The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) - Page 2

jksander · 06-28-2025, 04:38 PM

October 1, 1871: Knob Hill (60-60) is in town for a pair as we start the month of October, and things were quiet until the fourth inning, when they took a brief lead off a passed ball, but we quickly tied it off a groundout to first and took the lead moments later off a passed ball of our own. They’d tie us again in the top of the seventh thanks to an RBI single, but we walked it off in the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer by Danny Graham, just his second dinger of the season, winning this one 3-2! Joe McDonald improved to 7-6 with a 1.60 ERA, allowing seven hits, four walks and two runs (one earned), while we notched just six hits ourselves .. Graham led the way with two hits, a run and two RBIs.

October 2, 1871: This one was not in doubt for long, as we built a 3-0 lead within the first three innings, cruising to add on a pair in the eighth as we never let Knob Hill close the gap. We held tough and won this one 5-1, though it was not a big “hitting” series. We outhit them today 6-5, led again by Graham who had two hits and three RBIs, while Centeno added two hits and two runs on the basepaths. Bjornson only gave them five hits and a walk to work with, striking out two as they scored one earned run on him.

October 3, 1871: We came into today’s game on the road against Highland (31-91) looking to clinch, as either a win by us or a loss by Troy (70-52) would do the job. We took control quickly, scoring a pair of runs in each of the first, second and fourth innings, but McDonald got shelled in the bottom of the sixth and gave them four runs back to tie it 6-6. Cadenhead took over from there, and we added on a barrage of runs in the top of the seventh, breaking this one back open as we led 12-6 as we went into the stretch. We’d go on to hammer them 15-6 as we guaranteed ourselves a playoff spot in this inaugural ORBL season. Cadenhead got the win, pitching 3.1 innings with four hits and a strikeout, improving to 36-17 with a 2.17 ERA. We outhit them 18-15, led by Steve Hopkins who had four hits, two runs and four RBIs, and Musselman stole his 120th base of the season.

Glen Cadenhead will go on the IL for now, since we’ve clinched, to give him time to rest his knee ahead of what we expect to be a challenging playoff run in a few weeks. We’re bringing David Rosenberger and Eric Behmer off the reserve team, making room by sending Izzy Lopez, our backup center fielder, back down. Behmer is going to step in as a third starter, to help give Bjornson a bit of rest in the coming weeks, with Rosenberg as an all purpose reliever -- the 18-year-old has a killer curveball but has not had a chance to show it off yet.

October 4, 1871: Eric Behmer started for us today against Highland, and he was quite solid as we hit our way into an early lead and then held it ... up 2-0 after half an inning and coasting to what was eventually a 5-2 win. Behmer improved to 1-1 with a 3.71 ERA, allowing just five hits, a walk and two runs (one earned) with two strikeouts. We outhit them 10-5, led by Centeno who had a hit, two walks, a run and two RBIs.

October 5, 1871: Evansville (71-53) is our next stop on the road, as their club leads the Vanderburgh division with a five game lead over Mechanicsville (66-58) in what could be a winner-takes-all division if the rest of the wildcard race holds. This one lived up to expectations, as Evansville built a 3-1 lead on us after four, but we tied it up in the fifth thanks to a two-run single by Centeno. That 3-3 margin held into extra innings, and finally in the top of the 13th we got the lead, thanks to a solo homer by Centeno, his 32nd of the season! Bjornson held them off from there, and we won this one 4-3 in the 13th inning, after outhitting them 11-7. Bjornson allowed just seven hits and a walk with two strikeouts and three (unearned) runs in his 13 innings, improving his ERA to 1.70 through 556.2 innings! Centeno led our offense with two hits, two walks, a run and two RBIs.

October 6, 1871: As it often goes with games following tightly-fought battles, this one wasn’t as much of a nailbiter. We took a 2-0 lead in the first, and then managed to stay consistently ahead of them the rest of the way, cruising to win 4-2 while outhitting them 10-9. McDonald got himself a complete game, allowing nine hits and two runs with a strikeout, improving his record to 8-6 with a 2.41 ERA through 59.2 innings. Randy Musselman led the offense with three hits, a steal and two runs scored.

October 7, 1871: Our next opponent back on our field in Tell City is Lincoln City (63-63), a team that’s still technically in play for a wildcard spot, though the odds are definitely not in their favor. Behmer gave them a three-run spot in the top of the first, but we made up all the runs quickly, taking a 4-3 lead after two. But Behmer let them slowly climb back in, tying us at 6-6 with an RBI triple by outfielder Josh Bean in the top of the sixth inning, so we went to the bullpen to David Rosenberger in the seventh onward, and it became a shootout from there. In the bottom of the ninth we were able to walk it off with a two-run homer by Centeno, and we won this one 10-9 as a result. Rosenberger gets to start his career with a 1-0 record and a 9.00 ERA, allowing six hits and three runs with three walks in his first three innings of play. And though Lincoln City outhit us 13-11, Centeno was dominant -- THREE HOMERS, an ORBL record, and four hits total, giving him three runs and seven RBIs!

October 8, 1871: We had a solid 2-0 lead in this one heading into the seventh, but Bjornson got hit hard for four runs, and with runners on second and third we brought out Rosenberger to get us into the stretch trailing 4-2. We got a run back in the bottom of the seventh but that was all we were able to accrue, and Lincoln City shut us down to win 4-3, snapping our 16-game winning streak (and snapping Bjornson’s 14-game win streak). Bjornson fell to 47-11 with a 1.73 ERA, allowing 10 hits, a walk and four runs (three earned) in his 6.2 innings. They outhit us 12-11, Centeno leading the way for us with three hits, a run and an RBI, including his 36th homer which he hit in the seventh inning as we tried to claw our way back in.

October 10, 1871: Darmstadt (60-68) is on the verge of elimination as we head to play them on their field, just a dozen games left in this season. We matched them through three innings, knotted at 2-2, but Darmstadt rolled through the remainder, crushing us 6-2 as they tried to end their season on a good note. McDonald allowed 11 hits, two walks and six runs (five earned) in the loss, and we were out hit 11-5, one of our worst offensive efforts in weeks. Randy Musselman led with two hits and two runs, stealing his 125th base along the way, but we were never in this one after we lost the lead.

October 11, 1871: We opened this one with a seven run salvo in the top of the first, and that set the tone for what the game became. We wound go on to beat them soundly 12-2, outhitting them 14-8 in the process behind a four-hit, two run two RBI game for Ismael Chinea. Bjornson picked up his 48th win, allowing just eight hits and two earned runs, and the loss officially eliminated Darmstadt from playoff consideration.

October 12, 1871: We took the lead 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth against Chandler, but they hammered us for four runs in the sixth, so Rosenberger took over out of the bullpen. We tied the score heading into the seventh thanks to a two-run homer by Centeno, and this one became a shootout. In the bottom of the ninth we came out to hit trailing 9-7, and this time it was Chinea who pulled off late-game heroics with a two-run walkoff homer, his 15th of the season ... with that, we won 10-9, Rosenberger improving to 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA thanks to 3.1 innings with six hits and five unearned runs. They outhit us 11-10 but our power bats continued to dominate, Chinea leading the way with two hits, a walk, three runs and three RBIs.

October 13, 1871: We had absolutely no pop in our cannons today, as Chandler took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth and never looked back. They’d go on to win 5-0, handing McDonald the loss ... he fell to 8-8 with a six inning eight-hit effort, including four runs (three earned). They outhit us 8-5, Steve Hopkins and Bubba Masiello each getting two hits but not making it anywhere.

Glen Cadenhead is coming off the IL, and will replace Eric Behmer on our 15-man roster. McDonald is going to stay up as a third starter until the playoffs begin, and then will likely join Rosenberger in the bullpen.

October 14, 1871: Cannelton (57-75) is the last team from our division left to be played, and we completely blew them out of the water early, taking a 2-0 lead in the second and turning it into a 13-0 lead by the middle of the third. They never made a peep from there and we carried that same 13-0 margin to the very end, outhitting them 14-8 in the process. Bjornson picked up his 49th win, with eight hits and a strikeout, and Musselman led the offense with three hits, a run and three RBIs.

October 15, 1871: Cannelton had us in a 5-3 hole heading into the top of the sixth, but we hammered them for seven runs in that inning and picked up two more in the seventh to lead 12-5 as we went into the stretch. That was all it took, and we held tough to win 12-5 in the end, completing the sweep and outhitting them 17-9. Glen Cadenhead pitched a complete game nine-hitter, allowing five unearned runs, our offense led by Steve Hopkins with four hits, two runs and two RBIs.

October 16, 1871: Only six more games to go in this regular season, before we kick off the first-ever ORBL playoffs ... tonight we’re hosting Patoka (70-64) for the first of two games, and they’re six games out of the wildcard and nine games out in the Gibson Division, so they need both these wins or they’re on the cusp of elimination. We took the lead in the bottom of the first, but they picked up a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to keep things interesting as they took a 2-1 lead. We tied it up in the bottom of the sixth with a passed ball allowing Steve Hopkins to score! Tony Allegre scored off a single by Danny Graham, putting us back in the lead 3-2 as we headed into the seventh. But they kept us honest and didn’t allow us to run the score up ... and in the top of the eighth they struck back, Patoka taking a 5-3 lead thanks to a two-run single and a passed ball that scored their shorstop. Allegre and Graham pulled off a double steal to get them both into scoring position with no outs, and then Ryan Carl hit a two-run groundball single to tie things up at 5-5! Musselman then hit a solid shot into center, bouncing off the wall and letting him leg out an RBI triple to put us back up by a run ... exciting stuff in this one! He scored off a wild pitch, and we went into the top of the ninth up by a pair. We held tough from there and took game one 7-5. Joe McDonald improved to 9-8 with a complete game six hitter, allowing five runs (two earned) with two walks and two strikeouts, while we got ten hits ourselves. Steve Hopkins led the way with three hits, a run and an RBI, while Ryan Carl added two hits, a run and two RBIs, including the one that led to us retaking the lead in the eighth.

October 17, 1871: Patoka eliminated themselves from playoff contention with the loss yesterday afternoon, but they fought us today like they were still playing for a championship. We traded runs back and forth through the first six, but in the top of the seventh they knocked in four runs to take a 7-3 lead, runners on first and second with one out. We brought out Rosenberger from the bullpen and he was able to get us out of the inning without further incident, leaving the bases loaded. But we’d dug a significant hole and our offense had nothing left in them, so we lost this one 7-3, splitting the series. Aaron Bjornson took a rare loss, falling to 49-12 thanks to allowing 10 hits and seven runs (five earned) through 6.1 innings. We were outhit 12-9, led by Randy Musselman who had two hits, a walk and two runs.

October 18, 1871: Oakland City (73-63) is our host for the next two games, and they remain three back in the wildcard race ... and being eight games out in the Gibson Division, they need all the wins they can get, as Fort Branch has already taken the division and they’re four back of second-place Princeton (77-59). They led 3-1 after two innings, but we put up four runs in the third to take control and never looked back, beating Oakland City 8-4. Glen Cadenhead pitched a complete game with seven hits, a walk, a strikeout and four runs (two earned) to improve his record to 38-17, and we had eight hits ourselves, led by Steve Hopkins with two hits, a walk a run and two more batted in. The loss eliminated them officially from playoff contention.

October 19, 1871: We were tied 1-1 heading into the top of the sixth, but again had a brilliant inning, batting in six runs to take a commanding lead. We picked up a garbage run in the ninth and were able to get out of town with an 8-1 win, our 100th of the season! Joe McDonald pitched a complete game with five hits and an earned run, while we hit a dozen ourselves ... Ryan Carl led the way with three hits and a run, and Musselman had a good day with two hits, two steals, a run and and RBI. He now has 129 stolen bases on the year with two games remaining.

October 20, 1871: Ferdinand (73-65) has been eliminated from playoff contention, but they’d still like to win these last two games to end their season on a good note. But they were no match for our hitting prowess, as we took a 4-2 lead in the second and then continued to add to it inning by inning, en route to a crushing 13-5 victory. And with that win, Bjornson became the first pitcher in ORBL history to reach 50 wins ... he’ll finish the regular season with a 50-12 record and a 1.75 ERA, after allowing five hits, a walk and five runs (one earned) in today’s game, pushing him to 596.2 innings on the year! We outhit Ferdinand 12-5, led by Tony Alegre with three hits, two runs and two RBIs, while Musselman added two hits, a walk, two steals, three runs and two RBIs.

October 21, 1871: Ferdinand fought hard in the final game of the season despite it being an essentially meaningless game statistically. We traded leads in the sixth when they scored three runs to take a 6-4 lead, and we went into the bottom of the ninth still trailing by a run. But Musselman got a single into right, stole a pair of bases, and came around to score the tying run thanks to Chinea reaching first on an E6 error ... and just like that the final game of the season went into extra innings. Rossberger came out of the bullpen to pitch in the 10th, but this one was not destined to end quickly. In the top of the 12th Ferdinand took the lead off an RBI single by third baseman Mike Giap, and Ferdinand was able to hold on to win the game 7-6 ... they won’t go to the playoffs, but they can say they’ll start the 1872 season on a winning streak. Rosenberger took the loss, falling to 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA after 17.1 innings of work this month. He only allowed two hits, a walk and a run in the game, but Ferdinand outhit us 13-9. Musselman had two hits, two steals and two runs scored to finish the season with 133 stolen bases, a .351 average and 11.6 wins above replacement, making him easily the front-runner in the race for the league’s MVP award.

