APRIL 28 GAME OF THE WEEK

WEEK 2 GAME OF THE WEEK: SATURDAY, APRIL 28 AT BARTHOLOMEW SPORTS PARK AT 7 PM FEATURES THE PALERMO'S THUNDER vs. THE 3 BLIND BROTHERS MUD HENS.

THUNDER TEAM RECAP FROM COACH CAREY WOLF .... 

Tryouts – “Wow, what a good looking pool of candidates!”

Drafts – “Coach are you as excited as I am?”

Team Meeting – “Sure feels like a nice group of players and parents”

First Practice – “Are you kidding me, I don’t think I have ever had a group look this strong from the very first practice.”

First Scrimmage – “They did what we asked, had fun and looked like they were in mid-season form.”.

3^rd Rainout – “Are you kidding me, we literally have a black cloud over our heads! Are we ever going to play?”

Even though the rains subsided and we played our first game, went down in defeat; the dark clouds were still there for the Thunder.

Unfortunately, early in our first game our “Rookie – 1^st year player” Chaunce Chaney had a collision and fall in left center field.

The result of that collision was a season ending hand fracture. 

We wish Chaunce a speedy recovery and hope that he will still come out and support his teammates.

Tuesday the 24^th – Thunder sit @ 2-1, now that the clouds had finally gone away, the sun continued to prevail and we played some baseball.

Thunder have a full week of baseball with back to back games on Tuesday & Wednesday and playing in the “Game of the Week” on Saturday the 28^th.

In just a few short weeks we have watched our players gel and consistently improve. 

They have decided to make life difficult on themselves and start each game by getting behind early in the first 3 games.

What they have done with this strategy is learned that the game is not over until the 3^rd and final out and that they know how to come back from a deficit.

Hopefully they can reverse this trend soon, and start to come out of the gate strong, and keep Coach Carey from graying anymore, than he already is! J

The Thunder pride themselves on having players that can play multiple positions on the field and hit from any spot in the batting order.

All of this versatility has already been a significant contributor to our first 2 victories.

Another strong characteristic of this group is that they all believe in each other and there is not that “1 Super Star”, that the team relies on.

As Coach Stone shared with us after our last game; “You scored 10 runs from the bottom 5 of your line up, that just doesn’t happen!”

Like I told the players, “That is because we do not have a bottom 5, we have Ball Players up and down our line up!”

We are all very excited about this week, this Saturday’s feature game and our entire season. 

We look forward to continuing our climb up the standings; and most of all having an outstanding EGBR 2012 experience.

Continued Success to all the coaches, except when they meet the Thunder, of course!

Let’s Play Ball!!!

Coach Carey, Stefan & Johnny

MUD HENS TEAM RECAP FROM COACH ERIC SARAGOZA ...   

2012 Mud Hens – Coach Eric Saragoza and Jess Marquez               

The 2012 Mud Hens started with 3 teammates from the 2011 Storm - Nick Cooling, Miguel Saragoza, and Denis Vajraca, and new pickup Anthony Alves. After the draft, the Mud Hens were rounded out with 15 year olds - Christian Janini, and Chris Winn, 14 year olds – Nick Bernett, Tyler Newbold, and Malik Williams, and new to EGBR 13 year olds – Nate Cornell, Stephen De Herrerra, Jacari Hudson, and Ian Madison.

The Mud Hens offense his highlighted by three players hitting over .300 – Tyler Newbold @ .500, Miguel Saragoza @ .400, and Malik Williams @ .444.  Right behind them are Ian Madison and Christian Janini, both hitting .286.  The Mud Hens have 8 extra base hits in the first four games, coming from Tyler (two 2B), Miguel (3B), Ian (2B), Christian (2B, 3B), Denis (2B), and Nick Cooling (2B).  RBI leaders for the Mud Hens are Miguel Saragoza and Malik Williams with 4 each, and Christian Janini and Nick Cooling with 3 each. As a team, the Mud Hens have an OBP of .445.  The Mud Hens ability to score runs have resulted in 35 runs scored in the first four games.

Pitching is led by Anthony Alves, Nate Cornell, and Miguel Saragoza.  All three pitchers have opponent batting averages below .300 with Nate Cornell holding his opponents to 0.231.  Miguel Saragoza has 15 strikeouts with only 4 walks, giving him a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.75.  Anthony Alves has pitched a solid 7 and 1/3 innings.  Ready to jump on the rubber, if necessary, are Tyler Newbold, Jacari Hudson, and Nick Bernett.

The Mud Hens go into the game of the week at 2 – 2, but could easily be sitting at 4 – 0 had it not been for 1 bad inning in each of the first two games.  In both of those games, the Mud Hens had a commanding lead, but free bases due to walks, hit batters, and errors led to 8 run innings in each of those games.   Coaching is a duo of head coach Eric Saragoza and coach Jess Marquez.  Both coaches are having a great time watching the Mud Hens play solid baseball, with a lot of heart, enthusiasm, and teamwork.  Go Mud Hens!!

Head Coach Eric Saragoza

Owlz, What a great game, especially for the first four innings.  You guys are a class act and a good baseball team.  Your going to win a bunch of games this season.  What a fantastic play at SS early in the game; definitely the highlight of the game.  Good luck this season!  Coach Kurt & the River Bandits

haha, you  guys didn't know Coach Kurt was also a comedian, I can't help it.  It comes naturally!

