This week was a dandy for TTBC with our teams winning six and losing two with some great performances around the city. Before giving the summary I would encourage everyone who can to get out to see our teams play this weekend in the first home tournament in a year when the majors teams will square off in a series of games over the weekend. There will also be a home varsity game and a juniors game in addition to home CP and minors games on Saturday and Sunday. A number of the games this weekend will be featured on the EBN (the Eagles Broadcast Network) and will be commentated by none other than the famous voice of Eagles baseball, Skip Schwartz AKA the “Southside Skipper”. We will send the schedule of all this weekend’s events in a separate mail with the viewing times for your broadcast area….
Back to the results – the TTBC Minors division made good progress this week by winning three of the four games at Ho Man Tin West. Pirates, Sharks and Eagles all emerged victorious in their respective games. The Typhoons lost a thriller to the highly rated Yakult Swallows of the JBC (Japanese Baseball Club).
In the HKLL Minors division “game of the week”, the mighty Typhoons were the home team and went the full six innings with the Swallows. The Typhoons defense was flawless, committing zero errors however they could not crack the opponent’s pitching. The first three innings of this highly entertaining game remained scoreless but the Swallows would post two in the fourth and another in the fifth. Final tally: 3 – 0.
Taylor Gardner started on the mound with Blair Man, David Weiss and Ken Ando coming in as relief. The quartet allowed four hits and collectively struck out nine batters. Weiss and David Wu managed hits but the Swallows pitching kept the Typhoons’ bats at bay.
In the other morning game between the Pirates and the Astros, Isshin Satake got the nod on the hill. He would record his third win of the season with help from the bullpen. Ryan Lem had another solid outing and Takeo Blakely, who was making his pitching debut, managed to close-out the game for the shut-out. 12 to zero was the final score.
After a slow start on the bats for the Pirates, the trio of pitchers helped their cause offensively as Blakely’s bat remained hot as he drove in two runs with a triple. Satake and Lem did their part by hitting doubles. Division rookie, Luke Talsness opened up his Minors batting account by driving in one run on a hard hit single to right field. Meanwhile, Tommy Carale has now hit safely in his last two games.
The Sharks high-powered offence was too much for the Blue Jays of Ho Man Tin. They posted 15 runs in three innings to swim away with a 4 to 15 victory. Briggs Freeman went two-for-two on the day with a double and home run. Kingsley Wang also homered whilst Brady Chan doubled.
Freeman started on the hill and both Ethan Lee and Ian Horng came in as relief. Together they combined for a no-hitter but allowed four runs and striking out eight.
Finally, in the afternoon match-up, the Eagles took on the Kaakiro Lions where the birds would eventually pull away in a scrappy affair. The Eagles offence was on, hitting and stealing for 13 runs over three innings of play. They would eventually prevail: 13 to 6. Charlie Park led the way, going two-for-two for the day and Oliver Barnes, Charles Tien and Sierra Lee all collected hits.
Barnes started on the mound for the Eagles and was helped by Alexander Min and Gabriel Gusak who came out of the bullpen. The three pitchers would only allow one hit as they struck out four.
Over in To Shek two of the three TTBC majors teams were in action. In the first game of the day on Sunday the Eagles played the Buffloes in a much anticipated match-up of a long time rivalry which the Buffaloes had won seven of the last nine. The Eagles, despite a slow start managed to get their bats going behind Ryan Gardner who provided two of bases loaded doubles and would knock in five of the Eagles eight runs on the day. Max Barney pitched five innings of shut out ball while registering ten strikeouts and allowing a single hit. Blayden “the blade” Schwartz was a key stalwart at second base making four putouts and Kai Shotoku showed his skills as a closer in shutting down a late Buffalo five run rally in the sixth. The final tally – the Eagles 8 the Buffalos 5.
The Thunder won 22-0 on Sunday afternoon in 2 1/2 innings with great pitching, defense and 20 hits- that’s right 20 hits!!! 2 Triples by Dylan Burgess and a HR each by Daniel Looram and Harrison Waag lead the Thunder offense. The pitching by Waag and Ian “Macho, Macho” Nam (as his friends call him) held the Lions to 2 hits and 0 walks. Kennon “ glove down” Fan lead the stellar defense with multiple amazing plays at second base reminding all of us all that big things come in small packages.
Up at the Lion Rock field In a highly anticipated match-up between Southside rivals the Eagles and the Typhoons, the Eagles snuck by with the victory 13-9. Workmanlike pitching from four Eagles hurlers and timely hits from 6 different Eagles players helped the Eagles outlast the persistent Typhoons who will now be chomping at the bit for a rematch.
Here are the stats as we head into the Thanksgiving weekend.
The Minors Stats:
Hits:
Takeo Blakely (Pirates) 7
Jack Simmons (Sharks) 6
Donovan Ma (Pirates) 5
Briggs Freeman (Sharks) 5
Kingsley Wang (Sharks) 5
RBIs:
Kingsley Wang (Sharks) 6
Connor Ackerman (Typhoons) 5
Luke Murphy (Sharks) 5
Jack Simmons (Sharks) 5
Briggs Freeman (Sharks) 4
Ks:
Charlie Park (Eagles) 17
Briggs Freeman (Sharks) 15
Taylor Gardner (Typhoons) 14
Isshin Satake (Pirates) 13
David Weiss (Typhoons) 10
MAJORS STATS
Hits
Barney 19
Chai 17
Sabella 16
Lee 16
Lambert 16
RBI
Holland 19
Barney 17
Chai 17
Lee 16
Chai 15
Strikeouts
Barney 42
Chai 32
Holland 31
Flach 24
Burgess 19
Happy Thanksgiving everyone from the coaches and board of TTBC.
Coach Barney