And the playoff slate is now set! The following are the matchups in this year’s ORBL Wild Card Round:

Birdseye (79-63) vs. Tell City (101-39)
Evansville (76-65) vs. Holland (83-57)
Elberfeld (72-68) vs. Fort Branch (85-55)
Princeton (79-62) vs. St. Meinrad (92-48)

The Wildcard round will be a best-of-five series, followed by seven-game series in the Divisional Round and in the ORBL Championship Cup Series that will follow. After playing two-game series all season, these should be very interesting! We go into the playoffs as heavy favorites to win it all, but we’re talking three series with a maximum of 19 games which would be an extremely small sample size ... so anything can and probably will happen -- none of these teams had bad seasons, and with us only allowing eight of the league’s 36 teams to participate in the playoffs, it ensures the best of the best will get to face off in a win-or-go-home atmosphere.

Gatchel, at 78-63, lost our division by 23.5 games and missed out on the playoffs by one game on the final day of the season. They’re the only team with more than 75 wins to not make the playoffs, as both wildcard winners finished with 79 wins apeice. Elberfeld and Evansville were the two worst division winners, which made those races even more intriguing -- limiting the playoffs to six division winners and two wildcards keeps it very exclusive, and puts a lot of value on the regular season ... you’re not going to make it in by being “average.” And if a wildcard team does manage to play its way into November, they’ll have earned something real by beating teams with great resumes.

Here are how all our players finished the regular season in stats perfornance:

Starters
C Tony Alegre -- .228/.247/.327, 19 2B, 7 3B, 1 HR, 44 RBI, 10 SB, 2.9 WAR
1B Alex Centeno -- .325/.380/.605, 35 2B, 6 3B, 38 HR, 126 RBI, 6 SB, 8.9 WAR
2B Ismael Chinea -- .292/.325/.463, 22 2B, 10 3B, 16 HR, 102 RBI, 4 SB, 4.5 WAR
3B Steve Hopkins -- .316/.369/.363, 14 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 96 RBI, 2.4 WAR
SS Chris Johnston -- .228/.267/.250, 7 2B, 2 3B, 47 RBI, 49 SB, 6.1 WAR
LF Danny Graham -- .233/.254/.279, 3 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR, 55 RBI, 20 SB, 0.1 WAR
CF Randy Musselman -- .351/.383/.454, 20 2B, 17 3B, 1 HR, 51 RBI, 133 SB, 11.6 WAR
RF Ryan Carl -- .286/.292/.330, 20 2B, 2 3B, 73 RBI, 5 SB, 0.5 WAR

Bench
C Bubba Masiello -- .251/.283/.304, 6 2B, 3 3B, 3 SB, 1.1 WAR
C Steve Williamson -- .241/.279/.276, 2 2B, 8 RBI, 0.1 WAR*
3B David Chesnut -- .250/.287/.289, 3 2B, 14 RBI, 1 SB, 0.0 WAR*
SS Jimmy Hall -- .223/.268/.297, 4 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 3 SB, 1.2 WAR
LF Alex Fernandez -- .181/.246/.236, 5 2B, 1 3B, 15 RBI, 1 SB, -0.7 WAR
LF Mike Stratton -- .200/.194/.200, 3 RBI, -0.2 WAR*
CF Izzy Lopez -- .157/.204/.176, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 SB, 0.0 WAR*

Starters
Aaron Bjornson -- 50-12, 1.75 ERA, 596.2 IP, 61 K’s, 0.88 WHIP, 119 ERA+, 56 CG, 5 SHO, 59 QS, 8.3 WAR
Glen Cadenhead -- 38-17, 2.19 ERA, 537.2 IP, 65 K’s, 1.08 WHIP, 95 ERA+, 47 CG, 5 SHO, 49 QS, 8.6 WAR

Bullpen
Joe McDonald -- 10-8, 2.65 ERA, 91.2 IP, 12 K’s, 1.22 WHIP, 79 ERA+, 5 CG, 5 QS, 0.1 WAR
Eric Behmer -- 1-1, 4.70 ERA, 4.70 ERA, 38.1 IP, 1.28 WHIP, 5 K’s, 44 ERA+, 1 QS, -0.2 WAR*
David Rosenberger -- 2-1, 2.08 ERA, 17.1 IP, 2 K’s, 1.44 WHIP, 100 ERA+, -0.2 WAR

* Finished the season on the reserve roster.

jksander · 06-28-2025, 10:28 PM

October 26, 1871: Homefield advantage is a real thing in these wildcard series, as the home team will play the first three games on their field -- so it’s possible for the team with the best record to sweep without ever having to travel into enemy territory! We packed our home field with fans for game one this afternoon, facing the Birdseye Baseball Club, against whom we were 2-2 this season, splitting both our home and away series. Bjornson took the mound in game one, and the game started out as a razor-sharp battle of wills, neither team breaking through early. We scored first in the bottom of the fourth, bases loaded, when Ryan Carl pulled off a squeeze bunt that scored Centeno from third! A passed ball allowed a second run to score, giving us a 2-0 advantage as we headed into the top of the fifth. We loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs off a single by Graham that was aided by an E9 throwing error, and Carl added on with an RBI single to make it a 5-0 lead. They got on the board in the top of the sixth with an RBI single, adding a second run off a groundout to first, but we held them back from there to maintain our advantage. But things got dangerous in the top of the eighth, as they got two runs off a single by left fielder Fausto Bertolini, cutting the margin to one with just one out. We brought Joe McDonald out to pitch in the top of the ninth, still leading by a run, and with two outs and a man on first, they tied the game with a well-placed double into center by shortstop Brent Strohm, making this a 5-5 ballgame. They took the lead when their next batter reached first on an E6 error, and we went into the bottom of the inning needing some offense. It wasn’t forthcoming, and we lost this one in a heartbreaking way, 6-5. Bjornson lasted eight innings with six hits, a walk and four runs (three earned), but McDonald couldn’t hold it -- he got a blown save and the loss, allowing two hits, and two runs (one earned) while we were outhit 8-7. Ismael Chinea led our scoring fight with two hits, a walk and a run.

In the other games of the day, home team Holland beat Evansville in an 8-0 reaming and St. Meinrad easily defeated Princeton 10-4. But Elberfeld upset Fort Branch 3-1, making the home teams 2-2 on day one.

October 27, 1871: With Glen Cadenhead on the mound for game two, things did not start out smoothly. With one out, Birdseye took the lead when an E8 error after a groundball single let their shortstop Strohm score. An E7 error moments later allowed a single by third baseman Jose Tovar to score their runner from second and give them a solid 2-0 before most fans had found their seats, thanks to three errors in one half of an inning. They added on three more in the third inning, while we didn’t even get a hit in the first three innings. Phil Pratt, their catcher, hit a solo homer in the fourth to pile on, and this one became a rout quickly ... if we couldn’t find some way to start scoring, it was going to be done before we even got going. We came up to hit in the bottom of the fourth trailing 7-0 and our fans were really letting us hear it ... plenty of catcalls and boos coming from the stands. Musselman led off with a double into center, stole third, and a sac-fly by Chinea did finally get us on the board. Cadenhead helped leave a pair stranded in the top of the fifth, but we couldn’t get our offense going at all! They added on two runs in the sixth and this one was out of control. Musselman got a single and two stolen bases in the bottom of the sixth, scoring off a sac-fly by Chinea, but again we weren’t able to turn it into a rally. We brought out David Rosenberger in the top of the seventh trailing by seven runs, and they hammered us from there, turning this one into an absolute embarassment as we lost 12-3. Cadenhead took the loss, lasting six innings with 12 hits, a walk and nine runs, seven of them earned, while we got outhit 17-5 ... excruciatingly bad all around. Only Musselman came out looking good, with two hits, three stolen bases, two hits and an RBI.

Holland held tough and beat Evansville 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead in their series, while Fort Branch beat Elberfeld 6-5 to even theirs. Princeton upset St. Meinrad 5-2 to even their series, and things are really starting to heat up as the temperatures drop in southern Indiana.

October 28, 1871: It’s win or we’re done heading into this game, as Bjornson came out to pitch in front of nearly 1,300 of our fans under clear skies in our final home game -- win tonight and we get the opportunity to travel up the road to Birdseye and see if we can keep this alive. But we’ve dug a deep hole, and coming out of it will be a difficult challenge. Chinea got us on the board in the bottom of the first with a solo homer out of right field, and we loaded the bases on one out in the bottom of the third, capitalizing with a an RBI single by Steve Hopkins! A sac-fly by Centeno made it a 3-0 lead heading into the top of the fourth, but they picked up a pair of runs off a flyball single by first baseman Alex Gonzalez and this game became a tight battle. Bjornson let them load the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, but we stranded all three runners as we held our 3-2 lead. We were able to add on in the bottom of the inning when Musselman reached on an E5 error that scored Alegre from third, but they got a run back in the top of the seventh to keep us sweating. We stranded a pair in the bottom of the seventh, failing to add on runs to our thin lead, but with one out in the bottom of the eighth we loaded the bases and we scored two runs off a single by Hopkins to extend our lead to three! We unleashed from there, adding on seven more runs, giving us a 10-run lead in the top of the ninth. Bjornson closed it out perfectly and we won with ease 13-3! He allowed just six hits, a walk and three runs (two earned) while striking out a pair, and we outhit them 16-6, behind three hits, a walk, a run and three RBIs from Hopkins. Musselman added two hits, a walk, a steal, two runs and two RBIs.

There will be no sweeps in this series, as Holland fell to Evansville 5-4 in game three of their series. Fort Branch defeated Elberfeld 4-3 to take a 2-1 series lead, while Princeton pulled their second upset in a row to take a 2-1 lead over St. Meinrad with a 9-4 blowout performance.

October 30, 1871: Bjornson had yesterday to rest and we need our ace in another do-or-die affair, this time on the road in Birdseye. Musselman got us going with a hit and a pair of steals, scoring on two outs when Centeno hit a single into right. Centeno scored moments later when Chris Johnston hit a single into deep right, an E9 error allowing him to come around from third to slide home! But Birdseye fought back in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs to take the lead, and we knew this was gonna be a dogfight the rest of the way. We tied it up in the top of the third when Alex Centeno grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, scoring Chinea from third, and in the top of the fourth Musselman hit a one-out RBI single that drove in a pair to give us a 5-3 lead! Musselman batted in some insurance in the top of the eighth with a single into right, taking second as Ryan Carl scored from third to extend our lead to three runs, but they got a run back in the bottom of the inning to keep it within two. Alegre scored in the top of the ninth thanks to an E4 error, and a single by Carl coupled with an E8 error helped us extend our lead to four. Bjornson batted in a run with a single as we piled on, and we went into the bottom of the inning with a five-run cushion. Bjornson held it, and we won 9-4, guaranteeing us a chance at a winner-takes-all game five! Bjornson pitched a complete game with seven hits, a strikeout and four runs (three earned) to give him a 2-0 record and a 2.77 ERA through 26 innings. Musselman had three hits, two steals, a run and three RBIs, as he’s hitting .350 so far in the playoffs with six stolen bases without being caught!

Holland defeated Evansville 5-4, winning their wildcard series three games to one. But the other two series will also go to game five -- Elberfeld beat Fort Branch 10-5 as the series shifted to their field, and St. Meinrad stole a game at Princeton 5-4 to extend that series as well. Lots of great baseball so far as we inch toward November.

October 31, 1871: Happy All Hallows Eve, everyone, we’re getting a game five! Glen Cadenhead pitched for us today, and he had a 2-0 cushion from the moment he threw his first pitch thanks to a two-run homer by Ismael Chinea in the top of the first. We added on a run in the top of the third, and were cruising along when Musselman was injured in the bottom of the seventh while making a throw from center to third ... and the runner was safe too! With runners on the corners and two outs we were able to get out of the inning without a run scoring, but we’d lost our offensive sparkplug. That didn’t stop us from adding on in the top of the ninth with an RBI single by Danny Graham, and moments later Ismael Chinea nearly started a riot when he hit a grand slam home run out of left to extend our shutout lead to eight. Cadenhead couldn’t hold on to the shutout, giving them four quick runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and as we hurried to warm a bullpen arm, they scored a fifth off a double by third baseman Jose Tovar ... a wild pitch advanced Tovar to third, but finally, mercifully, we got the last out in center field and won this one 8-5, advancing to the next playoff round! Cadenhead completed the game but allowed 13 hits, a walk and five earned runs after coming into the ninth inning with just eight hits against him. They outhit us in the end 13-12, but Chinea’s grand slam gave him three hits, two runs and six runs batted in and helped us build a big enough cushion to survive the ninth-inning near-meltdown.

Elberfeld capped an incredible run by beating Fort Branch 6-4, becoming the first underdog to win a wildcard series! But St. Meinrad held tough to win 6-2 over Princeton, so our biggest competitor remains alive in these playoffs after taking their series three games to two. Out of four series, three favorites won out, including us coming back from down two games.

