2024 SPRING PRACTICE (beginning January 26, 2024)
Unofficial Recaps by Roger Tower (unless otherwise noted)
January 26, 2024
The first preseason scrimmage got underway just as a light drizzle began. We got in in 2 1/2 innings plus before the game was delayed by lightning. I elected to leave at that time.
The home team had a 3-2 lead when the game was delayed after Riedel walked to lead off the bottom of the third for the home squad.
McCracken pitched the first two innings for the home team. The visitors scored once off him on a HR by Max Johnson with two outs in the second inning.
Parker Smith pitched the first two innings for the visitors. The home squad scored twice in the first. Once on a fielder's choice and once on a throwing error. Smith struck out two in the bottom of the second. Salazar had a single to right.
Stratton pitched the third inning for the home squad. McDonald homered to right. Cumming and Rank each singled. Cumming scored on Becker's fielder's choice grounder to second.
January 27, 2024
Gray 2, Blue 2 (6 innings)
The squads drew 2-2 today.
The visiting team scored single runs in the 5th and 6th innings.
The home squad scored on back-to-back HRs by Riedel and Garibay in the bottom of the 6th.
Pitchers for the home squad:
Hamilton 2 innings, no Rs, 1 single, 1 BB, and 2 Ks.
Fox 2 innings, no Rs, no Hs, and 2 Ks.
Blank 2 innings, 2 Rs, 3 Hs, and 2 Ks and 3 BBs.
Ben-Shoshan 2 innings, no Rs, 2 Hs, 3 Ks and 2 BBs.
Pitchers for the visiting squad:
Mayo 2 innings, no Rs, no Hs, and 1 K.
Matthews 1 inning, no Rs, no Hs, and 1 K.
Rodriguez 2 innings, no Rs, 2 Hs, and 1 K.
Fuentes 2 innings, 2 Rs, 3 Hs, 1 K and 1 BB.
Gallant 2 innings, no Rs,2 Hs, and 2 K.
Home squad hitting highlights:
Riedel HR, single
Garibay HR
Gallo single
Garza single
Dukes 2 singles
Visiting squad hitting highlights:
Cummings 2 singles
Rank single
Motley single
Becker single, double
During the Fan Fest tomorrow there will be another scrimmage game starting at 2:00 PM
January 28, 2024
Away 6, Home 2 (7 innings)
It was an absolutely perfect day for Fan Fest. Great weather, great attendance, great food and the kids loved it.
The scrimmage went off at 2:00 PM.
The Away squad scored once in the first. Riedel singled with one out. He scored on Garza’s double to right-center with two outs.
Home failed to score in the first. Each team was held scoreless in the second.
The Away team scored 2 on Garibay’s HR in the third. After Home failed to score in the third, Gallo homered in the 4th to put Away up 4-0.
Rank’s HR in the 4th got Home on the scoreboard.
Gallo homered again in the 6th. Garza doubled home Garibay for Away’s final run. Score was now 6-1.
L. West homered for the Home squad to make the final 6-2 in 7 innings
Away Pitchers:
Ralamb 2 inn, 0R, 1H, 3K,1BB
Perkins 2 inn, 1R,1H 4 K,1BB
Paul Smith 2 Inn , 0R,2H,1 K
Rheaume 1 inn, 1 R, 2H, 2K, 1BB
Home Pitchers:
Hickson 2 inn, 1R, 3H, 4K, 0 BB
Fernandez 2 inn, 3R, 4H,1K, 1BB
Williams 2 inn, 1R,1H, 1 K,1B
Zatopek 1 inn, 1R, 1H, 2 K, 0BB
Away offense:
Gallo 2 HRs, 2 RBI
Riedel 2 S
Garibay 1 HR , 1 RBI
Garza 2 S, 1 D
Correa 1 S
Home offense:
Cumming 1S
McDonald 1 T, 1 D
Rank 1 HR, 1 RBI
L. West 1 D, 1 HR, 1 RBI
February 2, 2024
Away 5, Home 4 (7 innings)
It was an absolutely perfect day for Fan Fest.
The fourth preseason intrasquad game saw the Away (Navy) squad hold off the Home (Gray) squad to win 5-4.
Each starter went 3 innings with the middle relievers and the closers each going two innings.
