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Marauders Sweep Stunned Otters |
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Written by PCBL Insider
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Saturday, 24 October 2009 20:31 |
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The Mount Airy Marauders have advanced to the Cooperstown League Championship Series following a convincing sweep of the three-time Cartwright Classic Champion Carolina River Otters.
Mount Airy ace Sam Turner set the tone for the series in Game One by limiting the Otters' legendarily explosive lineup to just two hits over six innings.
"Today, the kid showed what a truly special player he is," said Marauders first baseman Bob Small after the game.
"When you are on the field at Tate Park, looking up at all those Cartwright Banners, it can be very intimidating, even for a vet like me. But Sammy not only wasn't intimidated, he seemed even more focused than usual."
Following Turner's lead, the Marauders' bullpen continued to confuse the already off-balance Otters the rest of the way for a 2-1 victory.
Carolina came back determined to even the series in Game Two and both teams punched and counterpunched their way through the first five innings. In the sixth, however, a surprising knockout blow was delivered when Tom Robertson took a 1-2 slider from Carolina starter Ed Dayand deposited it deep into the right-centerfield bleachers for the grand-slam that ultimately sealed the Otters' fate.
Game Three saw the teams travel to a jubilant Park Avenue Grounds, where the young Marauders and their fired-up fans jumped all over the deflated Otters and completed the sweep with a 14-5 romp.
"God bless Mr. Muench," said one ecstatic Marauders fan on his way out of the park.
"Before he came here this club was one of the laughingstocks of the league. Now we're on the verge of being the best team in Coop!"
Is this, in fact, a changing of the guard in the Cooperstown League? Or has Carolina's vice-like hold on Abner's Circuit been merely temporarily loosened?
Only time will tell.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 25 October 2009 00:25 |
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Record Season For Rookie Robertson |
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Written by PCBL Insider
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Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:23 |
Mexico City outfielder Leslie Robertson finished the season on a tear to not only take the Cooperstown League batting title, but also set a new PCBL record with an average of .380.
The 25-year-old emerged as one the league's best players this season posting 222 hits, including 33 doubles, 12 triples, and 26 HR's. He also drove in a league-best 138 runs, led the league with 133 runs scored, drew more than 100 walks and stole 44 bases in what will undoubtedly go down as the greatest rookie performance in PCBL history.
Robertson's scorching finish pushed him ahead of Carolina's John Ballard (.372) for the batting crown. Both finished ahead of the previous league record of .369, set by Eugene Greene in the PCBL's inaugural season of 1993. Ballard also set a league record this season by smacking 196 singles.
Other record-setters this year included Wayne Robinson, of Las Vegas, who set a new mark with 70 two-baggers and Mount Airy hurlerSam Turner, whose 4 shutouts tied the league record. |
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Last Updated on Friday, 23 October 2009 01:02 |
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Written by PCBL Insider
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Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:31 |
The 2001 regular season is officially in the books and the second season is about to get underway. Here's a preview of the first-round matchups courtesy of the PCBL Insider.
The defending Cartwright Classic Champion San Diego Rowdies are back to defend their title. The Rowdies managed to win the Pacific Division Title with a record of 90-72 and seem to be hitting their stride at just the right time. They'll need big-name off-season acquisitionRaul Ramirez to rebound from a mediocre season and pay dividends in the playoffs if they hope to defend their title. They'll be taking on theIndiana Ninja, who finished with a record of 93-69, good enough for the top Wild Card spot.
While much of the focus will be on superstars Chris Baxter and Alberto Vargas (who will likely miss the first few games of the series with an injury), the keys to this series will likely be the performances of lesser-knowns like Indiana pitcher and former Rowdie Steve Jacobs, who posted a surprising 16 wins this year, and up-and-comers like Marvin Stanley, Wiley Taylor, and Carlos Guerra of the Ninja and San Diego'sRon Nix and Alfonso Ramos, who led the HL with 206 K's but also is plagued by control problems.
The Toronto Dogs return to the post-season for the sixth time in the last seven years. The Dogs once again won the Great Lakes Division this season and finished with 99 wins, the most in either league. They''ll be taking on their division rivals, the Kansas City Brahmas. The Brahmas kept pace with the Dogs for most of the season but faded down the stretch as injuries to key players began to pile up. As usual, the Dogs' success is predicated on feeding their opponents a steady diet of strong left-handed pitching and handing the ball to a stellar group of relievers, but now they may finally have the offensive firepower, especially if Emilio Pena is 100% following an injury-plagued year, to put them over the hump and gain that elusive first Cartwright Title.
The Brahmas will be without their first-basemen and top power threat Nick Barnes, as well as long-time left-fielder Lorenzo Cuevas, so they'll not only need big performances from stars like Chris Brown and Adrian Chavez but also contributions from some unexpected sources as well if they plan to get past the Dogs and into the next round.
Over in the Cooperstown League, the San Antonio Scorpions took the top seed after posting a franchise-record 98 wins and taking the Gulf Division title for the second straight year. Their first-round opponents are the Raleigh Rage (85-77), who return the playoffs after a 3-year absence. Injuries have hit both teams hard and taken some of the luster off of this highly-anticipated matchup as several marquee names, including likely future PCBL Hall-of-Famers Marcus Hoover and Dan Reese and pitching phenoms Jeff Johnston and Ricky "The Bull" Milton, will be out of action. Even without two outstanding pitchers, the Scorpions still have a potentially dominant pitching staff, anchored by 20-game winner Kenzaburo Yamauchi, but most league experts seem to doubt that they'll be able to keep up with Raleigh's high-powered lineup, which, even without Hoover, features several PCBL legends in Brad Hughes, Armando Rivera, and Rafael Bermudez in addition to catcher and MVP-candidate Braz Pena.
The final first-round playoff matchup sees the Atlantic Division Champion Carolina River Otters (96-66) hooking up with the Mount Airy Marauders (89-73), who make their second straight playoff appearance. These two teams are evenly matched and spent most of the season neck-and-neck in the Atlantic Division standings, despite different styles. Mount Airy features an outstanding pitching staff, anchored by young ace Sam Turner, while the Otters, easily the league's most succesful franchise having made five trips to the Cartwright Classic and coming away with three titles, rely, more and more it seems, on an unstoppable offense led by perenial MVP candidate Trevor Thomas, remarkably productive backstop Toshikazu Yamamoto, and slugging first baseman Frederico Ibarra. If the old baseball adage that good pitching beats good hitting is true then the Marauders should be able to get by Carolina and into the second round. However, it's very hard to bet against a team with the Otters' pedigree. I'm probably in the minority here, but this writer believes the old Otters will find that old magic at least one more time and slug their way past Mount Airy in five games. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 26 October 2009 02:04 |
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