Musselman has a sprained ankle, and will be day to day for at least five days. We’re going to have to replace him in the lineup with Bubba Masiello, who has experience at center field with his solid catching arm ... but we’re going to be at a disadvantage both in fielding and minus Musselman’s incredible speed on the bases as we head into the next round to face Holland Baseball Club in a best of seven series.

jksander · 06-29-2025, 02:10 AM

November 2, 1871: These series now extend to a best of seven format, with two at home, three on the road and two at home for the favorite (which in this case is us). So we’re opening the month of November with Bjornson on the mound in front of our most ardent fans. Clear skies and temps in the upper 40s met Bjornson as he took the mound once again, and Holland took the lead 1-0 in the top of the second, and their defenses held very well as we struggled to get anything going offensively. They added on three runs in the fifth, but we finally got on the board thanks to a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to three. Bjornson reached on an E1 error to drive in a second run, and we went into the top of the sixth suddenly in this ballgame, down just 4-2. Bjornson pitched around loaded bases to get us through the next inning without damage, and he pitched well the rest of the way, but our bats were silent for the most part. In the bottom of the ninth, still trailing by two, Steve Hopkins got a leadoff single and took second on a wild pitch, giving us a chance ... that’s when Centeno had a hero moment, hitting a two-run homer out of right to tie the score 4-4, sending this one into extra innings! They got a run back for the lead with two outs in the top of the 10th, and we weren’t able to recover, losing this one 5-4. Bjornson pitched a complete 10-inning game with 11 hits, three strikeouts and five earned runs, and Holland outhit us 11-6, our bats led by Centeno with a hit, a run and two RBIs.

Elberfeld took on St. Meinrad in the other divisional series, and though they led 2-1 after one inning, St. Meinrad took firm control from there, blitzing their way to an 8-2 blowout win as Elberfeld failed to score again after the first inning.

November 3, 1871: This one didn’t go any better for us, as our offense continues to lack spark without Musselman ... Holland scored five runs in the third and fourth combined, and we never fully recovered. In the bottom of the fourth Chinea scored off a passed ball and we scored a second run thanks to Chris Johnton stealing second, allowing Steve Hopkins to score off an E2 throwing error. But we didn’t do anything else the rest of the way and Holland took a two-game lead in the series with a 7-2 win. They outhit us 10-7, and Cadenhead took the loss, pitching a complete game with 10 hits, a walk and seven runs (three earned). Chinea and Hopkins led the team, each hitting twice with a run scored.

Elberfeld came back to tie their series with St. Meinrad, winning game two by a 7-6 margin.

November 5, 1871: We’re now on the road against Holland, and they have full home field advantage from here on out unless we can find a way to steal a win. Musselman’s still day to day, but with nothing to lose -- if we go down three games to nothing there’s no way we make that comeback twice -- he wants to play and we’ve got his foot wrapped tightly and ready for action, though he’s been told to take it easy running to avoid taking himself out of the series for good. He led off with a base hit in the top of the first, and we loaded the bases but came up empty as nobody could push a run through. But in the top of the second Danny Graham scored off a double by Ryan Carl, giving us a 1-0 lead midway through the inning. But they flipped the score in the bottom of the third when Matt McNeely, their first baseman, hit an RBI double that scored shortstop Gabe Kreyling ... that pushed a runner in to third, and he managed to score safely as we got the trailing runner out at third ... score that as a 9-3-5 play. Holland shut us down completely from there, and they held on to win 2-1, taking the three-game lead in the series as a result. And though we’d love to make another miracle happen, the chances of us making the ORBL Championship Cup seem very remote at this point. Bjornson took the loss, allowing six hits and two earned runs with a walk and two strikeouts, and each team had six hits, ours led by Graham who had two hits and a run.

Elberfeld has proven to be quite a tough competitor, and they took the lead in their series against St. Meinrad by winning game three 7-3 on their field, building a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looking back.

November 6, 1871: We traded runs early, back and forth through the first five innings, but Holland steadily kept control -- we came up to hit in the top of the sixth trailing 6-4. Musselman hit an RBI single to cut the lead to one, stealing second and taking third on an E2 error. He completed the circuit by taking home on a passed ball, tying the score at 6-6! We pinch hit Jimmy Hall for Cadenhead with one out in the top of the eighth, and he reached base on an E6 error, taking second off a passed ball and scoring thanks to an RBI line-drive double by Ismael Chinea! With the lead at 7-6, we brought out Bjornson from the bullpen, but in the bottom of the ninth they tied the score off a two-out single by catcher Simon Liske. This one was headed for extra innings! In the top of the 10th with two outs, Musselman hit a triple off the center field wall, but Chinea grounded out to first, stranding him. Incredibly, Bjornson pitched around runners on the corners to get three consecutive outs and keep this game alive! We loaded the bases in the top of the 11th, no outs, and Tony Alegre pushed us into the lead with a shot into right field, scoring a run to keep the bases packed! We took our chance to blow this one open, scoring four more runs to take a five-run lead heading into the bottom of the frame! Bjornson was gassed so we brought Joe McDonald out of the pen in a non-save opportunity, and he performed wonderfully as we held tough to win 12-7 ... we still have a chance! Cadenhead pitched seven innings with six hits, a walk, a strikeout and six runs (two earned), but didn’t get the win ... Bjornson blew the save but got that honor thanks to three hits and an earned run across three innings of work. We outhit them 14-9 and had six players hit twice, led by Musselman with two hits, a run and two RBIs.

St. Meinrad evened the series with Elberfeld with a hard-fought defensive win, 3-1, tying the series at two games each.

November 7, 1871: We’re win or go home the rest of the way, but yesterday’s victory gave us a lot of juice. Bjornson started the game, and Holland took an early lead with a run in the bottom of the first, adding on another in the third to go up 2-0. By the time we came up to hit in the top of the seventh we were in a 4-0 hole, but a sac-fly by Chinea got us on the board. But we came up in the ninth trailing by five and our season looked to be over. With one out Ismael Chinea scored off a passed ball, and we suddenly came to life, loading the bases! Tony Alegre reached first on an E3 error, driving in a run while keeping the bases loaded ... but Graham and Carl made for easy outs, and that was it for us. Holland held on to win 6-3, and just like that our excellent season was over as they’ll punch their ticket to the first-ever ORBL Championship Cup Series. Bjornson pitched eight innings with nine hits, a walk and six runs (three earned) and we were outhit 9-6, led by Chinea with two hits, a run and an RBI.

- - - - -

St. Meinrad won their last game on the road against Elberfeld 5-2, retaking the series lead three games to two, so two days later on the 9th of November they returned to their home field with a chance to guarantee a spot in the ORBL Championship Cup Series. But Elberfeld creamed them 6-2 in game six, forcing our first seven-game series in the league for all the marbles. But St. Meinrad proved to be the stronger team in the final game, as their ace pitcher Moises Hernandez pitched a complete game two hit shutout, winning 2-0 to earn their spot and homefield advantage in the championship round.

The ORBL Championship Cup series started on November 12th, as St. Meinrad beat Holland 4-3, scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead for good in a come-from-behind victory. But Holland came back and won game two 7-4, tying the series as they headed to their home field for a three-game stretch with the advantage in their hands. St. Meinrad took it back by winning game three 6-0, Hernandez pitching another gem with six hits, two walks, two strikeouts and no runs against. They then won game four as well in an 8-1 beatdown, giving them a chance to win the title on the road in game five ... and that’s exactly what they did on November 17th, taking a 4-0 lead in the fifth and cruising to a 5-3 victory as they won the ORBL Championship Cup four games to one.

- - - - -

After much discussion among team owners, it has been decided that we will NOT be restructuring the league to compete in separate conferences, as most of the ownership was happy with the two-home / two-away nature of our 140-game season -- it was decided that, with the playoffs being limited to just eight teams, it is preferable that every team get to play each other during the regular season. There was enough parity that every playoff series was competitive, and the regular season’s 140-game marathon still held a lot of value as the race for the final two wildcard spots wasn’t decided until the final day ... so the vote was that we keep the league structure the same and see how things shake out over the remainder of the decade.

And though there has been a lot of interest in setting up competing leagues to join with ours, none appear to be ready for action in the coming year.

The committee of owners did decide to expand roster limits, and for the 1872 season teams will be allowed to keep an active roster of 18 players along with a reserve roster with up to 20 additional players. The hope is that, with these loosened restrictions, teams will be able to have a deeper reserve of players at multiple positions to both combat injuries and to develop youth. Because of the expanded reserve roster, there will not be injury lists with the ability to add additional players without penalty during the season. Instead, you simply must put the injured player back on your reserve roster. Should any issues arise where the reserve limits are not keeping up with injury issues, the owners have agreed to revisit this again in the offseason, but nothing about injuries in the previous season suggests this will be an issue.

It was also voted that, for now, the league is no longer going to have a “cash limit,” allowing owners to put into their clubs whatever resources they see fit to. This too can be revisited if it is determined that the league is suffering financially due to large disparities between teams, but for the current time being, all 36 teams in the league remain financially solvent and fiscally responsible.

Free agency is upon us, and teams are scrambling now to restock their teams with the players of the future ... will our Tell City Baseball Club be able to keep pace and fight our way back into the ORBL playoffs next year? Our community is sure hopeful!

jksander · 06-29-2025, 03:26 AM

November 27, 1871: The league has announced the winners of this year’s William Tecumseh Sherman Fielding Awards, awarded each year to the best fielder at each position in honor of the Union Civil War general whose campaigns against the Confederacy earned him the reputation as our first true “modern” general. The awards for the 1871 season are as follows:

P - Kevin Searcy (Princeton Baseball Club)
C - Tony Alegre (Tell City Baseball Club)
1B - Chris Barrett (Princeton Baseball Club)
2B - Dave McBride (Darmstadt Baseball Club)
3B - Justin Braunstein (Gatchel Baseball Club)
SS - Pat Linn (St. Meinrad Baseball Club)
LF - Antonio Chapa (Lynnville Baseball Club)
CF - Travis Dubois (Mechanicsville Baseball Club)
RF - Melchoir Wilkoszewski (St. Meinrad Baseball Club)

Alegre was our lone defensive winner, finishing his season with a .983 fielding percentage, playing 796.1 innings while committing just four errors all year! He had a +13.4 zone and 1.189 EFF rating. Having him behind the plate was incredibly valuable, and though he only hit .228 this year, he put up 2.9 WAR mostly off his incredible catching arm. The 24-year-old will continue to play for us this year while earning $250 for the season.

November 28, 1871: Boonville Baseball Club’s ace reliever Ruben Morales was named this year’s ORBL Reliever of the Year! The 39-year-old played in 36 games this year and threw for 51.2 innings, putting up a 3-0 record with five “saves” and a 1.39 ERA, striking out nine against just two walks. This isn’t a league that tends to value strong bullpens, since starters put in so much of the overall workload, but Morales did his part as the best bullpen player who wasn’t also an occasional starter. His 148 ERA+ and .259 opponent batting average suggests that Boonville might want to utilitze him more if they’d like to put together a more competitive record -- they finished at 62-78, in fourth place in the Warrick Division.

November 29, 1871: It’s time to announce the winners of the William Henry Harrison Honorable Hitter Awards, awarded to the best hitter at each position named in honor of former Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison, who also served (briefly) as our nation’s ninth president. The awards for the 1871 season are as follows:

P - Chris Castaldi (Mechanicsville Baseball Club)
C - Alfredo Uribe (Troy Baseball Club)
1B - Alex Centeno (Tell City Baseball Club)
2B - Ismael Chinea (Tell City Baseball Club)
3B - Steve Hopkins (Tell City Baseball Club)
SS - Mike Purcell (Fort Branch Baseball Club)
LF - Danny Santiago (Lincoln City Baseball Club)
CF - Randy Musselman (Tell City Baseball Club)
RF - Joe Kontor (Fort Branch Baseball Club)

November 30, 1871: Holland Baseball Club’s 17-year-old first baseman Matt McNeely was named the ORBL Rookie of the Year for the 1871 season, honoring his .316 season, during which he hit 17 doubles and batted in 68 runs, putting up 3.7 WAR. He was Holland’s third round pick in the league’s inagural draft, and in August he put together an impressive 20-game hitting streak, performing well above the #48 prospect ranking he’d gotten at the start of the season.

December 1, 1871: The league announced the William Tell Sharpshooter Award today, given to the league’s top pitcher, and in a stunning turn of events, our ace Aaron Bjornson finished fourth in the voting, with only two first-place votes! Instead, the award went to St. Meinrad’s Moises Hernandez, proving that wins aren’t everything. Hernandez finished the year with 635.0 innings pitched and a 44-25 record, a 1.71 ERA, 76 strikeouts and 10.3 wins above replacement. The 41-year-old held opponents to a .228 average all year and threw 59 complete games with 10 shutouts, including a one-hitter against Darmstadt on October 4th. He was also a huge part of their championship push in November, so in all fairness he more than deserved the honor. He received 29 of the 36 possible votes, finishing ahead of Evansville’s Nate Picou (40-29, 1.66 ERA, 638.0 IP, 70 K’s, 1.03 WHIP, 60 CG, 9 SHO, 9.7 WAR) and Fort Branch’s Devin Tennyson (39-27, 643.0 IP, 1.51 ERA, 66 K’s, 0.89 WHIP, 49 CG, 5 SHO, 11.4 WAR).

