15 Innings In New Jersey

While not the longest game of the day in either innings or time, Saturday night's matchup between the Lakewood BlueClaws (Phillies) and the Lake County Captains (Indians) went the most extra innings.

In a game scheduled for 7 innings, the 5,397 fans in attendance saw 8 extra innings played, as hometown Lakewood beat Lake County 5-4 on Avelino Asprilla's sacrifice fly.

Asprilla drove in three runs in the game. His sacrifice fly in the 15th off Mark Jecmen (2-4) drove home Mike Spidale, who led off the inning with a single, stole second and moved to third on a groundout by Jeremy Slayden.

It was the second longest game of the season for the Captains, who played 16 innings in a game at Greenville exactly one month ago.

Chris Raulinaitis (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the BlueClaws to earn the win. He issued a pair of walks with one out in the top of the 15th, but struck out Juan Valdes and got Matt Fornasiere on a groundout.

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The game was scheduled for 7 innings as part of a doubleheader. The 1:00 AM ending time meant the second game was delayed until Sunday night, weather and time permitting.

16 Innings Win For San Jose

It took 16 innings and 301 minutes, but the San Jose Giants scored 4 runs in the 16th to beat the Stockton Ports (A's) 7-4.

Tim Hutting led off the 16th with his 3rd hit of the game, a clean single to left off Stephen Obenchain (1-1), Stockton's sixth pitcher of the night. After Steve Holm sacrificed Hutting to second, Alex Requena delivered a flare to left field that dropped in front of a sliding Luis Perez, scoring Hutting with the go-ahead run, with Requena taking second on the throw home. Requena moved to third on a wild pitch. After John Bowker walked, Mark Minicozzi delivered an insurance RBI with a bloop single to center to score Requena. Carlos Sosa followed with a rocket to right to score Bowker. Right-fielder Myron Leslie bobbled the ball, allowing Minicozzi to advance to third -- from where he scored the 4th run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Julio Cordido.

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It was Stockton's 7th extra inning loss in the California League (Class A Advanced) this season.

Two Complete-Game Shutouts Friday

There were two complete-game shutouts in the minors on Friday. In Charleston, SC, Columbus Catfish (Dodgers) pitcher James McDonald went 9 innings in shutting down the Charleston Riverdogs (Yankees), 2-0.

McDonald, who came into the evening with a 0-3 record and a 4.85 ERA in six previous appearances against the RiverDogs, was masterful at times. The Long Beach, CA native set the RiverDogs down in order six times and worked around leadoff hits in the other three innings. On the way to earning his second complete game victory in less than two weeks, the right hander allowed just three Charleston hits while walking two and recording 10 strikeouts.

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The Catfish and Riverdogs play in the South Atlantic League (Class A).

In the independent Can-Am League, Brad Guy of the Brockton Rox pitched the first game of a doubleheader to get a complete game shutout of the New Jersey Jackals.

Guy was magnificent in the early game, stranding the bases full in the first inning, and proceeding to retire 19 consecutive batters in the third Rox complete-game shutout of the season. The Rox scored four runs in the third inning on an RBI single by 1B Francisco Lebron and a three-run HR off the bat of C Jason Radwan. 3B Jeff LaRue added an RBI double in the fifth inning, his second two-bagger of the night.

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Under minor league rules, doubleheader games are 7 innings.

Whitecaps Win In 14

It took 14 innings, but the Western Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers) won a 1-0 14-inning marathon against the Dayton Dragons (Reds).

Justin Justice led off the top of the 14th with a triple. Pedro Cotto drove in Justice with a sacrifice fly to center field.

Five Whitecaps pitchers combined for the shutout, which trimmed West Michigan’s Midwest League-lead team ERA back to an even 3.00.

Scheduled starter Luke French was a late scratch due to a flu-like illness that has affected most of the team.

Josh Kauten made the spot start and threw five scoreless innings with just one hit allowed. In fact, Kauten retired the last 14 batters that he faced.

Paul Hammond and Ricky Steik each chipped in three innings on the mound for the Whitecaps. Jose Fragoso pitched the 12th and Matt Rusch (9-3) threw the 13th and 14th to earn his ninth win in relief.

