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Old 09-22-2019, 06:40 PM   #27
HerbD
All Star Reserve
 
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Indiana
Posts: 851
May 2021

The Heartland Baseball League has entered it's 44th season. Two months into the 2021 season and Springfield looks unstoppable while the North is up for grabs.

Springfield ended the month of April on a 13 game winning streak and entered May by winning the first nine for what is believed to be a new HBL record 22 game win streak. After the loss the Storm would then win ten more in a row for a stretch of 32 wins in 33 games. So after two months the only fight in the South is for the wildcard barring an epic collapse in Springfield.

In the North it's a four team race with Bay City and Rochester ending May in a virtual tie while Kenosha and Oshkosh are still in the picture. The Reapers and Outlaws seem to be in the mix every season while Bay City and Kenosha are the surprises of the group.


Veteran OF Frank Williams slugged his 300th career homer on May 4 at Poplar Bluff. The 33 year old lead off the game with his eighth homer of the season off of Kevin LeBlanc giving the Stars a 1-0 lead. The Predators would come back to win the game in walk off fashion in the bottom of the 11th.



21 year old Bill Joyce unexpectedly got the call to the big leagues on May first after dominating AAA hitters over the first month of the season. Joyce didn't get the ball until May 6 but he made the most of his opportunity. The Storm rookie pitched a five hit shut out striking out six while walking none AND helping himself at the plate with a hit, 2 RBI, and a run scored. Springfield jumped on top of the Twisters with a second inning lead off homer by Jim Lee. The lead was expanded later in the inning when Frank York and Michael Thompson went back to back to push the lead to 3-0. When asked after the game which milestone was more important(win/hit) he yelled "BOTH!! I can't believe I got both in the first game!" If you think it's all down hill from here you are wrong. Joyce has won all four of his decisions to start his career and was named Rookie of the Month for May. Joyce was a second round pick(25th overall) of Canton in the 2017 draft. He was traded to Springfield along with four others in 2018 for SP Keith DeWitt.



On May 28 seven time Best Hitter at Catcher Ryan Sirrell slapped his 2,000 career HBL hit. Sirrell becomes the 49th player following John Henderson who hit the milestone just last month but he is just the fifth catcher to reach the number. Sirrell took a 2-2 pitch from Lafayette's starter John McAlister and hit it off the left/center field wall for the historic hit. The Predators ran away with the game by a score of 10-4 and Sirrell would add another hit later in the game.

BATTERS OF THE MONTH

OF Brett Watts(DAV) .404/.456/.654 13 XBH, 17 RBI, 17 RS

2B Ken Simpson(SPR) .422/.463/.670 18 XBH, 26 RBI, 30 RS

PITCHERS OF THE MONTH
SP Hector Garcia(ROC) 5-1, 2.05, 39K, 48.1 IP, 6 GS

SP Mark Gunther(SPR) 4-0, 2.17, 33K, 45.2 IP, 6 GS

ROOKIES OF THE MONTH
SP Hector Garcia(ROC) 5-1, 2.05, 39K, 48.1 IP, 6 GS

SP Bill Joyce(SPR) 4-0, 2.37, 29K, 38 IP, 5 GS
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