Parker Smith started for the home squad. He gave up two runs in the second inning. Johnson reached on an infield error. Duffield and Robson each singled. Johnson scored on Robson's infield single. Duffield would score on a wild pitch. Parker Smith struck out 3, walked 1 and gave up 3 hits.
McCracken started for the road team and also gave up 2 runs in the second inning. In the second, Becker singled with one out. G. West and Anderson walked with two outs. Becker and G. West scored on a single to left by Cumming. McCracken struck out 2, gave up 3 hits and walked 3.
With the score tied at 2 in the fourth, Vincent relieved Smith and Stratton took over for McCracken.
Each pitched shutout ball in their 2 innings of work. Vincent allowed 2 hits (singles by Garza and Correa) and struck out 2. Stratton retired all six batters he faced (4 ground outs and 2 pop-ups).
In the sixth, Ben-Shoshan relieved for the home team. Fox came in for the visitors.
Each pitcher held the other team scoreless in the sixth.
In the seventh, the away squad rallied against Ben-Shoshan with two outs. Royo doubled to center. Riedel hit a 2 run HR to center. Gallo followed with a HR to left. A pop out ended the rally.
In the bottom of the seventh, the home squad mounted a rally against Fox. Salazar was HBP. G. West sacrificed Salazar to second but reached first on a fielding error. Anderson walked to load the bases. Cumming was HBP to drive home Salazar. A strikeout followed. Rank's sac-fly to right scored G. West. L. West walked. The game ended when Fox got out the final batter.
Ben-Shoshan gave up 3 hits, 1 BB with 1 SO.
Fox allowed one hit (a single to Rank), 2 HBP, 2 BB, and 4 Ks.
Scrimmage is scheduled for 2:00 PM tomorrow.
February 3, 2024
Away 10, Home 9 (after 7 innings)
After a very stormy night, the weather cleared to give us a perfect afternoon for today's scrimmage.
Rodriguez opened for the home squad. Hamilton for the visitors.
The visitors struck first with three runs in the second. Gallo singled. Garza doubled to right to score Gallo. Johnson's infield single sent Garza to third. Johnson stole second and Garza scored on the errant throw to second. Johnson wound up on third. He scored on a wild pitch. Two strikeouts and a pop-out ended the frame.
Hamilton retired the first 8 batters. Anderson walked with two out in the third. Cumming singled. Each runner advanced on an error. Anderson scored on McDonald's infield single to short. A grounder to second ended the rally.
Rodriguez pitched 3 innings . 3 R, 3 H, 5 K, 1 BB
Hamilton pitched 3 innings. 1 R, 2 H, 3 K, 1 BB
Zatopek relieved Rodriquez.
Visitors scored twice in the fourth. With one out, Johnson singled. Duffield was HBP. Robson singled to right to send Johnson home. Robson was caught stealing. Duffield advanced to third. He scored on a sac-fly to left by Devenny.
Zatopek pitched 1 inning. 2 R, 2 H
Blank pitched the 4th and 5th innings for the Away team.
Home answered the 2 run rally from the Away squad with a 5 run inning. L. West doubled. West was out on fielder's choice. Motley reached first. Becker singled. Salazar was HBP to load the bases. G. West was HBP pitch. RBI. Anderson singled to right to score 2 runs. Cumming singled to fill the bases again. McDonald hit sac-fly to center to score G. West. Rank was HBP. Anderson scored on WP. A fly out ended the stanza. Home failed to score in the fifth. Becker hit a one out double to right. He was stranded as Blank struck out the next two batters.
Blank pitched 2 innings. 5 R, 5 H, 2 K
Matthews pitched innings 5 and 6 for Home.
With 2 outs in the firth, Away scored two runs on a walk, a Gallo single, and three more walks. The inning was called.
In the sixth, A way scored three more runs. A walk to Robson was followed by a Devenny double. Robson scored. Devenny was out at third on a fielder's choice grounder back to the pitcher. Riedel homered driving home Correa. A foul pop out ended the rally.
Matthews pitched 2 innings, 5 R, 3 ZH, 1 K, 5 BB
Ralamb pitched a scoreless 6th for the visitors.