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Western Michigan and Dayton play in the Midwest League (Class A).

Quakes Score 21

Each team hit 3 home runs, but Rancho Cucamonga scored 21 runs as they as the Quakes (Angels) beat the Lancaster JetHawks (Diamondbacks) 21-8.

Ben Johnson and LeBlanc led off the sixth with singles, and after moving into scoring position on a wild pitch both came home on Ryan Leahy’s two-run double. Michael Collins followed with a ground ball that shortstop Derek Bruce whiffed on, allowing Leahy to score and putting the Quakes up 9-6. Leahy delivered another big blow in the seventh, driving a three-run double to the wall in left before scoring on Collins’s RBI single as Rancho Cucamonga took a 13-6 lead. The fun continued in the eighth as the Quakes tacked on six more runs while sending a dozen men to the plate. Baltazar Lopez and Freddy Sandoval led off with doubles to make it 14-6, Johnson added a sacrifice fly to make it 15-6, and after backup catcher Richard Mercado had entered to pitch Collins sent a three-run double into the right field corner for an 18-6 advantage before Reilly lined an RBI single to right.

Johnson got the Quakes to the 20-run mark in the top of the ninth with a solo homer to right off Bruce (yes, the shortstop), and LeBlanc followed with a single. Leahy walked with one out to move LeBlanc to second, and Collins then hit a roller that snuck into right field. Quakes manager Bobby Mitchell gave LeBlanc the stop sign at third but LeBlanc ran right through it and scored easily to rewrite the record book. The previous record of 20 runs was set August 10, 1997 at Visalia.

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The Quakes and the JetHawks play in the California League (Class A Advanced).

Southwest Michigan's Wade Davis tosses no-hiter, loses game

A Southwest Michigan fan
experiences one of those
nights. (Battle Creek Enquirer)

In the day of their first ever home game, the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays were snowed out. On the day of their last ever home game, they lost a no-hitter.

5,348 fans, four times their season average of 1,327, watched a doubleheader that closed out the Southwest Michigan's existence. Next season, the team moves to Midland, MI, and become the Great Lakes Loons.

Thursday night, game one of the doubleheader, saw the Devil Rays lose a heartbreaker.

In Game 1, Davis threw the franchise's fifth no-hitter, and second of the season, but Beloit (37-29) scored an unearned run in the fourth inning and it was enough to defeat Southwest Michigan's anemic offense. Oddly, Yancarlos Ortiz, who scored the game's only run, reached base on a Davis fielding error.

Davis (7-12) said the only other no-hitter he threw came when he was "like 10 or 11."

"I didn't have command of all my pitches but they made some good plays behind me," said the 20-year-old Davis.

Davis' seven-inning whitewashing is the third-ever losing no-hitter in Midwest League history and the first since 1972.

The 6-foot-5 Davis, ranked as Tampa Bay's sixth-best prospect, threw 93 pitches—60 of them strikes.

"In the fourth inning I told (hitting coach) Brady (Williams) it would be appropriate to throw a no-hitter and lose," Lichtenstein said.

"It's unfortunate. Wade's been special all year."

In the seventh inning of Game 1, Rays catcher Christian Lopez reached third base with no outs on a three-base error on Beloit pitcher Adam Hawes. But, in a summary of the Rays' season, Lopez was left at third because nobody got the ball out of the infield.

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Game two saw Southwest Michigan beat the Beloit Snappers (Twins) 5-2. The teams play in the Midwest League (Class A).

Little League World Champs To Be Honored By Hometown Team

From the Columbus Catfish:

The Columbus Catfish will celebrate the accomplishments of the 2006 World Champion Columbus Northern Little League team during the Catfish home finale against the Rome Braves Thursday at 7:00pm at Golden Park. As a salute to Columbus, Georgia little leaguers, the Catfish will host Little League Appreciation Night. All area little leaguers who suit up in uniform will get a free general admission ticket.