December 2, 1871: Today the league announced the biggest award of all, the George Rogers Clark MVP Award, given to the league’s most valuable player in honor of George Rogers Clark, the “Hannibal of the West,” who was one of our state’s earliest settlers. This season the league’s 36 first place votes were almost evenly split among two of our hitters -- Alex Centeno (15 first place votes, 399 total points) and the overall winner, Randy Musselman (21 first place votes, 429 total points)! Both players had incredible seasons, but voters were clearly impressed with Musselman’s ability to manufacture runs ... as our leadoff hitter he put up 195 hits this season and, thanks to his staggering 133 steals, he SCORED 158 runs while batting in 51! He and Centeno led the league in hits and runs, but Musselman’s run total was 42 better than Centeno’s due almost entirely to the power of his baserunning ... and it showed when he was injured in the playoffs, unable to leg out the runs like he had in the regular season. The 28-year-old will earn $250 this season, and we’re hopeful he can stay healthy and fast for years to come.

jksander · 06-29-2025, 04:19 AM

January 24, 1872: We’ve signed a number of young players to add depth to our organization, but we got into a bidding war with the Troy Baseball Club over the services of the “big fish,” who this year was reliever Tim “Shutdown” Seay! The 17-year-old graduate of Tell City High School is hugely popular throughout the county, and he has the makings of an incredible bullpen ace, and if he can improve his stamina and add a third pitch, he could have starting potential as well. A groundball-focused pitcher, he’s got an arm to hold runners in place, and his stuff and control are impeccable. Still, a lot of folks are wagging their heads at the fact that our owner authorized us to pay him the staggering sum of $1,520 this year as a one-time bonus to keep him with the hometown team. He won’t make that much every year, but if it can keep him out of the bullpen of a divisional rival, I’m all for it!

At the moment we have our 18-man roster set, and have 14 of our 20 spots filled on the reserve roster. I do not expect us to fill the full roster, as we’d like to maintain room for future prospect signings as the situation warrants. Our hitting lineup looks unlikely to change much from last year with all our key starters returning, and with Bjornson and Cadenhead both returning as well, the biggest change this year is likely to be the deeper bullpen ... as due to the expanded rosters to 18 players we intend to keep four players around for bullpen usage.

April 24, 1872: The schedule for the 1872 season of ORBL play has been announced, and we’ll open the year with back-to-back home series against Oakland City and Patoka, with opening day set for May 24! We have high expectations for the coming season, having won 101 games last year while not making it to our goal of appearing in the ORBL Championship Cup series. We’ve got an expected total payroll this year of $6,992, which puts us heads and tails above the rest of the league (our next nearest competitor is Ferdinand, at $5,570) so if we can’t deliever the goods on the field it will be difficult to maintain that level of spending in the future and still remain financially solvent. But early season ticket sales have been great, even with a price increase to 15 cents per ticket, and if we can pile up wins I think we’re well on the right track to becoming a year-in, year-out favorite.

May 23, 1872: The preseason top prospects list came out today, and our new bullpen ace, Tim Seay, is ranked #2 in the league behind 24-year-old starter Mike Esquivel of Fort Branch, who they discovered out of the independent leagues back in November. Another of our signings from this fall, 21-year-old second baseman Chris DePaola, comes in ranked 11th overall, and 25-year-old left fielder Ryan Trainer is ranked #12. David Rosenberger, who saw limited playing time last year, is ranked 16th, while 19-year-old infielder Danny Hall remains ranked 21st after a year on our reserve squad. We easily have the top development system, with Grandview, Ferdinand and Lincoln City fighting for distant second place.

jksander · 06-30-2025, 03:25 PM

May 24, 1872: It’s opening day, everyone! Oakland City has come to town to play us for a pair of games, and we’ve got our ace, 18-year-old Aaron Bjornson, taking the mound. Oakland City scored the first run of the season in the top of the first, but Musselman got on base with a double to lead off in the bottom of the inning, and he tied the score off a groundout by Steve Hopkins ... game on! Danny Graham scored off a flyball single by Ryan Carl in the bottom of the second to give us our first lead, but he took a cleat to the head sliding into home and is going to be out for a couple weeks due to blurred vision. 21-year-old Alex Fernandez took his place in left field in the top of the third, They tied it up off a passed ball in the top of the third, and they took the lead in the fourth when their leadoff man Josh Ruiz hit into a fielder’s choice. From there the game stayed close but we struggled to get past their infield defense and make anything happen. Bjornson pitched well and kept us in the game down the stretch but we came up to hit in the bottom of the ninth really needing something to pop ... still trailing by a run, Ismael Chinea led off with single into left and advanced to second off a groundout, but he blew it when he tried (and failed) to steal third. Centeno popped out harmlessly to the pitcher and this was over, a 3-2 opening day loss. Bjornson pitched a complete game with nine hits, a walk and three runs, only one of which was earned, but he couldn’t power our hitting too ... we were outhit 9-5, led by Chinea with two hits to nowhere and by Musselman who had a hit and a run.

We’ve moved Danny Graham to the reserve roster until he recovers from his concussion, and in turn have called up 25-year-old Ryan Trainer, the #12 prospect in the ORBL, to get his shot in the outfield. Graham, at 31, has seen his better days and may be fit to return to the main lineup as a backup when he’s healthy, but if the young prospect delievers, Graham’s days as a non-reserve player may be numbered.

May 25, 1872: Cadenhead took the mound for his first game of the year this afternoon, and from the start we were locked in a pitching duel. Oakland City broke through in the top of the fifth with a two-run single by catcher Johnny Symons, but we got on the board in the bottom of the inning when Musselman hit an RBI triple that bounced around the outfield, and he scored when Chinea reached on an E5 error, tying the score at 2-2! We took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, Centeno scoring off an RBI single by rookie Ryan Trainer, but they tied it a few minutes later, Symons scoring off a single by center fielder Jason Graf that was coupled with an untimely E8 error, sending the game into the stretch knotted up at 3-3. Ismael Chinea woke everyone up in the bottom of the inning with a solo homer out of left, the first Tell City homer of the season, and Tony Alegre added on with an RBI triple in the eighth to extend our lead to two! Cadenhead came out in the ninth but got just one out around two hits that put a runner in scoring position, so we called upon rookie Tim Seay to close out the inning ... he allowed a base hit to load the bags, but got our second out on a 3-2 fielder’s choice, but alas third baseman Nick Black hit a screaming drive into right and drove in two runs ... tie game. Two outs, runners in scoring position and a groundout to first ended the top half of the inning, sending us into the bottom with a burning need to score a run. Musselman grounded out to first, Chinea popped out to their catcher, and Hopkins popped up to second and we were headed for extras knotted at five runs each. They scored a run in the top of the 10th to take the lead back, and then shut us down with three quick outs in the bottom of the frame, beating us 6-5 for the series sweep. That’s definitely not how we’d hoped to start this season.

Cadenhead lasted 8.1 innings with 10 hits, a strikeout and five runs (two earned), but it was the rookie Seay who took the loss after the blown save ... he pitched 1.2 innings with five hits and an earned run, an inauspicious beginning to what is still sure to be a long career. It was a hitter’s game, and they blasted us 15-10, our team led by Musselman and Chinea who each had two hits, a run and an RBI.

May 26, 1872: Patoka (0-2) came to town for our next two games, and that meant somebody was gonna get their first win of the year today. Patoka drew first blood in the top of the fourth by scoring off a sac-fly, but Chinea tied it up with an RBI triple off the center field wall in the bottom of the fifth, and we took the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Ryan Carl reached first on an E5 error, scoring Centeno! Alegre scored moments later off an E3 error, and finally our bats woke up as Musselman hit a single coupled with an E8 error that drove in two more to give us a 5-1 lead! He promptly stole third, his first stolen base of the season, but didn’t score as we went into the top of the sixth with a four-run advantage. Patoka scored off back to back RBI singles in the top of the sixth to keep the game interesting, but we held them off from there and were able to pick up our first win of the season by a 5-3 margin. Bjornson improved to 1-1 with a 2.00 ERA, allowing seven hits and three earned runs in his complete game. We managed to get eight hits ourselves, led by Musselman who had three hits, a steal, a run and an RBI. The problem is our batters are not consistent throughout the lineup ... Musselman (.462) and Chinea (.385) have hit well at the front of the lineup, but beyond that only Trainer, batting sixth, is even hitting .250 ... we’re going to need the offense to stop slumping if we’re going to win consistently in a league that’s clearly going to be a lot tougher this season.

May 27, 1872: Patoka didn’t waste any time, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the second off a pair of RBI singles, one of which was coupled with an E8 error. And though our offensive struggles were real, our pitching held through the heart of the game, keeping us within reach if we could just string some hits together. Musselman still hasn’t gotten his legs back properly, which has kept us from manufacturing runs like we did so well last season -- he stole a base early in the game but was picked off twice, the third time so far this year when he only got caught a dozen times in all of last year’s games. Patoka added on a run in the top of the ninth to take a three-run shutout lead, and we just held up our hands in surrender, losing this one 3-0 to fall to 1-3 on the young season. Cadenhead fell to 0-1 with a 2.60 ERA, allowing nine hits, a walk and three runs with a strikeout. But the issue remained our lack of sustained hitting -- they outhit us 9-7, with Musselman (two hits, one steal) being our only real spark ... which may have spurred him to take risks on the basepaths that were more desperation than logical.

May 28, 1872: Today we’re on the road against 3-1 Huntingburg, a team that is off to a solid start after finishing last year 16 games under .500. We outhit them significantly early on in this one, but neither team could get a real foothold. In the top of the sixth we saw our first real chance, when Chris Johnston hit a one-out double and took third on a groundout by Trainer. We pinch-hit Chris DePaola for Tony Alegre, who has been hitting a miserable .059 through his first five starts, but DePaola grounded out to first and we missed the opportunity. Bubba Masiello took over at catcher in the bottom of the inning, and it was Huntingburg who scored first via an RBI double from right fielder Larry Goguen. But we tied it in the top of the seventh with a two-out RBI double by Chinea, scoring Musselman from first thanks to a no-throw from center field ... and in the top of the eighth we got the lead when Masiello hit an RBI single in his first at-bat of the season, sending us into the bottom of the eighth leading 2-1. But two passed balls in a row and an RBI single tied this one up quickly. In the top of the ninth Bjornson was set to bat leadoff, but we pinch hit Jimmy Hall for him, and the 29-year-old shortstop quietly grounded out to first. Musselman and Chinea did the same, and we went into the bottom of the inning hoping for extras, with Tim Seay taking over on the mound. He did the job with three quick outs, and we went into the 10th with a chance.

We couldn’t buy a run to save our lives, and it started to feel like this game might go into the evening. Jim McDonald took the mound in the bottom of the 12th, still knotted up at two-all, getting three quick outs to keep us going. We used our last pinch-hitter in the 13th with Alex Fernandez hitting on one out with runners on first and second, replacing Carl in right. And it paid off! He singled down the right field line to load the bases, and we took the lead when McDonald successfully pulled off a squeeze bunt ... 3-2! Musselman singled in another run with a shot up the gap, and Chinea hit one into shallow left to make it a three-run lead before Hopkins hit into a 6-3 double play to end the inning. McDonald stayed out in the bottom of the inning with the three-run lead as a cushion, and he got two quick outs but with runners on the corners, a passed ball led to Huntingurg scoring, cutting our lead to two. We brought out David Rosenberger with the runner on second and two outs, and he got the out we needed to win this one 5-3 after 13 grueling innings. McDonald got the win, pitching 1.2 innings with a hit and an unearned run, and Rosenberger got a save thanks to ONE PITCH ... but it was a high leverage situation, and he came through for us in a pinch. We outhit them 16-10, so it shouldn’t have been as tough to win as it was, but we got the win and that’s what matters. Musselman led the way with three hits, a run and an RBI, while Johnston added three hits and a run.

May 29, 1872: Glen Cadenhead took the mound this afternoon for game two against Huntingburg, and they took the lead quickly in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by shortstop Salvador Verdusco. But in the top of the fifth we loaded the bases on back-to-back-to-back errors, and Steve Hopkins hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Masiello to tie the game at 1-1. We loaded the bases again in the top of the ninth with one out, bringing up Steve Hopkins, who hit into a fielder’s choice with the out made at home. Centeno then hit into one with the out at second and that was the inning. They came up to hit in the bottom of the ninth still tied 1-1, and for the second day in a row we took this one into extra innings. Cadenhead got us through the 10th, but with him set to lead off in the top of the 11th we brought out DePaola to pinch hit ... pop-out to short, no dice, and Musselman and Chinea followed suit. Joe McDonald took over on the mound in the bottom of the inning and pitched around a base hit to keep this one going. But in the bottom of the 12th they stuck the dagger in ... their third baseman John Wright hit a solo homer out of left, his first of the year, walking this off as they took the 2-1 win. McDonald took the loss, falling to 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA, allowing two hits and a run, and the homer gave them an 8-7 hits advantage in what had been a tight game the entire way. Steve Hopkins led the way with two hits and an RBI, and he’s brought his average up now to .267 through our first six games.

