Rams surprise Blue Dogs with 9 runs
July 28, 2012 -
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | LOB | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 7 | |||
| Maryland State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
The opening game of the 2012 Altoona Regional between Brooklyn’s Bonnie Rams and Maryland State’s La Plata Post 82 Blue Dogs was postponed until 2:00pm due to an early morning shower.
John Childer’s La Plata Post 82 squad from Maryland State made their AAABA debut this game. The club was league runner-up in the Frank Riley Legion League and fielded a team of mostly high school juniors. Despite the young age, the Blue Dogs are not lacking in experience.
“This team went to the NABF in Altoona last year, and all these kids play travel baseball. So, they’ve been all over playing baseball, but this is the first year playing AAABA,” said Childers.
Brooklyn strikes first
EJ Martinez opened the game with a single for the Rams, stole second and advanced to third on Angel Pimentel’s ground out. With two outs, Melvin Rios doubled to center to score Martinez. Rios then scored on Jhony Comas’s single to center to give Brooklyn a 2-run lead.
Maryland looked to counter in the bottom of the inning. Jayrese Jones walked with one out and starting pitcher Anderson Burgess singled to center. However, Brooklyn’s Sandro Ferreira struck out the next two to end the threat.
Both teams went down in order in the second, with Burgess striking out one, and Ferreria striking out two.
Rams extend the lead
Brooklyn added on in the third. Pimentel stole both second and third and then scored on Comas’s single. Stan Simmons then reached on a fielder’s choice, with Melvin Rios scoring on the play. The Rams stranded two as Burges struck out Joe Mendez and Luis Rios grounded to second.
With new pitcher Jake Williams on the mound for Maryland in the 6th, Joe Mendez welcomed him to the game by sending the first pitch deep to center field for a solo homerun. Williams recovered and retired the next three batters.
Brooklyn padded their lead in the seventh. Angel Vidal stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. He scored on Rios’s ground out. Comas (who reached on a single) then scored on a wild pitch. With the bases loaded, Jon Pineivo ripped the ball through the middle, scoring Simmons (double) and Mendez (hit by pitch) to increase the Rams’ lead to 9-0.
“We have the potential for being a very good hitting team” said Katzke, “but we’ve been kind of inconsistent.” He explained that his team struggled against Burgess’s off speed pitches, but were better able to time their swings against the speed from relief pitcher Williams. While Brooklyn’s bats contributed to their offense, so did several miscues from the Marylanders.
“Anderson pitched a heck of a game, but our defense wasn’t there,” said Childers. “We didn’t adjust to the pace of the balls coming to us.” Maryland was only given two errors, but at least a handful of plays could have been scored against them.
Strong Brooklyn Pitching
Ferreria mowed through the Blue Dogs’ lineup, striking out 13 batters during his complete game performance, including all three in the third inning. Ferreria allowed only 1 hit and 1 walk. Maryland did not have a base runner after the first inning.
“In the first inning, it looked like we were going to get to him, but he got his slider real tight after that and we had a tough time getting the ball in play,” said Childers.
“He had good velocity and he kept it right around the plate,” said coach Katzke of Ferrera. “That’s all you could ask for.”
“We got runs early, they made some errors which helped, and we ran the bases well,” recapped Katzke. Brooklyn had 6 stolen bases from Martinez, Simmons, Pimentel (2), Rios, and Vidal.
“We got manhandled,” said Maryland coach John Childers. “I don’t think we expected the speed of the game. They’ve got a talented team, they play hard, they play together, and they surprised us.”
Childers knows what kind of changes his team needs to make for tomorrow: “I think it’s mental. The kids have to be ready for the pace of play, and play inspired baseball to play at this level.”
Visit the Regional Page of this site for more information.