MCSN: June 14, 2014

Two For The Show

Week 2 Recap

By Rob Tong

Fri, Jun 27, 2014

Games were on despite the soggy week Chicago dodged the storms this past week, as it rained frequently but not torrentially. With the field good enough to play on, it was time for stormy action to hit the field.

The first game of the day featured Caravan against the Shield Bearers.

"Had a slow start, as equipment bag arrived late...around 7:15/20 and couldn't get much team practices in," said Shield manager David Cho. "But [a] few were able to get some batting practice. Little off-focus as we scrambled to get the field set, which got off to a slow start, so our batting was down since we've had 2 weeks off."

We trust the Shield Bearers don't believe in omens because one could be construed as such. It all went downhill from there as the Shield Bearers (0-2) were outscored 11-2 in the first three innings and never looked back on their way to a 24-10 laugher against the suddenly mighty Caravan (2-1).

The Bearers might need even more shields to stiffen up their defense after Caravan's Alex Ruffolo, Juan Cruz, Erik Summers, Pa Nelson, Steve Borgstrom, Randy Ruffolo and Aleris Fraats went a combined 24-for-27 and 18 RBI. Newcomers Josue Contreras and Andrew Keech were a combined 5-for-6 and Jon Chong chipped in 4 RBIs.

"The Shield Bearers were unable to extinguish all the flaming bats of the Caravan," said Caravan co-skipper Randy Ruffolo, not noticing the disconnect between the imagery of 'flaming bats' and 'Caravan'.

"Caravan had a good batting line up and were able to stop our offense," agreed Cho. "I didn't realize I was 0-for-3 batting at the No. 4 spot, which felt like a hole through my 'Shield'."

To add insult to insult (thankfully, there were no injuries), Caravan added nine more runs in the sixth to cap the scoring, the most runs scored in one inning since the Believas dropped 10 on Cannon on Aug 8, 2012.

"Caravan [was] eager to add some insurance even with a six run lead," Ruffolo said with a straight face. Anybody got some insurance to sell?

The Shield Bearers tried to regroup for their 9am matchup against Tectonic Plates. And maybe the Bearers borrowed some of those flaming bats because they hit a hot .686 against the Plates to take a 17-15 victory.

When Plate's Libbe Hassenfritz smacked one over Bearer center fielder Jason Folkerts' head, Cho realized "[this] was more difficult than [we] thought."

Add in an over-the-fence grand slam by Plate's Nathan Arnett and you would think the seismic hitting of the light blue shirts would lift their team to victory.

But Shield agent, er, Bearer David Fowler had other plans as he deposited his own over-the-fence home run, an opposite-field shot, and nine other Bearers hit a hot 21-for-25, including rookies Jason Folkerts, Scott Bartoszek, Noralba Gallegos, Raina Stoianof and Mario Catayong Jr., who hit an inside-the-park grand slam.

"Everyone chipped in to get the runs in," Cho noted.

The Shield Bearers (1-2) won their first game of the year while handing the Plates (1-1) their first loss of the season.

Tectonic Plates tried to emulate the Shield Bearers' formula for losing the first game and winning the second game, but maybe they got the wrong formula as they lost 13-9 to the Killer Beehs in the 10am game.

"Great game played by the Killer Beehs this week!" said their manager Bryan Beeh. "We were struck by the work and sickness bug, but played through it with the help of Shana Gallegos and David Cho of the Shield Bearers."

“I wasn't sure whether to cheer or repent.”

- Fruit Of The Spirit's Sam Baturoni as he watched teammate Alexis Castro chase an opponent while saying 'I'm going to get you!'

Maybe the so-called "work and sickness bug" was a ploy all along, as the Beehs used their short-handed but otherwise solid lineup to parade through 35 at-bats. Elsa Wiese went 3-for-4 while rookie Gene Yau chipped in two hits, augmenting Beeh's 4-for-5 effort and Andy Tisler's 3-for-4 day that included 4 RBI and a walk. The Beeh subs went 7-for-9 with five RBI.

"Andy Tisler pitched the game of his life in honor of his sick wife Andrea," Beeh added.

The Beehs defense backed him up as they remained undefeated (2-0). The Plates fell to 1-2.

The final game of the morning promised a storm of its own, as the Halos sought to keep the Fruit Of The Spirit winless.

Like the Plates, the Fruit didn't follow the formula either...at least not in the beginning, when they surged to a 5-3 lead after the first inning, thanks in part to an Ovi Tisler moon shot over the fence that actually landed on the roof of one of the buildings.

"Our team did much better than the previous week," Spirit manager (that just sounds weird) Sam Baturoni said. "I was excited by the play of Philip Nevels who had a single and a double."

Unfortunately for the Spirit-led team, they did end up following the formula as the Halos brought down the rain, outscoring the Fruit 13-1 the rest of the way. THe Halos improved to 2-0 while the Fruit Of The Spirit dropped to 0-3.

The Halos got contributions from rookies Jeff Kobayashi, Dan Armstrong, Josh Rosas, Chris Castallanet and Tom Collins, who combined to go 16-for-20 and nine RBI. Robert Martinez led the charge with four RBI by himself.

The Fruit Of The Spirit got more than twice the hits as they did in each of their two prior games, so there's a silver lining amid the storm.

Looking ahead to next week's action, the battle of the unbeatens opens the day as the Halos take on the Killer Beehs.

Beeh "is happy with his team's progress so far, but looks to this weekend's doubleheader as the true test the heart of the Killer Beehs."

The Beehs follow up the Halos with the Fruit Of The Spirit at 9am. The Fruit Of the Spirit then stick around to face the Shield Bearers at 10am. And the high-octane Caravan battle the Tectonic Plates.