We’ll finish the month out with a pair of games back in Tell City against Derby (4-2) in our first divisional battle of the season.

May 30, 1872: Derby got off to a fast start, thanks to an RBI single and a passed ball that got them up 2-0 just eight minutes into the ballgame. But we got on the board in the bottom of the second when Bjornson reached on an E6 error that drove home Ryan Trainor, and Musselman hit one into right field that drove home Ryan Carl to tie it up 2-2! Bjornson scored the go-ahead off a wild pitch, and our fans went nuts ... could this be a turning point? With two outs, Musselman stole third, but we went into the third inning leading 3-2 after a groundout squelched our chance to blow this one open ... and Derby struck back in the top of the third, two outs and men on the corners, scoring two when their right fielder Jonathan Miller hit an RBI double. Lead? Gone. They added on with a run in the fifth, but Musselman got on base off an E5 error in the bottom of the inning to get one of those runs back, and Chinea hit one that bounced around center field, tying the score as Bjornson scored off the double! Hopkins hit an RBI single that drove in two more, and we went into the seventh inning leading 7-5! Chinea wrenched his back hitting that double, and had to be pulled from the game for Chris DePaola as we started the seventh, but thankfully it’s not expected to be a lingering issue. We held them off nicely from there and finished this as a 7-5 victory! Bjornson improved to 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA, allowing just six hits, and only one of his five runs was earned. We outhit them 9-6, led by Steve Hopkins who had two hits and two RBIs. Musselman had a hit, a steal, a run and an RBI, giving him three steals this season off six attempts.

May 31, 1872: Derby again got out to a lead in the top of the first, this time scoring off a double by first baseman Bobby Flores. But we loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, no outs, and tied it up when Trainer reached first on an E4 error! Centeno scored off a passed ball to give us the lead, and a sac-fly by Ryan Carl put us up 3-1 heading into the top of the fifth. We added on in the seventh when Steve Hopkins reached on an E5 error with the bases again loaded, and Alex Centeno hit a grand slam, his first homer of the year, to blow this one wide open! We loaded the bases again in the eighth, scoring with two outs off a botched fielder’s choice, and they went down quietly in the ninth as we completed the 9-1 blowout win. Just like that we’re now 4-4 heading into the month of June, and the division is wide open. Cadenhead improved to 1-1 with the complete game, allowing just five hits with a walk, two strikeouts and an earned run, and we outhit them 7-5, capitalizing off five Derby errors. Centeno led the way with his grand slam, a hit and a walk generating two runs and four batted in, and though he’s only hitting .183, these were his first runs batted in this season. Hopefully it’s a sign that he’s once again ready to shine in this league.

jksander · 07-01-2025, 02:21 PM

June 1, 1872: It’s time to face St. Meinrad (5-3) for a pair on the road, and while we’re traveling, our owner is having additional temporary grandstands built that will allow us to increase our home field’s capacity to 1,500 from 1,200 seats. Demand has been high despite our slow start, and we’ve sold out -- or came close to selling out -- four of our six home games thus far. That puts us in the range of teams like Birdseye and Evansville for stadium capacity, but still slightly behind Celestine (1,600), Ferdinand (1,700), Fort Branch (1,700), Knob Hill (1,600) and Troy (1,700). We’re working on a fundraising campaign to build a permanent set of center field bleachers next year that could bring our capacity to 2,000, but that’s a matter for the future. Of all ORBL teams, the team with the lowest stadium capacity is Cannelton (1,100), one of the smallest towns in the organization. But they’re selling out the place day-in, day-out, and their owner is happy with their crowds, figuring most of the town is there on a daily basis anyway and he’s making money, so why push it?

We loaded the bases in the top of the first against St. Meinrad, taking the lead with a groundout by Alegre that scored DePaola ... that’s just the second run of his rookie season thus far! We added on a run off a single by Trainer, giving us a two-run cushion before Bjornson threw his first pitch. Unfortunately he had a rough go in the bottom of the inning, mostly thanks to piss-poor defense ... they scored off an E5 error, tied the game off another E9 error, and then took the lead with an RBI single by first baseman Jose Lopez. After one inning, five runs had scored for the two teams combined, and NONE of them were earned. Bjornson tied it up with a single in the top of the second, another unearned run, in a game that had already seen seven combined errors. But Centeno broke it open from there with a three-run homer out of right ... he IS waking up! We went into the bottom of the inning leading 6-3 and feeling good about our chances if we could just settle down on our defense. Ryan Carl scored from second off a single by Jimmy Hall in the top of the third, and a groundout by Bjornson drove in an eighth, giving us an 8-3 lead midway through the inning. The rout was on from there as we blew them up 15-3, outhitting them 16-6! Bjornson improved to 3-1 with a 1.43 ERA, allowing six hits and striking out one with one unearned run. Musselman led the way on hits, going 4-6 with a run and two RBIs, while Centeno had all the power, hitting three times and walking once, scoring four and batting in six. That tied the regular season record for runs scored by any Tell City team in the regular season.

There are no undefeated teams left in the ORBL right now, and since Leopold, once 0-6, has rattled off three wins in a row, the last team in the league without a win is ... and I’m shocked by this ... Fort Branch, which is now off to a miserable 0-9 start just a few months after winning 85 games last year and making a playoff run. Six of those nine games have been by one run, but even discounting their bad luck, they’re still vastly underperforming against expectations. I fully expect them to have righted their ship before we face them on their field in early June.

June 2, 1871: Musselman led off with a hit and a pair of steals in the top of the first in today’s game against St. Meinrad, coming around to score off a single by Steve Hopkins to give us the early lead. Hopkins scored when Tony Alegre reached first on an E5 error, and Centeno scored when Ryan Carl hit into a fielder’s choice, the out taken at second. Alegre made it a 4-0 lead after an RBI single by Jimmy Hall, Cadenhead popping out to right to end the inning with everyone having had a turn. That set the tone, and we held them off nicely from there to dominate with a 5-1 win as we completed the sweep. Each team had eight hits and it was a relatively error free game (we actually had two to their one). Cadenhead got the win, pitching a complete game with eight hits and an unearned run, improving to 2-1 with a 1.39 ERA. Musselman led the way with two hits, two steals, a run and an RBI, and he’s hit .383 through his first ten games.

June 3, 1872: We’re back in Tell City for a pair against Evansville (5-5), and right now our 6-4 record and four-game winning streak has us in a tie for second in the Perry Division with Derby, Gatchel leading the way at 8-2. Evansville took the lead in the top of the second with a quick run scored thanks to an E7 error, and though several times we got runners into scoring position, we couldn’t quite finish the process. They added a run in the top of the seventh, off an E5 error, going into the stretch leading 2-0. But Centeno came out and hit a two-run double in the bottom of the inning, and just like that we were tied up! Bjornson kept them from scoring anything in the eighth and ninth, and we came up to hit in the bottom of the inning smelling blood. Chinea reached first on an E5 error, advancing to second with a single by Hopkins. Centeno hit into a fielder’s choice that put runners on the corners, and that’s when the rookie Ryan Trainor walked it off with a single .... the streak continues as we won 3-2! Bjornson is now 4-1 with a 1.19 ERA, giving them just eight hits and a pair of unearned runs as he continues to pitch at a grade-A level. We outhit them 13-8, led by Steve Hopkins, who hit four times and scored a run, while Centeno added three hits and two RBIs, bringing his average up to .298 after his slow start.

After ten consecutive losses, the Fort Branch Baseball Club finally got its first win of the season, beating Haubstadt 3-1 on the road.

June 4, 1872: We took the lead against Evansville in the bottom of the first when Musselman reached first on an error, stole a pair and then came in to score off a Centeno RBI single! Nice to see him getting his confidence back on the basepaths. We added on with an RBI single by Chris Johnston in the bottom of the third, and Tony Alegre hit an RBI single of his own on two outs to increase our lead to three runs. Trainor tried to score off a hit by Ryan Carl, and it should have been an out but an error on a throw from left let him in safely after all ... I guess his greed paid off! Leading 4-0 after just three innings, we coasted the rest of the way, giving up the shutout with a garbage-time run in the ninth but winning 4-1 nonetheless. Cadenhead was phenomenal, pitching a complete game three hitter, his one run unearned ... he’s now 3-1 with a 1.16 ERA, as both our starters are performing at their top level. But the bats definitely helped ... we outhit them 11-3, led by Hopkins with three hits and a run while Centeno added two hits, a run and an RBI, getting him over .300 as he’s been our top player easily over the last week.

We’ve signed a young prospect who has moved into the region from the Indianapolis area. Joe Greathouse, 15, has incredible stuff and a blistering fastball, but has yet to completely harness his control. But he built a great deal of buzz playing on the central Indiana youth circuit, and we’ve signed him with a $300 bonus this season. We intend to bring him up in place of Tony Jimenez, using him as a spot starter and long reliever. He’ll pitch in extra innings situations and will get a start every fifth game or so while he gets his feet wet. We’re on the road to play Tennyson (6-6) starting tomorrow, and he’s tentatively scheduled to get a start in our home game against Cannelton (6-6) on Saturday.

June 6, 1872: Tennyson took the lead in the bottom of the third off an RBI single by Mike Graff, their 42-year-old second baseman, and they added on after a wild pitch, going into the top of the fourth with a 2-0 advantage. Bjornson got us on the board with an RBI single in the top of the fifth that let Ryan Trainer score after an erroneous throw to third missed and let him come around from first base. But they got the run back in the bottom of the fifth, maintaining a two-run lead on us. They added another in the sixth, but Musselman hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh to drive home Carl and keep us in the game. With runners on second and third and one out, Chinea walked the bases loaded, and with two outs Centeno walked in another run to get us back within one! In the top of the ninth, still trailing by one, we just didn’t have a hit in us ... they won this one 4-3, snapping our win streak at six games. Bjornson fell to 4-2 with a 1.48 ERA, giving them eight hits, four runs (three earned) and striking out a pair, while we matched them on hits with eight. Trainer led the way with three hits and a run while Musselman hit twice, walked once, stole a base (his ninth) and scored a run, batting in another.

June 7, 1872: In game two against Tennyson, Musselman got on base with a single and then stole his way to third, coming in to score when Ismael Chinea hit a single into right, advancing via an E9 error in to scoring position. He took third on a wild pitch, scoring himself when Steve Hopkins took first on an E1 error, and just like that we were up 2-0, no outs, three hitters into the game. They settled down and shut our next three hitters down, but Cadenhead had himself a nice cushion when he threw his first pitch. We added four more runs in the top of the second, and though they got a run back in the bottom of the inning they showed no signs of being able to make a full-bodied comeback. They got a second run in the bottom of the fifth to cut our lead to four, but we got both runs back off a double by Tony Alegre in the top of the seventh, and Musselman scored off a single by Chinea in the ninth to pile on. They scored a run in the bottom of the inning but it wasn’t nearly enough, and we won with ease, 9-3. Cadenhead gave them 10 hits a walk and three runs (two earned) with one strikeout in his complete game, and we outhit them 14-10, led by Musselman, who had four hits and three runs with four stolen bases!

June 8, 1872: We’re ready to host Cannelton (6-8) in a divisional battle this weekend, and we’re currently tied with Derby at 9-5, a game behind Perry Division leaders Gatchel, at 10-4. We’re starting 15-year-old rookie Joe Greathouse tonight against Cannelton’s Mike Schoolfield, who has started his year with a 2-4 record and a 2.90 ERA. Cannelton took the lead in the top of the second on two outs via an RBI single from right fielder Manny Hargrove, and they added another in the fourth off a two-out single by shortstop John Thibeau. We got on the board in the bottom of the inning with a two out single of our own, this one via Ryan Trainer, and we tied the score on a wild pitch that scored Chris Johnston from third! They got the lead back in the top of the seventh with an RBI single plus an E7 error, but we flipped it back into our favor with a two-run single by Chinea that made it a 4-3 game heading into the top of the eighth! Greathouse was remarkably efficient, and though he put two runners on in the ninth due to poor infield defense, he got the outs we needed and completed the 4-3 win on just 80 pitches! He finished with six hits and three runs (two earned) ... no walks or strikeouts, so he starts his career out with a win. We outhit them 7-6, led by Chinea with a hit, a run and two RBIs, while Musselman added a hit, three steals and a run scored -- he’s suddenly on pace to shatter last year’s steals record and it’s just 15 games into the season!

June 9, 1872: In game two against Cannelton, we gave up a pair of runs in the fourth to spot them an early lead, and a pair in the fifth had our fans getting concerned, trailing 4-0. In the bottom of the sixth we loaded the bases without an out, getting on the board when Trainer hit himself a line drive that rolled fair down the right field line, driving in three with a double ... that’s how you do it! They got a run back in the seventh to get their lead back to two runs, but Ismael Chinea got us a run in the bottom of the inning off a balk call, keeping us within a 5-4 margin heading into the eighth inning. Jerry Hall pinch hit for Bjornson in the bottom of the ninth, leading off with a single up the middle, and Musselman followed him with a single into left, putting a runner in scoring position. Chinea hit one into right, loading the bags, and Steve Hopkins walked it off with a two-run single as we stunned Cannelton to win 6-5! Bjornson improved to 5-2 with a 1.67 ERA, pitching a complete game with nine hits and five runs (three earned), and we had 12 hits ourselves -- we were captained by Hopkins, who hit three times for a run and two RBIs. Musselman stayed hot as well, hitting twice with three more steals, scoring a run and bringing his average up to .373.