Mayo pitched a scoreless seventh inning for Home. He pitched 1 inning, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB
In the 7th, Home tallied 3 runs. Rank singled. Motley sacrificed him to second. Becker got his third hit of the day with a single to drive home Rank. Salazar homered to score 2 runs. A groundout and strikeout ended the inning.
Ralamb pitched 2 innings, 3 R, 3 H2 K, 1BB
Visitors 10, Home 9 After 7 innings
I left before the game was completed.
Tomorrow's scrimmage is scheduled for a 1:00 PM start.
February 4, 2024
Home 16, Away 5 ( 9 innings)
On a windy but pretty afternoon, the Home team outscored the visitors 16-5.
The visitors were held scoreless through the first three innings by Perkins.
Home scored 4 runs in the 1st inning. McDonald singled, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball. Johnson walked. Riedel homered to center. Rank walked and moved around the bases on an error, a wild pitch and a dropped pop fly. Home would add two more runs in the 3rd on two walks and some more stolen bases and a wild pitch. The second run scored on a single to right by Cumming.
Home 6 Visitors 0 after 3 innings.
Visitors scored one in the 4th on a single by Salazar and a walk to Royo after Salazar stole second. Salazar would score on two wild pitches.
It was Home up 6-1 after 5 innings.
After the Visitors failed to score in the 6th, the Home team would score 4 runs. Cumming walked and scored on L. West's double. McDonald walked. Johnson's 3 run HR to right cleared the bases. There was no further scoring in the frame.
The Visitors scored two runs in the 7th on Becker's triple to right.
The Home squad added 4 more runs in the 7th. Rank walked and stole 2nd. Gallo singled him home. Gallo stole 2nd. Garza's single moved Gallo to 3rd. Cumming homered to score the two runners.
It was now 14-3 after 7 frames.
The Visitors scored on solo HR's by Royo and Becker in the 8th and 9th respectively.
Becker would end the day a double shy of a cycle.
The Home team would score 2 runs in a collective 8th and 9th innings.
Johnson walked, Riedel hit a ground rule double. Rank singled the runners home.
Final after 9 innings Home 16, Visitors 5.
Home pitchers were Perkins, Rheaume, Williams and Fuentes (3,2,2,2 innings)
Visitor pitchers were Fernandez, Hickson, Paul Smith and Gallant (2,3,2,2)
Those are innings pitched in not necessarily 3 out innings.
February 9, 2024
Home 4, Away 3 ( 8 innings)
Today's game was played in just over 2 hours on a day that the weather was much better than expected.
The Away squad scored single runs in the 1st, 3rd and 6th innings.
In the first, Becker singled, stole second and scored on a Duffield single.
In the third, Robson singled and was balked to second. He stole third and advanced home on a throwing error on the steal. Becker doubled later but was stranded.
In the sixth, Away extended their lead to 3 runs. Becker singled, advanced on a balk and took third a fielder's choice. He scored on Devenny's infield single.
The home squad got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Johnson singled to right. He stole second and scored on Rank's soft-liner.
Away was up 3-1 after 6.
Home rallied in the seventh with three runs.
Garza singled to center. Cumming bunted him to second. L. West doubled down the right field line. Garza scored. Dukes singled to center. L. West scored. Dukes advanced on the throw. Dukes took third on a fielder's choice. Riedel singled to left. Dukes scored. The rally ended on a grounder.
After 7 innings, Home was up 4-3. There was no further scoring,
Away pitching:
Parker Smith 4 inn, 0 R, 3 H, 3 SO
Ben-Shoshan 2 inn, 1 R, 2 H, 2 SO
Stratton 2 inn, 3 R, 6 H
Home pitching:
Hamilton 4 inn, 2 R, 5, 6 SO
McCracken 4 inn, 1 R, 2, 2 SO, 1 BB
Offensive highlights:
Away
Becker 2 S, 1 D, 2 R
Devenny 2 S, 1 RBI
Duffield 1 S, 1 RBI
Robson 1 S, 1 R
Home
L. West 2 S, 1 D, 1 R, 1 RBI
Garza 2 S, 1 D, 1R
Dukes 1 S, 1 R, 1 RBI
Johnson 1 S, 1 R
Riedel 1 S,1 RBI
Rank 1 S,1 RBI
McDonald 1 S
Note that there was only one walk and no hit-by-pitch today.