The Catfish will also be joined by Children’s Miracle Network at The Medical Center. Families of CMN and their sponsors should contact CMN for tickets. Columbus Regional Hospital employees get a $3 general admission ticket when showing their ID badge at the ticket window. During the game members of Phi Mu will be on hand to raise funds for CMN.

Monday afternoon three Catfish players visited Columbus Regional Hospital. Pitchers Joe Jones, Dave Preziosi and Jordan Pratt toured the high-risk nursery and the children’s ward. Their afternoon activities ranged from chatting about baseball to playing with dolls, all to the delight of CMN youngsters.

The game against Rome wraps up the 2006 Catfish home schedule. Then Columbus goes on the road for one last four-game series against the Charleston RiverDogs. For tickets or more information call (706) 571-8866 or visit www.ColumbusCatfish.com.

Columbus and Rome actually play two games today. Because of last night's rainout, the teams square off at 5:00 PM in the first of two 7-inning games.

Former Minor Leaguer Killed In Louisville Plane Crash

photo: CBS

Former minor league player Jon Hooker and his new bride were among the 49 people killed Sunday morning in the crash of Comair Flight 5191 in Louisville.

Hooker had married Scarlett Parsley the night before, and were heading to Atlanta for a honeymoon flight to California.

Hooker played college ball at the University of Kentucky and signed with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent in 2001. His professional playing career involved being a part of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 2003 Northern League champions. He also played with the RedHawks in 2004, before being traded to the Joliet Jackhammers, where he finished 2004 and spent part of 2005.

More coverage: Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks

Lumberkings pitcher loses no-hitter, game

Jake Rasner faced one batter over the minimum, but no run support meant his one-hitter was a losing cause Friday night. In a game scheduled for 7 innings, the 8th proved disastrous for Rasner and the Clinton Lumberkings (Rangers) as they dropped a 1-0 contest to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Mariners).

With the very first pitch of the eighth inning, Rattlers catcher Curtis Ledbetter changed everything. Ledbetter lined the pitch off the Fox Cities Stadium scoreboard in left-center field, ending Rasner's no-hitter, shutout, and most importantly his win as Wisconsin defeated the LumberKings, 1-0 in the second game of a double-header.

Rasner (L, 5-16) allowed only three baserunners through seven innings, battling through a scoreless contest with Rattlers lefty David Asher. The LumberKings had several chances against Asher and reliever Brian Kappel, leaving a pair of runners stranded in the sixth and the bases loaded in the eighth.

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The loss puts the Lumberkings in the cellar of the Midwest League (Class A) Western Divisoin, a game behind the Timber Rattlers.

14 Innings In Huntsville

Huntsville Stars (Brewers) LF Brendan Katin hit a 2-out solo home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the home team a 4-3 win over the Mississippi Braves Friday night. The Braves catcher was the losing pitcher.

Braves’ catcher Ray Serrano pitched a scoreless 13th inning and retired the first two hitters in the 14th before Katin blasted a 2-1 offering over the wall in left-center field toward the scoreboard for his third home run of the week and his second game-winner since joining the team. Backup catcher Jon Williams worked out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the 11th inning and tossed a scoreless 12th before switching positions with Serrano.

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The win puts Huntsville up by a game and a half in the Southern League (Double A) North Division with 10 games left on their schedule.

24 Runs For Fresno

The Fresno Grizzlies (Giants) didn't score in every inning Friday night. Imagine if they had.

When the game ended, the home team had scored 24 runs against Sacramento River Cats (A's).

The Grizzlies pounded out 24 hits with eight doubles and two home runs to rally from an early 8-2 deficit to pick up their second straight win over the River Cats.

Fresno right fielder Jason Ellison went 5-for-5, tying a single-game record for hits in a game and runs in a game with five runs scored to pace the Grizzlies.

Seven Grizzlies had multi-hit games with Lance Niekro and Jed Hansen recording four hits each and Clay Timpner and Fred Lewis with three hits.

Timpner blasted a grand slam in the 8th inning for his third home run of the season as he finished with a season-high five RBIs. Hansen homered for the second consecutive game in the 8th inning.

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It's Fresno's second win in a row against Sacremento, coming on the heels of a Sacramento sweep of Fresno. The two teams play in the Pacific Coast League (Triple A).