With this win, we’re now 11-5 and have taken the lead in the division by a game over Gatchel and Derby!

June 10, 1872: We’re on the road against Santa Claus (6-10) in the Spencer Division, and this one turned into an epic pitching duel, with just two hits for each team in the first five innings, no runs scored, no errors! Hopkins hit a line drive double into left for us as the leadoff hitter in the top of the seventh, just our third hit of the game, and a few minutes later we finally broke through with two runs off a single by Ryan Carl to take a 2-0 lead! We added a run on in the top of the eighth, and Cadenhead shut them down the rest of the way as we won 3-0. He pitched a complete game four-hit shutout, striking out a pair, and we had eight hits ourselves, led by Ryan Carl with a hit and two RBIs. Musselman didn’t get on base all game, a rare day where he had no impact on our offensive performance.

June 11, 1872: Bjornson started game two against Santa Claus, and they scored in the first and third to build a quick 2-0 lead on us. But we got on the board in the top of the fourth thanks to an Alex Centeno RBI double, and we tied it in the top of the sixth with a solo homer out of right field by Centeno, his fourth of the year! We took the lead in the top of the ninth when Ryan Carl scored from first off a single by Bjornson that was coupled with an E8 error, and Bjornson pitched brilliantly in the ninth, getting around runners on the corners to hold the lead as we won 3-2! He had nine hits, a walk, two strikeouts and two earned runs in the game, improving to 6-2, and we outhit Santa Claus 11-9 ... Johnston had four hits to nowhere, and Musselman added two hits and five steals all without scoring ... so it was Centeno who led the way with two hits, a run and two RBIs as we came back to steal this win.

June 12, 1872: Next up we’ve got Elberfeld (11-7) coming to town to face our 13-5 club, and we’re riding a five-game winning streak, just one off our season high from before the loss to Tennyson on the 6th of June. Glen Cadenhead pitched in game one, and we took the lead quickly in the bottom of the first off an RBI single by Ismael Chinea, driving home Musselman who’d opened the game by reaching on an E7 error and stealing his way to third! Elberfeld answered with a run in the top of the second, but we got the lead back with a two-run homer from Allegre, his first of the year and just his second of his career! We got another run in the third to extend the lead to three, and we had a 4-1 lead still in the top of the seventh when Cadenhead got into a bases-loaded jam with no outs. We brought out Tim Seay to take over, something of an unorthodox move, but he struck out pinch hitter Xavier Ramirez, and though two runs scored off a single by catcher Glenn Spotts, he got us out of the inning with our 4-3 lead still safe. He stayed out the rest of the way to protect our razor-thin advantage, and we held tough to win 4-3, extending our streak to six in a row! Cadenhead pitched six innings with four hits, a strikeout and three runs (two earned), improving to 6-1 with a 1.26 ERA, while Seay picked up a three inning save, allowing just three hits, with a strikeout ... his ERA is now 1.17 through 7.2 innings across three appearances. We outhit Elberfeld 10-7, led by Alegre who had two hits, a run and two RBIs.

June 13, 1872: Joe Greathouse pitched his second game of the season this afternoon, and we knew going in that if it went as well as his first, we were likely to add him as a permanent third starter in our rotation, despite his very young age. We took the lead in the bottom of the second when Ryan Carl reached on an E6 error, scoring Chris Johnston, and we added on with an RBI single for Greathouse to go up 2-0. We added on a run in the bottom of the fourth, and Greathouse was perfect until, with two outs in the top of the fifth, their right fielder Jorge Palomera hit a single he was able to extend with an E8 error, getting into scoring position. Chinea scored a run in the bottom of the inning to extend our lead thanks to an E6 error, and another scored in the sixth to make it a 5-0 lead. Two more scored in the eighth, and Greathouse held on to blank them in the end by a 7-0 margin, as we outhit them 14-4! In addition to pitching a complete game four hit shutout in his second career game, Greathouse struck out a pair in a dominating performance, showing real maturity for a kid his age. Musselman led our offense with four hits, a steal and two RBIs, while Greathouse also proved solid from the plate, hitting three times with a run and an RBI.

June 14, 1872: We’re headed for Jasper (10-10) with the month almost at its midpoint and our record a sparking 15-5, three games up on the Derby Baseball Club. Aaron Bjornson pitched today, and we took the lead in the top of the first with a groundout by Centeno that scored Chris DePaola from third. A five-run second inning turned this into an early blowout, and we had a 14-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth when suddenly Jasper showed some spark, knocking in seven runs! Bjornson got us through the inning, and David Rosenberger came out to mop up in the ninth, closing the door on them as we won 14-7 despite the late innings insanity. Bjornson improved to 7-2 with a 1.76 ERA, allowing nine hits in eight innings with seven runs, two of which were earned -- no walks, one strikeout. We outhit Jasper 18-11, led by Chris DePaola with four hits, two runs and two RBIs.

June 15, 1872: Cadenhead pitched game two against Jasper, and we scored first again in the top of the first inning, dominating much in the same way we did yesterday, though without the collapse in the eighth. Leading by five in the bottom of the ninth, Cadenhead shut them down with ease and we won this one 8-3 to continue our solid win streak. That improved Cadenhead’s record to 7-1, allowing 10 hits and three runs, none earned, with a strikeout, outhitting them 14-10. Ismael Chinea led the way with three hits, a walk, a run and two RBIs.

At the month’s midpoint we’re still in the lead in our division by three games over Derby and we’re on a nine-game win streak, but Derby has won four in a row as well, while Cannelton (11-11) has won five in a row and Leopold (11-11) has won three.

jksander · 07-01-2025, 06:47 PM

We've created an official logo for the ORBL to be used by all regional media.

