“Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.”
Casey Stengel
March 31, 2021
No more mediocrity for TTBC. In HKLL over the weekend the teams from the south side went 7 – 0 in the HKLL. This weekend will feature the launch of our 8th annual TTBC minors tourney as well as a bevy of intra club games. The club teams will play over 30 games in the next ten days. Let’s keep the winning tradition alive.
Here is how we did around the city:
The Minors
A perfect weekend for TTBC Minors as all teams won their games to go 4 and 0 as a club! The Sharks started things off as they took on the Shatin Martins. The Typhoons played the Blue Jays of Ho Man Tin while the Pirates were the away team to the Yakult Swallows in a top-of-the-table clash. In the final game of the day, the Eagles met the Astros.
The Sharks’ hot bats continued into the weekend as the team registered 15 hits and scored a total of 16 runs in a lop-sided contest against the Shatin Martins as the final was 16 to 3. Kingsley Wang, Briggs Freeman, Ethan Lee, Jack Simmons and Henry Wolf had multiple hits but the big story was Oscar Buchanan recording his first hit of the season!
Ian Horng started on the mound for the Sharks and combined with Wang and Freeman on a no-hitter! The trio allowed three runs and struck out 11 over four innings work.
Coincidently, the Typhoons dispatched the Blue Jays by the same margin: 16 to 3. Taylor Gardner started for the Typhoons and was helped by David Weiss and up-and-coming pitcher Ken Ando. Over four innings, the three allowed three runs on one two hits and striking out eight Blue Jays.
On defense, Ando was alert over at 1st based and picked off a runner while Riggs Ernst was backstop and made a diving play to prevent a runner from stealing home.
Strong hitting from the Typhoons on the day as they recorded nine hits which were fairly distributed across the team. In another coincidence, both Connor Ackerman and Blair Man posted identical offensive numbers: two RBIs on two hits and scoring twice while each drawing a walk.
In what could be viewed as the game of the week, the Swallows of the Japanese Baseball Club (JBC) hosted the Pirates of Tai Tam Bay. This game did not disappoint and went the full six innings. Defense was the story of the game, at least for the first four innings as JBC scored a run in the fourth to lead 0 – 1.
The Pirates would respond with five runs in the fifth and would add a couple more insurance runs in the last inning to fend-off a late charge from the Swallows. Final score was Pirates 7 and Swallows 4 – a great win against TTBC’s long-time rivals.
Isshin Satake started and went four innings in efficient fashion while Blake Yang came in from the bullpen to shut down the Swallows. Together they would allow the four runs on nine hits while striking out eight batters.
Leadoff hitter, Takeo Blakely started the game with a triple but would be left stranded at third. But timely hitting by Yang and sibling Anyssa helped moved base runners around in the fifth. In almost the last at-bat for the Pirates, Donovan Ma would also triple scoring the last two runs.
In the afternoon match-up, the Eagles took well-earned victory over the Astros 6 to 4.
Oliver Barnes went 1 for 1 with a walk and was the winning pitcher, pitching two complete innings, striking out five. Alexander Min had an inside the park home run and also threw two complete innings in relief out of the bullpen to earn the save for TTBC Eagles Minors. Rookies Anthony Bacchus went 2 for 2 and scored 2 runs and Simon Chen extended his RBI streak to 2 games.
Finally, Charles Tien protected the plated tagging out 2 runners trying to steal home.
The Majors
Typhoons Majors had a great outing against the Shatin Dragons this weekend. Stats day, as we’ve started to call these games. 8 out of 11 players tallied multiple hits. Typhoons recorded 20 RBI’s on 18 hits. Adrian Unertl led the way with 4 RBI’s, 4 teammates chased with 3 RBI’s each. Homeruns by Noah Lambert, Jake Thompson, & Jacob Flach.
The Thunder won 16-5 this week over the Lions pounding out 18 hits. 7-8-9 hitters had 8 hits- 3 for Sebastian Schroth, 3 for Gus Ernst and 2 for Kennon Fan. Kennan ripped a ball over the left fielders head for a double that still hasn’t come down. Defensive highlight was a backhand play by Aiden Kuo at second base for his first out ever recorded in the infield and showing he can be multidimensional as he has been telling the coaches all year- we are listening Aiden!!
The Eagles were idling in the HKLL for the weekend yet did play a Dim Sum league double header taking the first game against the Thunder 14-2 and winning the second against the Typhoons 11-7. Andes Chai pitched shutout pitching for 4 innings on the weekend and Ryan Gardner continued his streak at the plate nailing four hits during the weekend. Ryan Wang pushed his batting average much higher by going five for five and leading all hitters in the twin bill and Roy Sun continued his strong relief pitching.
The Juniors
The Juniors Typhoons played a thrilling game against the Korean Royals, battling back from 2 runs down to win 4-2. Luke Ackerman, Evan Wu, Nicky Hui each had a pair of hits and Nicky knocked in two runs as the Typhoons offense produced just enough to squeeze by a tenacious Korean team. Jett Pederson was marvellous on the mound pitching through 3 innings and tallying 4 strikeouts. The defense made the difference for the mighty Typhoons as some great plays by Daniel Zhang, Nicky Hui, Shaye Schroth and Luke Ackerman kept the Royals off the base paths. It was a sorely needed victory for the Typhoons who have lost a few very close games recently and should propel them into confidence for their next game against the Astros.
HKBA Action
In their toughest game yet in HKBA Pony League play, the TTBC Eagles had to come from behind to improve their record to 4-0 and stay atop the U11 standings. Aliens Black came into the game with a very strong pitching performance and the Eagles were down 4-1 after two innings.
But in the top of the third, the Eagles rallied to score three runs – all with two outs – off of the Home Run courtesy of Charles Tien.
The Aliens Black score two more in the bottom of the third frame to go back up by two runs but the elder statesmen of the team decided to take matters into their own hands and scored four more in the top of the fourth. Gabriel Gusak, Khai Harris, Andes Chai, and Roy Son put on a display of their leadership and baseball skills to rally the team ahead for good.
Andes Chai came into pitch for the last inning and mowed down the opposition to close out the win. A great show in character from everyone as they were determined to come out victorious.
The League Leaders:
Hits:
K Wang (Sharks) 15
B Freeman (Sharks) 14
T Blakely (Pirates) 13
I Satake (Pirates) 10
T Gardner (Typhoons) 10
J Simmons (Sharks) 10
RBIs:
B Freeman (Sharks) 13
K Wang (Sharks) 12
T Gardner (Typhoons) 12
C Ackerman (Typhoons) 9
L Murphy (Sharks) 8
Strikeouts:
T Gardner (Typhoons) 32
B Freeman (Sharks) 31
C Park (Eagles) 24
I Satake (Pirates) 21
B Yang (Pirates) 21
D Weiss (Pirates) 21
Hits
Barney 31
Chai 30
Gardner 30
Lee 27
Holland 24
Sabella 23
Lambert 23
RBI
Chai 28
Barney 28
Lee 27
Holland 26
Waag 22
Burgess 19
Sabella 19
Lambert 18
Looram 14
K’s
Chai 67
Barney 67
Holland 42
Flach 38
Gardner 30
Waag 25
Everyone have a happy Easter and we will update you after the minors tournament next week.
Warmest regards,
Coach Barney