Funny Coincidence - What's the only word in the Owlz vocabulary, Hint- it's the same word that everyone uses when looking for them in the standings. ............WHO?

Kurt Thornton-  Let the smack talk begin!

Coach Thornton (River Bandits) on 4/21/2012 game

The 2012 River Bandits Sponsored by Mazda of Elk Grove have grown up a bit since last season.  They are led by 14 & 15 year old returners, Tanner Adams, Eric Inouye, Jake Lopez, and Tucker Elliott.  With new additions from the draft in Julian Boskett, Darius Fleming, Eric Olsen, Carlos Garcia, Jordan Driebe, and Logan Camp; along with 15 year old Ben Pigg, Anthony Garcia, and Supplemental player, Eric Gerdin, the River Bandits are guided by returning Coaches John Inouye, Scott Bowers and Manager Kurt Thornton.

Unlike last year's team, whose strength was "speed on the bases", this season's team is extremely strong and deep in pitching!  Eleven of the 13 players for the Bandits have pitching experience, with 8 of those players pitching every season they've played in recent years.  This year's River Bandits are also stronger offensively with 11 hits already recorded in the first two games.  The offense is led by Jake Lopez and Ben Pig, each with a slugging % of .800 after two games.  Defensively, the infield is anchored by Eric Inouye at Catcher, Tanner Adams at 1B, Tucker Elliott at 2B, Jake Lopez at SS. and Anthony Garcia at 3B.  The outfield is locked down by Ben Pigg at CF, Eric Olsen at LF, and Logan Camp in RF.  Julian Boskett, Darius Fleming, and Jordan Driebe could be the team MVP's by the end of the season with their versatility, ability to pitch, play the middle infield, as well as, all of the outfield positions.   

"This is a very interesting team.  A lot of the reasons that I coach are therapeutic and the fact I love being around the kids, but this team has reminded me why I love the sport of baseball.  In 26 practices and two games, I haven't heard a single player bad mouth or use a nasty tone towards a teammate!  They are passionate about baseball.  They respect the game of baseball and love to be on the field.  This team definitely has the attributes that you can't coach, and when that happens, good things usually follow for the season.  It's made me focus more than in years past and reminded me why I love coaching baseball so much.  I look very forward to our practices and games everyday, so that I can hang out with such competitive, respectful and fun kids." 

According to Manager, Kurt Thornton, "Like most of the other Babe Ruth teams, expectations for the season are high.  We should be one of the top teams in the league with our depth and balance of skill in all areas; but if the rain keeps us off the field and from practicing, or injuries start to take a toll, or the plays just aren't properly executed, none of the depth and skill really matter.  The facts are that we're still dealing with 13, 14, and 15 year old boys, so who knows what's going to happen from play to play & game to game."  Stay tuned!  It's going to be a fun season!  Go Bandits!

See you on the Diamond!

Kurt Thornton

Manager

River City Bandits

Elk Grove Babe Ruth  Baseball

Coach Venegas (Owlz) on the Saturday Game of the week

The Routt Roofing Owlz Coach Rick Venegas writes:

Two teams that made it to the playoffs in 2011 square off this Saturday in the first Game of the Week at Bartholomew Sports Complex. The first pitch  will be at 7 p.m. The Owlz, Division Champs last year are off to a good start in 2012. With Michael Chappelle and Jack Roselli, leading their pitching staff and starting catcher Austin Archuleta they will no doubt keep the Owlz in every game this year. Early in the season, the bats are thumping the ball well, with Andrew Jones, Ryan Ames, Ethan Moreno each having extra base hits and driving in runs in the clutch. Youngster Jesse Eckley is roaming the outfield and made a sliding game saving catch in the season opener against a tough River Dogs team. Young ss/catcher/pitcher Josh Caldwell is a defensive star early in the season. With leadoff batter Zach Aquila getting on base, he is setting the table for the big bats including Tyler Lantsberger, Jack, Austin and Andrew to bring them home. Jacob Peak, Mike E. and James Shurtz have all have made contributions on the field and at the plate.

The Owlz coming off a win over the Rvier Dogs in the firrst game of the season, they had a last inning comback scoring 5 runs against the Beavers to take a 9-6 lead before the game was postponed due to darkness. According to Coach Venegas, "We are a young team with five returning players who are learning new positions but have a lot of heart and confidence in there abilities. I know the kids will only improve over time, as our system works year in and year out." "With so many games being piled together each week, the key is to try and avoid injuries with my pitchers." Combining non-baseball injuries along with tired arms, the first few weeks will no doubt be a challenge as the team learns the fundamentals and gels as a team.

Look for a scrappy team ready to do battle with a lot of pop in the bats! Coach Venegas, Kennicutt and Roselli are very impressed with the athleticism seen so far.

Routt Roofing Owlz vs. River Bandits

The first game of the week this Saturday April 21, 2012 will be a "Barn Burner"  the Game kicks off at 7pm at Bartholomew Sports Complex on the Babe Ruth Diamond.  Below we post the comments of Coach Rick Venegas of the Routt Roofing Owlz and then the comments of Mazda of Elk Grove River Bandits Coach Kurt  Thornton.  Pictures are being gathered at this time and will be posted with the Coach summaries.  Your Announcer for this first game will be long time Elk Grove Babe Ruth Manager, and a former player, Mike Steele.  Singing the National Anthem will Be Beavers Assistant Coach Donny Penney, also a former EGBR player.