16 Innings In Connecticut

The Connecticut Defenders (Giants) came from behind in the 9th inning, but lost it in the 16th, to the Reading Phillies.

The Defenders battled from behind all night. Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the 5th inning, Nate Schierholtz who had already doubled to extend his hit streak to 20 games, hit a two run home run over the wall in deep right to make it a 5-4 Reading lead. The Phillies would score two more runs, but in the bottom of the 9th inning trailing 7-4, the Defenders came all the way back. Connecticut scored three runs to tie the game with the last one scoring on a Juan Sosa error at deep short.

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In the 16th, Reading LF Joey Hammond reached on a ground-rule double, then, with 2 outs, scored when 1B Brandon Gemoll singled on a liner to right. The run held up, and the Phillies won the Eastern League (Double-A) contest.

United League Playoffs Begin

United League Baseball playoffs begin tomorrow night.

The Edinburg Coyotes are top seed. They'll play the 4th seed Laredo Broncos. The 2nd place San Angelo Colts will play the 3rd place Alexandria Aces.


Complete final standings

              W   L   PCT GB
EDINBURG     57  33  .633     
SAN ANGELO   46  44  .511 11.0
ALEXANDRIA   45  44  .506 11.5
LAREDO       44  46  .489 13.0
AMARILLO     39  50  .438 17.5
RIO GRANDE   38  52  .422 19.0

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Ironbirds' Figueroa hits for cycle

Danny Figueroa became the first player in the history of the Aberdeen Ironbirds (Orioles) to hit for the cycle Wednesday night against the Staten Island Yankees.

Figueroa went 4-for-5 and hit the first grand slam in franchise history as part of an eight-run second inning. Figueroa doubled in the fourth, singled in the sixth and tripled in the seventh to complete the cycle in his second home game since rejoining Aberdeen on rehab on Sunday.

Figueroa’s grand slam was part of a wild second inning in which Aberdeen sent 13 men to the plate and Staten Island starter James Conroy was ejected. Conroy (0-2) took the loss after he gave up six runs on five hits in 1 1/3 innings. He was ejected after his first pitch sailed behind Pedro Florimon, Jr., the first Aberdeen batter after Figueroa hit the grand slam.

Figueroa’s six RBIs led the way for the IronBirds and Miguel Abreu, David Cash and Kieron Pope added two RBIs apiece as part of the offensive outburst.

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Aberdeen and Staten Island play in the New York-Penn League (Class A Short-Season)

San Diego Forfeits To Yuma

Bus trouble. That's what caused the San Diego Surf Dawgs to forfeit their game to the Yuma Scorpions Monday.

With the forfeit, the Surf Dawgs stand 15-18 for the second half of the season. With the win, Yuma is 13-19.

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The two teams play in the Golden Baseball League.

Fort Worth No Hits El Paso

Fort Worth Cats pitcher Joel Kirsten threw the first no-hitter in modern Cats history Monday night, en route to a 2-0 won over the El Paso Diablos.

Kirsten faced just two batters above the minimum, permitting a walk in the fourth inning and hitting a batter to start the eighth. He struck out a season-high 11 as he notched his second complete game of the year and his seventh win on the season.

With the victory, the Cats clinched at least a tie for a playoff spot in the American Association South as they reduced their magic number to one.

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It's the first no-hitter thrown in the new American Association. The Cats returned to Fort Worth in 2001. The American Association returned this season.

Mavericks Combine For No Hitter

The High Desert Mavericks (Royals) recorded the first no-hitter in franchise history Monday as Patrick Green and Jarod Plummer combined to shut down the Inland Empire 66ers (Mariners).