06-28-2025, 04:38 PM	#21
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,614	October 1-23, 1871: The Season Ends, and Playoffs Loom October 1, 1871: Knob Hill (60-60) is in town for a pair as we start the month of October, and things were quiet until the fourth inning, when they took a brief lead off a passed ball, but we quickly tied it off a groundout to first and took the lead moments later off a passed ball of our own. They’d tie us again in the top of the seventh thanks to an RBI single, but we walked it off in the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer by Danny Graham, just his second dinger of the season, winning this one 3-2! Joe McDonald improved to 7-6 with a 1.60 ERA, allowing seven hits, four walks and two runs (one earned), while we notched just six hits ourselves .. Graham led the way with two hits, a run and two RBIs. October 2, 1871: This one was not in doubt for long, as we built a 3-0 lead within the first three innings, cruising to add on a pair in the eighth as we never let Knob Hill close the gap. We held tough and won this one 5-1, though it was not a big “hitting” series. We outhit them today 6-5, led again by Graham who had two hits and three RBIs, while Centeno added two hits and two runs on the basepaths. Bjornson only gave them five hits and a walk to work with, striking out two as they scored one earned run on him. October 3, 1871: We came into today’s game on the road against Highland (31-91) looking to clinch, as either a win by us or a loss by Troy (70-52) would do the job. We took control quickly, scoring a pair of runs in each of the first, second and fourth innings, but McDonald got shelled in the bottom of the sixth and gave them four runs back to tie it 6-6. Cadenhead took over from there, and we added on a barrage of runs in the top of the seventh, breaking this one back open as we led 12-6 as we went into the stretch. We’d go on to hammer them 15-6 as we guaranteed ourselves a playoff spot in this inaugural ORBL season. Cadenhead got the win, pitching 3.1 innings with four hits and a strikeout, improving to 36-17 with a 2.17 ERA. We outhit them 18-15, led by Steve Hopkins who had four hits, two runs and four RBIs, and Musselman stole his 120th base of the season. Glen Cadenhead will go on the IL for now, since we’ve clinched, to give him time to rest his knee ahead of what we expect to be a challenging playoff run in a few weeks. We’re bringing David Rosenberger and Eric Behmer off the reserve team, making room by sending Izzy Lopez, our backup center fielder, back down. Behmer is going to step in as a third starter, to help give Bjornson a bit of rest in the coming weeks, with Rosenberg as an all purpose reliever -- the 18-year-old has a killer curveball but has not had a chance to show it off yet. October 4, 1871: Eric Behmer started for us today against Highland, and he was quite solid as we hit our way into an early lead and then held it ... up 2-0 after half an inning and coasting to what was eventually a 5-2 win. Behmer improved to 1-1 with a 3.71 ERA, allowing just five hits, a walk and two runs (one earned) with two strikeouts. We outhit them 10-5, led by Centeno who had a hit, two walks, a run and two RBIs. October 5, 1871: Evansville (71-53) is our next stop on the road, as their club leads the Vanderburgh division with a five game lead over Mechanicsville (66-58) in what could be a winner-takes-all division if the rest of the wildcard race holds. This one lived up to expectations, as Evansville built a 3-1 lead on us after four, but we tied it up in the fifth thanks to a two-run single by Centeno. That 3-3 margin held into extra innings, and finally in the top of the 13th we got the lead, thanks to a solo homer by Centeno, his 32nd of the season! Bjornson held them off from there, and we won this one 4-3 in the 13th inning, after outhitting them 11-7. Bjornson allowed just seven hits and a walk with two strikeouts and three (unearned) runs in his 13 innings, improving his ERA to 1.70 through 556.2 innings! Centeno led our offense with two hits, two walks, a run and two RBIs. October 6, 1871: As it often goes with games following tightly-fought battles, this one wasn’t as much of a nailbiter. We took a 2-0 lead in the first, and then managed to stay consistently ahead of them the rest of the way, cruising to win 4-2 while outhitting them 10-9. McDonald got himself a complete game, allowing nine hits and two runs with a strikeout, improving his record to 8-6 with a 2.41 ERA through 59.2 innings. Randy Musselman led the offense with three hits, a steal and two runs scored. October 7, 1871: Our next opponent back on our field in Tell City is Lincoln City (63-63), a team that’s still technically in play for a wildcard spot, though the odds are definitely not in their favor. Behmer gave them a three-run spot in the top of the first, but we made up all the runs quickly, taking a 4-3 lead after two. But Behmer let them slowly climb back in, tying us at 6-6 with an RBI triple by outfielder Josh Bean in the top of the sixth inning, so we went to the bullpen to David Rosenberger in the seventh onward, and it became a shootout from there. In the bottom of the ninth we were able to walk it off with a two-run homer by Centeno, and we won this one 10-9 as a result. Rosenberger gets to start his career with a 1-0 record and a 9.00 ERA, allowing six hits and three runs with three walks in his first three innings of play. And though Lincoln City outhit us 13-11, Centeno was dominant -- THREE HOMERS, an ORBL record, and four hits total, giving him three runs and seven RBIs! October 8, 1871: We had a solid 2-0 lead in this one heading into the seventh, but Bjornson got hit hard for four runs, and with runners on second and third we brought out Rosenberger to get us into the stretch trailing 4-2. We got a run back in the bottom of the seventh but that was all we were able to accrue, and Lincoln City shut us down to win 4-3, snapping our 16-game winning streak (and snapping Bjornson’s 14-game win streak). Bjornson fell to 47-11 with a 1.73 ERA, allowing 10 hits, a walk and four runs (three earned) in his 6.2 innings. They outhit us 12-11, Centeno leading the way for us with three hits, a run and an RBI, including his 36th homer which he hit in the seventh inning as we tried to claw our way back in. October 10, 1871: Darmstadt (60-68) is on the verge of elimination as we head to play them on their field, just a dozen games left in this season. We matched them through three innings, knotted at 2-2, but Darmstadt rolled through the remainder, crushing us 6-2 as they tried to end their season on a good note. McDonald allowed 11 hits, two walks and six runs (five earned) in the loss, and we were out hit 11-5, one of our worst offensive efforts in weeks. Randy Musselman led with two hits and two runs, stealing his 125th base along the way, but we were never in this one after we lost the lead. October 11, 1871: We opened this one with a seven run salvo in the top of the first, and that set the tone for what the game became. We wound go on to beat them soundly 12-2, outhitting them 14-8 in the process behind a four-hit, two run two RBI game for Ismael Chinea. Bjornson picked up his 48th win, allowing just eight hits and two earned runs, and the loss officially eliminated Darmstadt from playoff consideration. October 12, 1871: We took the lead 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth against Chandler, but they hammered us for four runs in the sixth, so Rosenberger took over out of the bullpen. We tied the score heading into the seventh thanks to a two-run homer by Centeno, and this one became a shootout. In the bottom of the ninth we came out to hit trailing 9-7, and this time it was Chinea who pulled off late-game heroics with a two-run walkoff homer, his 15th of the season ... with that, we won 10-9, Rosenberger improving to 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA thanks to 3.1 innings with six hits and five unearned runs. They outhit us 11-10 but our power bats continued to dominate, Chinea leading the way with two hits, a walk, three runs and three RBIs. October 13, 1871: We had absolutely no pop in our cannons today, as Chandler took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth and never looked back. They’d go on to win 5-0, handing McDonald the loss ... he fell to 8-8 with a six inning eight-hit effort, including four runs (three earned). They outhit us 8-5, Steve Hopkins and Bubba Masiello each getting two hits but not making it anywhere. Glen Cadenhead is coming off the IL, and will replace Eric Behmer on our 15-man roster. McDonald is going to stay up as a third starter until the playoffs begin, and then will likely join Rosenberger in the bullpen. October 14, 1871: Cannelton (57-75) is the last team from our division left to be played, and we completely blew them out of the water early, taking a 2-0 lead in the second and turning it into a 13-0 lead by the middle of the third. They never made a peep from there and we carried that same 13-0 margin to the very end, outhitting them 14-8 in the process. Bjornson picked up his 49th win, with eight hits and a strikeout, and Musselman led the offense with three hits, a run and three RBIs. October 15, 1871: Cannelton had us in a 5-3 hole heading into the top of the sixth, but we hammered them for seven runs in that inning and picked up two more in the seventh to lead 12-5 as we went into the stretch. That was all it took, and we held tough to win 12-5 in the end, completing the sweep and outhitting them 17-9. Glen Cadenhead pitched a complete game nine-hitter, allowing five unearned runs, our offense led by Steve Hopkins with four hits, two runs and two RBIs. October 16, 1871: Only six more games to go in this regular season, before we kick off the first-ever ORBL playoffs ... tonight we’re hosting Patoka (70-64) for the first of two games, and they’re six games out of the wildcard and nine games out in the Gibson Division, so they need both these wins or they’re on the cusp of elimination. We took the lead in the bottom of the first, but they picked up a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to keep things interesting as they took a 2-1 lead. We tied it up in the bottom of the sixth with a passed ball allowing Steve Hopkins to score! Tony Allegre scored off a single by Danny Graham, putting us back in the lead 3-2 as we headed into the seventh. But they kept us honest and didn’t allow us to run the score up ... and in the top of the eighth they struck back, Patoka taking a 5-3 lead thanks to a two-run single and a passed ball that scored their shorstop. Allegre and Graham pulled off a double steal to get them both into scoring position with no outs, and then Ryan Carl hit a two-run groundball single to tie things up at 5-5! Musselman then hit a solid shot into center, bouncing off the wall and letting him leg out an RBI triple to put us back up by a run ... exciting stuff in this one! He scored off a wild pitch, and we went into the top of the ninth up by a pair. We held tough from there and took game one 7-5. Joe McDonald improved to 9-8 with a complete game six hitter, allowing five runs (two earned) with two walks and two strikeouts, while we got ten hits ourselves. Steve Hopkins led the way with three hits, a run and an RBI, while Ryan Carl added two hits, a run and two RBIs, including the one that led to us retaking the lead in the eighth. October 17, 1871: Patoka eliminated themselves from playoff contention with the loss yesterday afternoon, but they fought us today like they were still playing for a championship. We traded runs back and forth through the first six, but in the top of the seventh they knocked in four runs to take a 7-3 lead, runners on first and second with one out. We brought out Rosenberger from the bullpen and he was able to get us out of the inning without further incident, leaving the bases loaded. But we’d dug a significant hole and our offense had nothing left in them, so we lost this one 7-3, splitting the series. Aaron Bjornson took a rare loss, falling to 49-12 thanks to allowing 10 hits and seven runs (five earned) through 6.1 innings. We were outhit 12-9, led by Randy Musselman who had two hits, a walk and two runs. October 18, 1871: Oakland City (73-63) is our host for the next two games, and they remain three back in the wildcard race ... and being eight games out in the Gibson Division, they need all the wins they can get, as Fort Branch has already taken the division and they’re four back of second-place Princeton (77-59). They led 3-1 after two innings, but we put up four runs in the third to take control and never looked back, beating Oakland City 8-4. Glen Cadenhead pitched a complete game with seven hits, a walk, a strikeout and four runs (two earned) to improve his record to 38-17, and we had eight hits ourselves, led by Steve Hopkins with two hits, a walk a run and two more batted in. The loss eliminated them officially from playoff contention. October 19, 1871: We were tied 1-1 heading into the top of the sixth, but again had a brilliant inning, batting in six runs to take a commanding lead. We picked up a garbage run in the ninth and were able to get out of town with an 8-1 win, our 100th of the season! Joe McDonald pitched a complete game with five hits and an earned run, while we hit a dozen ourselves ... Ryan Carl led the way with three hits and a run, and Musselman had a good day with two hits, two steals, a run and and RBI. He now has 129 stolen bases on the year with two games remaining. October 20, 1871: Ferdinand (73-65) has been eliminated from playoff contention, but they’d still like to win these last two games to end their season on a good note. But they were no match for our hitting prowess, as we took a 4-2 lead in the second and then continued to add to it inning by inning, en route to a crushing 13-5 victory. And with that win, Bjornson became the first pitcher in ORBL history to reach 50 wins ... he’ll finish the regular season with a 50-12 record and a 1.75 ERA, after allowing five hits, a walk and five runs (one earned) in today’s game, pushing him to 596.2 innings on the year! We outhit Ferdinand 12-5, led by Tony Alegre with three hits, two runs and two RBIs, while Musselman added two hits, a walk, two steals, three runs and two RBIs. October 21, 1871: Ferdinand fought hard in the final game of the season despite it being an essentially meaningless game statistically. We traded leads in the sixth when they scored three runs to take a 6-4 lead, and we went into the bottom of the ninth still trailing by a run. But Musselman got a single into right, stole a pair of bases, and came around to score the tying run thanks to Chinea reaching first on an E6 error ... and just like that the final game of the season went into extra innings. Rossberger came out of the bullpen to pitch in the 10th, but this one was not destined to end quickly. In the top of the 12th Ferdinand took the lead off an RBI single by third baseman Mike Giap, and Ferdinand was able to hold on to win the game 7-6 ... they won’t go to the playoffs, but they can say they’ll start the 1872 season on a winning streak. Rosenberger took the loss, falling to 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA after 17.1 innings of work this month. He only allowed two hits, a walk and a run in the game, but Ferdinand outhit us 13-9. Musselman had two hits, two steals and two runs scored to finish the season with 133 stolen bases, a .351 average and 11.6 wins above replacement, making him easily the front-runner in the race for the league’s MVP award. And the playoff slate is now set! The following are the matchups in this year’s ORBL Wild Card Round: Birdseye (79-63) vs. Tell City (101-39) Evansville (76-65) vs. Holland (83-57) Elberfeld (72-68) vs. Fort Branch (85-55) Princeton (79-62) vs. St. Meinrad (92-48) The Wildcard round will be a best-of-five series, followed by seven-game series in the Divisional Round and in the ORBL Championship Cup Series that will follow. After playing two-game series all season, these should be very interesting! We go into the playoffs as heavy favorites to win it all, but we’re talking three series with a maximum of 19 games which would be an extremely small sample size ... so anything can and probably will happen -- none of these teams had bad seasons, and with us only allowing eight of the league’s 36 teams to participate in the playoffs, it ensures the best of the best will get to face off in a win-or-go-home atmosphere. Gatchel, at 78-63, lost our division by 23.5 games and missed out on the playoffs by one game on the final day of the season. They’re the only team with more than 75 wins to not make the playoffs, as both wildcard winners finished with 79 wins apeice. Elberfeld and Evansville were the two worst division winners, which made those races even more intriguing -- limiting the playoffs to six division winners and two wildcards keeps it very exclusive, and puts a lot of value on the regular season ... you’re not going to make it in by being “average.” And if a wildcard team does manage to play its way into November, they’ll have earned something real by beating teams with great resumes. Here are how all our players finished the regular season in stats perfornance: *Starters* C Tony Alegre -- .228/.247/.327, 19 2B, 7 3B, 1 HR, 44 RBI, 10 SB, 2.9 WAR 1B Alex Centeno -- .325/.380/.605, 35 2B, 6 3B, 38 HR, 126 RBI, 6 SB, 8.9 WAR 2B Ismael Chinea -- .292/.325/.463, 22 2B, 10 3B, 16 HR, 102 RBI, 4 SB, 4.5 WAR 3B Steve Hopkins -- .316/.369/.363, 14 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 96 RBI, 2.4 WAR SS Chris Johnston -- .228/.267/.250, 7 2B, 2 3B, 47 RBI, 49 SB, 6.1 WAR LF Danny Graham -- .233/.254/.279, 3 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR, 55 RBI, 20 SB, 0.1 WAR CF Randy Musselman -- .351/.383/.454, 20 2B, 17 3B, 1 HR, 51 RBI, 133 SB, 11.6 WAR RF Ryan Carl -- .286/.292/.330, 20 2B, 2 3B, 73 RBI, 5 SB, 0.5 WAR *Bench* C Bubba Masiello -- .251/.283/.304, 6 2B, 3 3B, 3 SB, 1.1 WAR C Steve Williamson -- .241/.279/.276, 2 2B, 8 RBI, 0.1 WAR* 3B David Chesnut -- .250/.287/.289, 3 2B, 14 RBI, 1 SB, 0.0 WAR* SS Jimmy Hall -- .223/.268/.297, 4 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 3 SB, 1.2 WAR LF Alex Fernandez -- .181/.246/.236, 5 2B, 1 3B, 15 RBI, 1 SB, -0.7 WAR LF Mike Stratton -- .200/.194/.200, 3 RBI, -0.2 WAR* CF Izzy Lopez -- .157/.204/.176, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 SB, 0.0 WAR* *Starters* Aaron Bjornson -- 50-12, 1.75 ERA, 596.2 IP, 61 K’s, 0.88 WHIP, 119 ERA+, 56 CG, 5 SHO, 59 QS, 8.3 WAR Glen Cadenhead -- 38-17, 2.19 ERA, 537.2 IP, 65 K’s, 1.08 WHIP, 95 ERA+, 47 CG, 5 SHO, 49 QS, 8.6 WAR *Bullpen* Joe McDonald -- 10-8, 2.65 ERA, 91.2 IP, 12 K’s, 1.22 WHIP, 79 ERA+, 5 CG, 5 QS, 0.1 WAR Eric Behmer -- 1-1, 4.70 ERA, 4.70 ERA, 38.1 IP, 1.28 WHIP, 5 K’s, 44 ERA+, 1 QS, -0.2 WAR* David Rosenberger -- 2-1, 2.08 ERA, 17.1 IP, 2 K’s, 1.44 WHIP, 100 ERA+, -0.2 WAR * Finished the season on the reserve roster. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-28-2025, 10:28 PM	#22
