Michigan Town Ball

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The lowly Pizzeta's had the high flying Gulls beside themselves as they over came a 3 run first inning homer by Ricky Uraine (Town Ball HR leader). Fricano's fought back and had the lead until the top of the 9th.

The game went to 16 innings before Iron River prevailed. Both teams stranded 12.

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Heading into the final contest of the weekend here are the standings. Is Traverse City beginning to feel pressure from the Ann Arbor teams? It's been clear sailing for most of the year but the Bears are scuffling at the moment.

Copper Harbor had a big 3-2 win playing Barn Owls in Ann Arbor.

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Ricky continues to slug at a high rate despite being just 22 years old. Ryan Fallon at .5408 is the Career Slugging leader of the Town Ball League. Ricky is current slugging .516 in his brief career.

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Midway through the final game this screenshot points to Mike Nuckles who has not allowed any hits through 6 IP.

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Mike Knuckles, yes, he has a knuckle curve, lost the no-no but completed the game for the Fricano's as the Pizzeta's salvaged the final game of the series.

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TC Bears put a little space between themselves and the teams chasing them, rebounding from Saturday's loss to win on Sunday.

The top three batters are consistently the same players (see left side of screenshot).

Matt Eddings has won the Stolen Base title (in the LP) the last four seasons, and he might be headed for a 5th as he leads the pack. Speedster Scott Hoban of Ypsi is the all-time leader and just three behind Eddings.

The Freedom and Pizzeta's have been eliminated mathematically.

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Big Surprise!

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Jason Burgess hit .386 with a pair of homers, helping to fuel the resurgence of the Gulls. He knocked in 13 and scored 15.

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I will be watching the Bears and Waveriders for the Friday night opening game of the series. It's a marquee matchup of SPs and definitely worth the $1.00 cost of admission.

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A key moment in the game takes place with one out and two Waveriders on the bases.

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Adrian Bruhan added another first-place team to his list of victims as the Waveriders easily disposed of the Bears' top pitcher in the opening game of the series in Grand Haven.

It was a Friday night filled with top-notch Town Ball pitching. Remember, it is always the ace of the staff that pitches most Friday evenings.

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Grand Haven put it to Traverse City this past weekend as they got the broom out, taking all three from the frontrunners, the final two by one run.

Both Ann Arbor teams (Barn Owls & Z's) let an opportunity pass them by as both teams were 1-2 over the weekend. The big winner in the LP was the Waveriders on the strength of their home sweep of the Bears.

Traverse City has a magic number of 8 and is playing the sad sack Fricano's Pizzeta, a mere shadow of the championship team of last year.

In the UP, it's the Gulls who are flying away from the rest of the flock. The +69 RD is the best in Town Ball, yet it's the Paradise White Pines who refuse to go away, just 2 GB.

Ryan McCarter is a long shot (because of the ERA) to win the Pitching Triple Crown, but is within striking distance of the prestigious award.



The Gulls will take on the Freedom, the other last-place team.

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Who thinks Ontonagon has a chance against Iron River?

I will be watching the action.

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To the surprise of no one, the Bears rolled over the Pizzeta's in the opener. It did require erasing a 2-0 lead but six unanswered runs solved the riddle for the Bears.

To the surprise of everyone, the Freedom dominated the Gulls in all facets of the game. Lead off man Zach Cipriano came out on fire as he led the Freedom with three hits while Otniel Niedbala pitched the game of his career, handcuffing the front-running Gulls while giving up just 2 hits. Niedbala was born in Detroit, just a mile from the corner of Michigan Ave. and Trumbull, and his second nation is Israel. He has a 4-10 season record and an 8-18 career record spanning three seasons in Town Ball.

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Wasilewski pitched another great game on Saturday but with the usual results. Here is the season record for Whitefish Bay SP.

In the most recent outing, he had a no-hitter through 5 innings.

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The White Pines are doing their best to keep pace with the Gulls, or is it the other way around? Either way the scoreboard tells the story of the exciting finish that kept the Pines within shouting distance of the Gulls and the Miners.

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Of the 8 games played on the final day of the weekend series, 7 of the winning teams had inferior records to the team they defeated.

The Gulls lost 2/3 to the Freedom (13-33).
The Iron River series loss to Ontonagon paved the way for the Miners and the White Pines to pick up a game apiece.

One of the keys to the success of the league-leading Traverse City Bears has been the defensive prowess of 24 y/o Jon Cordero, who hails from Oak Bluffs, MA.

His 9.9 ZR combined with his defensive EFF of 1.12 at the SS position has contributed to his 2.5 WAR to date.

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Just two more weeks left in the regular season. Michigan Town Ball is down to 7 teams with a mathematical chance of winning the league championship. With a magic number of 1, it's pretty safe to ink in the Traverse City Bears as the Lower Peninsula representative. There is no reward for 2nd place. Only the teams finishing in first place go to the State Championship series.

The Gulls took care of business after dropping the opening game against Drummond Island. They rebounded with a pair of one-run game wins to stay atop the Upper Peninsula.

The Ypsi Jack Rabbits upended the TC Bears on Friday night as they rolled over them 10-3. Joey Meyer and Mike Buck each had four hits apiece as the Jack Rabbits had 20 base knocks. The Bears followed the blow out by winning a pair of close games.

Grand Haven won the opener on Friday (big surprise with Bruhan on the mound) and then split the final two against the Ann Arbor Barn Owls. All three games decided by one run.

Paradise White Pines kept pace, taking 2/3 from the lowly Freedom. Ontonagon had its moment in the sun Sunday afternoon when Zach Cipriano reached base on an error with two out in the bottom of the 9th, spoiling Paradise's bid for a sweep.

Rocky Garth is the player of the week with his 5 for 9 bat including a HR.

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The #1 SP in the Bear rotation, Greg Wooten has 11/15 quality starts for the year.

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The city loved him, the players respected him, but it was time.

Ignacio Parada is a thinking man's ballplayer, and he was intelligent to the point of knowing it was time. Management asked him to stay on, but Ignacio replied, "Your are not losing a second baseman, you are gaining a fan."

Parada plans on returning to the University to finish his law studies.