Green faced the minimum through six innings by throwing his sharp slider for strikes early in the count. Womack reached on a two-out walk in the bottom of the second on an 0-2 pitch, but was thrown out between first and second as he took off too early and Green's throw to Irving Falu at the second base bag was in time to catch the baserunner. Working against a small strike zone where neither starting pitcher was given any benefit of the doubt on the outside corner, Green began to labor in the seventh as he issued three walks in the frame and left with the bases loaded and two outs, giving way to Plummer who induced the Womack popout to shallow left on a running catch by James Tomlin. In the ninth inning, Plummer struck Luis Valbuena and Arroyo swinging, though Arroyo took first on the passed ball. Ronnie Prettyman then send a slow chopper up the middle, though Falu charged the ball, picked it up on the shorthop, and fired over to Stodolka at first for the second out of the inning as Arroyo took second base. With a 2-2 count on Casey Craig, he got underneath a ball and popped it up on the infield as Mike Gaffney moved underneath it and pulled it down on top of the third baseline for the final out of the game.

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The Mavericks and 66ers play in the California League (Class A Advanced).

Columbus (GA) Ballpark Suffers Damage

photo: Columbus Catfish

When the Columbus Catfish (Dodgers) return home from their short road trip up to Rome, they'll have another issue to contend with. While heavy rains interferred with the game against the Rome Braves, heavy winds were wreaking havoc on Golden Park in Columbus.

The center field wall collapsed, and damage was done to the pressbox, the scoreboard, the billboards, and a light tower. Additionally, there was damage to the playing field.

The plan is for a temporary fence to be erected in center field in time for Thursday night's homestand opener. If everything is repaired sufficiently by Thursday, the Catfish' final homestand of the year will take place with several promotions that have been delayed by weather rescheduled for this week.

Four Extra Innings Games In Frontier League

Four of five games played Sunday in the Frontier League went extra innings. And the one game that didn't go into extra frames was won in the bottom of the 9th.

The Windy City ThunderBolts took 12 innings to beat the Evansville Otters 3-2.

CF Kevin House hit a single with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of the twelfth inning to score Anthony Seratelli. [more]

The Washington Wild Things won a 10-5 11-inning contest with the Florence Freedom. Things fell apart for Florence in the top of the 11th.

Chris Carter began the inning with a single. The left fielder would be brought in after a double by Peavey, making the score 6-5. Lance Koenig advanced the score 7-5 after a RBI single, bringing in Peavey. The rest of the damage was done by the Florence bullpen, as they allowed six walks in the 11th inning alone with pitcher Patrick Clayton creating most of the damage with four walks. Washington earned three more runs and sealed the victory by a solid defensive performance in the bottom of the 11th.

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It took 12 innings for the Gateway Grizzlies to edge the Traverse City Beach Bums 7-6.

Rob Wirth hit a one-out home run in the bottom of the 12th inning Sunday night to lift the Gateway Grizzlies (31-48) to a 7-6 win over the visiting Traverse City Beach Bums (48-33). The second consecutive exta inning win for the Grizzlies came in front of 3,783 fans at GCS Ballpark.

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The River City Rascals won a 5-4 contest from the Chillicothe Paints in 12 innings.

The Rascals continue to make believers in this late season push for the West Division Wild Card spot as an extra-innings single by Trave Hopkins gave River City a 5-4 dramatic victory over the best team in the Frontier League. Chillicothe led 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning when the Rascals’ catcher smacked a single to right off of Eric Teall that scored the tying and winning runs for River City who took three of four games from the first place Paints.

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The lone 9-inning game in the Frontier League almost went extra innings. The Kalamazoo Kings won their game with the Rockford RiverHawks in the bottom of the 9th.

The Rockford RiverHawks had a chance to get their first sweep in Kalamazoo in team history, but the Kalamazoo Kings had different plans.

Mike Russell hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning for a walkoff Kings victory, 4-2.

Rockford was still able to get their first ever series win in Kalamazoo by winning the first two games of the series.

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No Hitter For Missoula

Two Missoula Ospreys (Diamondbacks) pitchers combined for a no-hitter Sunday. Osbek Castillo and Hector Ambriz combined to no-hit the Casper Rockies.

Castillo lasted six innings and retired the last 16 he faced. The only Rockies batter to reach off Castillo came on a two out walk to Austin Rauch in the first. Ambriz then followed retiring the first six he faced and allowed only one base runner via third baseman Andrew Fie's throwing error to put Radamis Nazario on base leading off the ninth.

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Missoula and Casper play in the Pioneer League (Rookie).