-run limit in the fifth inning," he said.

The Franchise assistant manager Kristen Huntington agreed.

"Played pretty well defensively," she summed up. "[But] had one bad inning where they scored the 5-run limit."

One example was when the Nitros' Neal White hit a bomb to straight-away center field. "[Franchise center fielder] Ed Freed made a sweet catch nearly at the fence," Huntington said. "Since it was a close game, this helped limit any more runs from scoring."

The Franchise's Steve Haake continued his power display, hitting a shot over the fence. It was his league-leading third out-of-the-park home run this season. The Nitros' Eric Bartl also crushed the ball three times over the fence, but to The Franchise's delight, each one went foul.

In the middle game of the morning, and a battle of 2-1-1 teams, the Friars easily handled the Minor Prophets 13-4. It was the third straight game that the potent Friars offense notched at least 20 hits. Friars manager Jerry Hodge attributed the offense's prowess to two particular players.

"Robert Martinez has been everything we expected but the big surprise has been Erik Summers," Hodge said. "This guy has a lot of pop in his bat, excellent speed and has a great attitude."

Indeed, Martinez went 4-for-4 with a week-high 6 RBI, boasting his league-leading average to .941 (16-for-17). Both he and Summers are tied for the league lead in RBI (16), with Hodge himself right behind at third in the league with 14 RBI.

The Friars (3-1-1), who were without Jacob Dodds, also benefited from a rebound performance by Chris Carter, who had started the season with a .444 average but went 4-for-4 with 3 RBI against the Minor Prophets (2-2-1).

"It couldn't have been Chris Carter because this guy had 2 triples," joked Hodge. "And from what I've seen, Mr. Carter runs like he's carrying a piano on his back. Just kidding, Chris. He is a great teammate and brings a tremendous attitude to the game."

It wasn't fun & games for the Minor Prophets, who were held to their lowest run total of the season and their first game failing to crack double-digit hits. Friars pitcher Bruce Riegel kept Prophets slugger Jeff Martin in the park, and although the Prophets were without top pick Chris Cormier and starting pitcher Nick Ploegstra, they didn't use that as an excuse.

"We knew that we needed to bring our 'A' game to beat the Friars but unfortunately our hitting and fielding were still on vacation, leading to a result no one on the team is happy with," said Prophets manager Dan Coughlin.

In the final game of the morning, The Usual Suspects beat the Home Invaders 15-10. The Suspects played without Bill Van Tuinen but still pounded out a week-high 23 hits, their 4th time in 5 games that they've had 20+ hits.

"I was a drag on the team's batting average," Suspects shortstop Rob Tong said of being one of only two Suspects to not get two hits on the day.

The Home Invaders (1-3-1) looked to make it a rout early, jumping to a 6-0 lead going into the bottom of the 2nd inning.

"Our offense was much better than last week, still not back to week 1-2 production, but much better," Invaders manager Ovi Tisler said. "Ethan Sinnema was a BEAST going 4-for-4 and was a couple of leaves and twigs away from hitting for the cycle."

However, Suspects' pitcher Gary Lockwood held the Invaders offense to only four more runs the rest of the way while the Suspects offense bounced back with 14 runs in its last three offensive inings, including two consecutive 5-run innings, to win the game handily. Tisler attributed part of that Suspects explosion to some sub-par defense.

"Our defense struggled a little bit, but the struggles came in key scenarios," he said. "Our errors probably led to 8 or 9 unearned runs. [One] error should have been the 3rd out in the 4th inning without allowing any runs, but which instead led to 5 runs by The Usual Suspects."

Although the Suspects' Stephen Hage went 0-for-3, he nearly hit an over-the-fence grand slam but it went foul.

“Carter runs like he's carrying a piano on his back.”

- Friars' Jerry Hodge on Chris Carter running out two triples

"Hage's almost grand-salami would have totaled 7 runs for one of the innings and would have put the game away (early)," Tisler recalled.

The Home Invaders came up short of their namesake on the last play of the game.

"David Cho really tried to live up to the Home Invaders logo," said Invaders pitcher Andy Tisler. "He was sneaking around 3rd base, looking to see if anyone was protecting home, then he went in for the steal. Unfortunately, the Suspects catcher was equipped with ADT and was able to thwart the home invasion."

The second half of the season will showcase the final "new" matchups of the season before the rematches start lining up. The 8am game features The Usual Suspects (3-1-1) against the winless Nitros. It remains to be seen whether Van Tuinen and Tong will both play in the same game, since it hasn't happened yet for the Suspects.

"Van Tuinen & I are kinda like Clark Kent/Superman," Tong said. "We've never been seen in the same game together."

Which one is who?

"Obviously Van Tuinen is Superman and I'm Clark Kent," Tong answered. "Have you seen my batting average?"

"[W]e have to deal with a team who can hit well and has no glaring weak spot," analyzed Baturoni. "With Van Tuinen's great hitting, you say to yourself, '3 parts Bill, 2 parts DeMarini (Bill's bat)'."

The middle game will pit the Minor Prophets against the Home Invaders.

"We look forward to getting back on track," Coughlin predicted. "The Home Invaders are a better team than their record indicates but we plan on preventing their invasion of the win column for another week. I put their chances of winning at about the same percent as a Libertarian winning the presidency in 2012."

The final game of the morning showcases the main event: The Franchise putting their three-game winning streak on the line against the top-ranked Friars, who have a three-game winning streak of their own on the line.

"We think it's going to be a fun game and can't wait to challenge ourselves by playing one of the two top teams in the league," Huntington said.

"Realistically, I just want our team to play good ball and see our team improve our play every week," Hodge countered. "We emphasize defense and believe that when we play good defense, the offense follows."