Sunday, March 19, 2006

IGBC Round 1

Here's how the teams finished:

USA 5-3
Tatooine 5-3
ET 4-4
Beisbol 3-5
Earth 3-5

Team Beisbol needed a win vs Tattooine in game 8, and got it, 1-0, behind ace Elvis Rodriguez. They were 1-1 vs Team Earth, and advance due to the second tiebreaker, allowing fewer runs.

Team USA was 2-0 vs Tattooine United, so they got the #1 seed.

In the semi-finals, Tattoine won 2-0 behind Pedro Lewis, and 8-7 in a comeback win. Roger Lewis was hit hard, allowing 5 runs in the 4th inning, but Jet Storm was unable to close out a 7-5 lead in the 9th. The game winning run was scored by Frank Lewis on a Damon Nkik sac fly off Rudiger Rocker. Troy Lewis picked up the win. The college Jawa has pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings with a win and 4 saves.

Team USA won 7-3 behind Lee Harvey Oswalt, then lost 4-3 as Javier Mercedes pitched 5 innings allowing 2 runs and Javier Cavazos pitched 3 perfect innings in relief.

In Game 3, Roger Chillingworth went 7 innings in a 10-1 rout, and Ray Hamilton had 2 homers.

Team USA will take on Tattooine United in the finals.

Roger Chillingworth leads all pitchers with 3 wins, Troy Lewis leads with 4 saves. Elvis Dixon has been the top hitter, leading in Batting (.429) On base percentage (.523) and slugging (.686). Team USA's Brian Kaat is a perfect 8-8 in stolen base attempts. Brett Solo has 13 RBI, and Mark Crawford and Chad White led in homeruns with 4.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Big Pitcher's Duel

Tatooine United defeats Team Earth 3-1 behind Roger Lewis. Nomad Garciajawa had a homer, and BJ Lewis had 2 hits and 2 RBI. Roger Lewis went 8 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits with 8 strikeouts. Rufus Anderson, the losing pitcher, pitched well himself, striking out 10 vs 2 walks.

Roger had faced 33 batters through 8, the most so far of any pitcher in the competition, so Big Cheese needed to remove him for the 9th. He brought in 21 year old Troy Lewis, college jawa, who has never thrown a professional inning. Troy quickly put any worries to rest, retiring team Beisbol 1-2-3 in the 9th.

Team ET defeated Team Beisbol 8-6, using bullpen aces Jet Storm and Rudiger for a combined 3 2/3 innings to finish out the game. Manfred Mueller hit 2 homers, knockin in 3. The underdog Team ET is now 3-1. They were considered the weakest team in the tournament due to poor pitching depth, but so far Eddie Bird is doing his best managing since leaving Utah in 1998. Team USA is 2-1, Tattoine United is 2-0, and the other two teams are still searching for a win. One of them will get it as they face each other tomorrow.

More IGBC results

Game 1 of Team Beisbol vs Tatooine United started off as a pitcher's duel. Roger Lewis was dominant over 4 innings as his team took a 2-0 lead, but then the game was suddenly canceled as the skies over Mos Eisely opened up, breaking a 500 year draught. This was the highest profile baseball event in the history of Tatooine, and the Sandpeople in the outfield bleachers were extremely rowdy, taking blaster shots at random beer venders, and hollering for the whole game. This game will be rescheduled after the other round 1 games are over.

For game 2, Tatooine United got to the weak team ET bullpen for a 16-3 rout. Brett Solo drove in 6, including a grand slam. Pedro Lewis experienced some discomfort in his toe, and had to leave in the 4th inning. Owen Raider, a pitcher in the Tatooine amateur league, took over and pitched 3 solid innings for the win, much to the delight of the Sandpeople. What really got them going though was the 9th inning appearance of outfielder Johnny Tusken, who is considered likely to be the first Sandperson ever to be drafted in the APBA draft. He'll be eligible after the 2006 season.

Team USA defeated team Earth 6-3 behind 6 solid innings from Charlie Zito, and scored all 6 runs in the first 2 innings off Jojo Lewis. Team USA then defeated Team Beisbol 8-4 behind 5 strong innings from Roger Chillingworth. Mark Crawford had 2 homers, and Bob Belardi pitched 2 innings in relief, striking out 6. Danny Almonte suffered the loss.

Right now the standings are:

Tatooine United 1-0
Team USA 2-1
Team ET 1-1
Team Earth 0-1
Team Beisbol 0-1

IGBC game one is a big hit

Disney's Wide World of Sports, Orlando, Florida-

For the first game of the Inter Galactic Baseball Classic, Team ET upset the favorite, Team USA, in a thrilling 3-1 pitchers duel. Starters Lee Harvey Oswalt (USA) and Drother Hines (Mars) matched each other by allowing one solo homerun each over 7 innings. The homers were hit by centerfielders Mark Crawford (USA) and Chad White (Zeta Reticuli). Troy Everett pitched a scoreless and uneventful 8th for Team USA, while the always enigmatic Rudiger Rocker (Zeta Reticuli) survived a wild 8th inning. After striking out PH Brian Kaat, Rocker allowed a single to Hal Glover and a double to Hank Crowell before walking Keith Lee to load the bases, bringing up DH Sonic Russell. Russell tried a suicide squeeze but missed the bunt, and Glover was tagged out at the plate. Russell then hit a deep drive to center field that was tracked down by 4 time gold glover White for the final out.

In the 9th, Anakin Solo (Coruscant) led off with a single and was replaced with pinch runner Tigatron (Cybertron). Tigatron was thrown out, making team ET 0 for 3 in stolen base attempts on the day. Manfred Mueller (Zeta Reticuli) followed with a double, and Junior Spidey (Earth, but a mutant) ran for him. Spidey ran for him, and scored on an Adama Dunn (Battlestar) single, just beating the throw from RF Geoff Favre. Team ET added an insurance run, and then handed the ball to Portland closer Jet Storm (Cybertron) for the save.

Storm walked Favre to lead off the inning, then got Kobe Jones to hit into a force play. Storm then picked Jones off 1b, an incredibly dumb play by Jones considering his team needed two runs. After a Joe Thomas single, Chris McMullen popped out to end the game.

The 5 teams will play 8 games against each other to secure 4 semifinal seeds. Those 4 teams will then be matched in a best of 3 series, with the two winners facing each other in a best of 5 championship series.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Jeffrey Lewis Rejoins Herman

The Herman Sports Network is pleased to welcome back Jeffrey Lamar Lewis, former Microleague great, past contributor, and '87 Shocker. Jeffrey will be covering the 2006 Major League Season for us.

Welcome back, Jeffrey!