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,614	October 26-31, 1871: ORBL Wildcard Series October 26, 1871: Homefield advantage is a real thing in these wildcard series, as the home team will play the first three games on their field -- so it’s possible for the team with the best record to sweep without ever having to travel into enemy territory! We packed our home field with fans for game one this afternoon, facing the Birdseye Baseball Club, against whom we were 2-2 this season, splitting both our home and away series. Bjornson took the mound in game one, and the game started out as a razor-sharp battle of wills, neither team breaking through early. We scored first in the bottom of the fourth, bases loaded, when Ryan Carl pulled off a squeeze bunt that scored Centeno from third! A passed ball allowed a second run to score, giving us a 2-0 advantage as we headed into the top of the fifth. We loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs off a single by Graham that was aided by an E9 throwing error, and Carl added on with an RBI single to make it a 5-0 lead. They got on the board in the top of the sixth with an RBI single, adding a second run off a groundout to first, but we held them back from there to maintain our advantage. But things got dangerous in the top of the eighth, as they got two runs off a single by left fielder Fausto Bertolini, cutting the margin to one with just one out. We brought Joe McDonald out to pitch in the top of the ninth, still leading by a run, and with two outs and a man on first, they tied the game with a well-placed double into center by shortstop Brent Strohm, making this a 5-5 ballgame. They took the lead when their next batter reached first on an E6 error, and we went into the bottom of the inning needing some offense. It wasn’t forthcoming, and we lost this one in a heartbreaking way, 6-5. Bjornson lasted eight innings with six hits, a walk and four runs (three earned), but McDonald couldn’t hold it -- he got a blown save and the loss, allowing two hits, and two runs (one earned) while we were outhit 8-7. Ismael Chinea led our scoring fight with two hits, a walk and a run. In the other games of the day, home team Holland beat Evansville in an 8-0 reaming and St. Meinrad easily defeated Princeton 10-4. But Elberfeld upset Fort Branch 3-1, making the home teams 2-2 on day one. October 27, 1871: With Glen Cadenhead on the mound for game two, things did not start out smoothly. With one out, Birdseye took the lead when an E8 error after a groundball single let their shortstop Strohm score. An E7 error moments later allowed a single by third baseman Jose Tovar to score their runner from second and give them a solid 2-0 before most fans had found their seats, thanks to three errors in one half of an inning. They added on three more in the third inning, while we didn’t even get a hit in the first three innings. Phil Pratt, their catcher, hit a solo homer in the fourth to pile on, and this one became a rout quickly ... if we couldn’t find some way to start scoring, it was going to be done before we even got going. We came up to hit in the bottom of the fourth trailing 7-0 and our fans were really letting us hear it ... plenty of catcalls and boos coming from the stands. Musselman led off with a double into center, stole third, and a sac-fly by Chinea did finally get us on the board. Cadenhead helped leave a pair stranded in the top of the fifth, but we couldn’t get our offense going at all! They added on two runs in the sixth and this one was out of control. Musselman got a single and two stolen bases in the bottom of the sixth, scoring off a sac-fly by Chinea, but again we weren’t able to turn it into a rally. We brought out David Rosenberger in the top of the seventh trailing by seven runs, and they hammered us from there, turning this one into an absolute embarassment as we lost 12-3. Cadenhead took the loss, lasting six innings with 12 hits, a walk and nine runs, seven of them earned, while we got outhit 17-5 ... excruciatingly bad all around. Only Musselman came out looking good, with two hits, three stolen bases, two hits and an RBI. Holland held tough and beat Evansville 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead in their series, while Fort Branch beat Elberfeld 6-5 to even theirs. Princeton upset St. Meinrad 5-2 to even their series, and things are really starting to heat up as the temperatures drop in southern Indiana. October 28, 1871: It’s win or we’re done heading into this game, as Bjornson came out to pitch in front of nearly 1,300 of our fans under clear skies in our final home game -- win tonight and we get the opportunity to travel up the road to Birdseye and see if we can keep this alive. But we’ve dug a deep hole, and coming out of it will be a difficult challenge. Chinea got us on the board in the bottom of the first with a solo homer out of right field, and we loaded the bases on one out in the bottom of the third, capitalizing with a an RBI single by Steve Hopkins! A sac-fly by Centeno made it a 3-0 lead heading into the top of the fourth, but they picked up a pair of runs off a flyball single by first baseman Alex Gonzalez and this game became a tight battle. Bjornson let them load the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, but we stranded all three runners as we held our 3-2 lead. We were able to add on in the bottom of the inning when Musselman reached on an E5 error that scored Alegre from third, but they got a run back in the top of the seventh to keep us sweating. We stranded a pair in the bottom of the seventh, failing to add on runs to our thin lead, but with one out in the bottom of the eighth we loaded the bases and we scored two runs off a single by Hopkins to extend our lead to three! We unleashed from there, adding on seven more runs, giving us a 10-run lead in the top of the ninth. Bjornson closed it out perfectly and we won with ease 13-3! He allowed just six hits, a walk and three runs (two earned) while striking out a pair, and we outhit them 16-6, behind three hits, a walk, a run and three RBIs from Hopkins. Musselman added two hits, a walk, a steal, two runs and two RBIs. There will be no sweeps in this series, as Holland fell to Evansville 5-4 in game three of their series. Fort Branch defeated Elberfeld 4-3 to take a 2-1 series lead, while Princeton pulled their second upset in a row to take a 2-1 lead over St. Meinrad with a 9-4 blowout performance. October 30, 1871: Bjornson had yesterday to rest and we need our ace in another do-or-die affair, this time on the road in Birdseye. Musselman got us going with a hit and a pair of steals, scoring on two outs when Centeno hit a single into right. Centeno scored moments later when Chris Johnston hit a single into deep right, an E9 error allowing him to come around from third to slide home! But Birdseye fought back in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs to take the lead, and we knew this was gonna be a dogfight the rest of the way. We tied it up in the top of the third when Alex Centeno grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, scoring Chinea from third, and in the top of the fourth Musselman hit a one-out RBI single that drove in a pair to give us a 5-3 lead! Musselman batted in some insurance in the top of the eighth with a single into right, taking second as Ryan Carl scored from third to extend our lead to three runs, but they got a run back in the bottom of the inning to keep it within two. Alegre scored in the top of the ninth thanks to an E4 error, and a single by Carl coupled with an E8 error helped us extend our lead to four. Bjornson batted in a run with a single as we piled on, and we went into the bottom of the inning with a five-run cushion. Bjornson held it, and we won 9-4, guaranteeing us a chance at a winner-takes-all game five! Bjornson pitched a complete game with seven hits, a strikeout and four runs (three earned) to give him a 2-0 record and a 2.77 ERA through 26 innings. Musselman had three hits, two steals, a run and three RBIs, as he’s hitting .350 so far in the playoffs with six stolen bases without being caught! Holland defeated Evansville 5-4, winning their wildcard series three games to one. But the other two series will also go to game five -- Elberfeld beat Fort Branch 10-5 as the series shifted to their field, and St. Meinrad stole a game at Princeton 5-4 to extend that series as well. Lots of great baseball so far as we inch toward November. October 31, 1871: Happy All Hallows Eve, everyone, we’re getting a game five! Glen Cadenhead pitched for us today, and he had a 2-0 cushion from the moment he threw his first pitch thanks to a two-run homer by Ismael Chinea in the top of the first. We added on a run in the top of the third, and were cruising along when Musselman was injured in the bottom of the seventh while making a throw from center to third ... and the runner was safe too! With runners on the corners and two outs we were able to get out of the inning without a run scoring, but we’d lost our offensive sparkplug. That didn’t stop us from adding on in the top of the ninth with an RBI single by Danny Graham, and moments later Ismael Chinea nearly started a riot when he hit a grand slam home run out of left to extend our shutout lead to eight. Cadenhead couldn’t hold on to the shutout, giving them four quick runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and as we hurried to warm a bullpen arm, they scored a fifth off a double by third baseman Jose Tovar ... a wild pitch advanced Tovar to third, but finally, mercifully, we got the last out in center field and won this one 8-5, advancing to the next playoff round! Cadenhead completed the game but allowed 13 hits, a walk and five earned runs after coming into the ninth inning with just eight hits against him. They outhit us in the end 13-12, but Chinea’s grand slam gave him three hits, two runs and six runs batted in and helped us build a big enough cushion to survive the ninth-inning near-meltdown. Elberfeld capped an incredible run by beating Fort Branch 6-4, becoming the first underdog to win a wildcard series! But St. Meinrad held tough to win 6-2 over Princeton, so our biggest competitor remains alive in these playoffs after taking their series three games to two. Out of four series, three favorites won out, including us coming back from down two games. Musselman has a sprained ankle, and will be day to day for at least five days. We’re going to have to replace him in the lineup with Bubba Masiello, who has experience at center field with his solid catching arm ... but we’re going to be at a disadvantage both in fielding and minus Musselman’s incredible speed on the bases as we head into the next round to face Holland Baseball Club in a best of seven series. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-29-2025, 02:10 AM	#23
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,614	November 2-19, 1871: The Divisional Series and Beyond November 2, 1871: These series now extend to a best of seven format, with two at home, three on the road and two at home for the favorite (which in this case is us). So we’re opening the month of November with Bjornson on the mound in front of our most ardent fans. Clear skies and temps in the upper 40s met Bjornson as he took the mound once again, and Holland took the lead 1-0 in the top of the second, and their defenses held very well as we struggled to get anything going offensively. They added on three runs in the fifth, but we finally got on the board thanks to a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to three. Bjornson reached on an E1 error to drive in a second run, and we went into the top of the sixth suddenly in this ballgame, down just 4-2. Bjornson pitched around loaded bases to get us through the next inning without damage, and he pitched well the rest of the way, but our bats were silent for the most part. In the bottom of the ninth, still trailing by two, Steve Hopkins got a leadoff single and took second on a wild pitch, giving us a chance ... that’s when Centeno had a hero moment, hitting a two-run homer out of right to tie the score 4-4, sending this one into extra innings! They got a run back for the lead with two outs in the top of the 10th, and we weren’t able to recover, losing this one 5-4. Bjornson pitched a complete 10-inning game with 11 hits, three strikeouts and five earned runs, and Holland outhit us 11-6, our bats led by Centeno with a hit, a run and two RBIs. Elberfeld took on St. Meinrad in the other divisional series, and though they led 2-1 after one inning, St. Meinrad took firm control from there, blitzing their way to an 8-2 blowout win as Elberfeld failed to score again after the first inning. November 3, 1871: This one didn’t go any better for us, as our offense continues to lack spark without Musselman ... Holland scored five runs in the third and fourth combined, and we never fully recovered. In the bottom of the fourth Chinea scored off a passed ball and we scored a second run thanks to Chris Johnton stealing second, allowing Steve Hopkins to score off an E2 throwing error. But we didn’t do anything else the rest of the way and Holland took a two-game lead in the series with a 7-2 win. They outhit us 10-7, and Cadenhead took the loss, pitching a complete game with 10 hits, a walk and seven runs (three earned). Chinea and Hopkins led the team, each hitting twice with a run scored. Elberfeld came back to tie their series with St. Meinrad, winning game two by a 7-6 margin. November 5, 1871: We’re now on the road against Holland, and they have full home field advantage from here on out unless we can find a way to steal a win. Musselman’s still day to day, but with nothing to lose -- if we go down three games to nothing there’s no way we make that comeback twice -- he wants to play and we’ve got his foot wrapped tightly and ready for action, though he’s been told to take it easy running to avoid taking himself out of the series for good. He led off with a base hit in the top of the first, and we loaded the bases but came up empty as nobody could push a run through. But in the top of the second Danny Graham scored off a double by Ryan Carl, giving us a 1-0 lead midway through the inning. But they flipped the score in the bottom of the third when Matt McNeely, their first baseman, hit an RBI double that scored shortstop Gabe Kreyling ... that pushed a runner in to third, and he managed to score safely as we got the trailing runner out at third ... score that as a 9-3-5 play. Holland shut us down completely from there, and they held on to win 2-1, taking the three-game lead in the series as a result. And though we’d love to make another miracle happen, the chances of us making the ORBL Championship Cup seem very remote at this point. Bjornson took the loss, allowing six hits and two earned runs with a walk and two strikeouts, and each team had six hits, ours led by Graham who had two hits and a run. Elberfeld has proven to be quite a tough competitor, and they took the lead in their series against St. Meinrad by winning game three 7-3 on their field, building a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looking back. November 6, 1871: We traded runs early, back and forth through the first five innings, but Holland steadily kept control -- we came up to hit in the top of the sixth trailing 6-4. Musselman hit an RBI single to cut the lead to one, stealing second and taking third on an E2 error. He completed the circuit by taking home on a passed ball, tying the score at 6-6! We pinch hit Jimmy Hall for Cadenhead with one out in the top of the eighth, and he reached base on an E6 error, taking second off a passed ball and scoring thanks to an RBI line-drive double by Ismael Chinea! With the lead at 7-6, we brought out Bjornson from the bullpen, but in the bottom of the ninth they tied the score off a two-out single by catcher Simon Liske. This one was headed for extra innings! In the top of the 10th with two outs, Musselman hit a triple off the center field wall, but Chinea grounded out to first, stranding him. Incredibly, Bjornson pitched around runners on the corners to get three consecutive outs and keep this game alive! We loaded the bases in the top of the 11th, no outs, and Tony Alegre pushed us into the lead with a shot into right field, scoring a run to keep the bases packed! We took our chance to blow this one open, scoring four more runs to take a five-run lead heading into the bottom of the frame! Bjornson was gassed so we brought Joe McDonald out of the pen in a non-save opportunity, and he performed wonderfully as we held tough to win 12-7 ... we still have a chance! Cadenhead pitched seven innings with six hits, a walk, a strikeout and six runs (two earned), but didn’t get the win ... Bjornson blew the save but got that honor thanks to three hits and an earned run across three innings of work. We outhit them 14-9 and had six players hit twice, led by Musselman with two hits, a run and two RBIs. St. Meinrad evened the series with Elberfeld with a hard-fought defensive win, 3-1, tying the series at two games each. November 7, 1871: We’re win or go home the rest of the way, but yesterday’s victory gave us a lot of juice. Bjornson started the game, and Holland took an early lead with a run in the bottom of the first, adding on another in the third to go up 2-0. By the time we came up to hit in the top of the seventh we were in a 4-0 hole, but a sac-fly by Chinea got us on the board. But we came up in the ninth trailing by five and our season looked to be over. With one out Ismael Chinea scored off a passed ball, and we suddenly came to life, loading the bases! Tony Alegre reached first on an E3 error, driving in a run while keeping the bases loaded ... but Graham and Carl made for easy outs, and that was it for us. Holland held on to win 6-3, and just like that our excellent season was over as they’ll punch their ticket to the first-ever ORBL Championship Cup Series. Bjornson pitched eight innings with nine hits, a walk and six runs (three earned) and we were outhit 9-6, led by Chinea with two hits, a run and an RBI. - - - - - St. Meinrad won their last game on the road against Elberfeld 5-2, retaking the series lead three games to two, so two days later on the 9th of November they returned to their home field with a chance to guarantee a spot in the ORBL Championship Cup Series. But Elberfeld creamed them 6-2 in game six, forcing our first seven-game series in the league for all the marbles. But St. Meinrad proved to be the stronger team in the final game, as their ace pitcher Moises Hernandez pitched a complete game two hit shutout, winning 2-0 to earn their spot and homefield advantage in the championship round. The ORBL Championship Cup series started on November 12th, as St. Meinrad beat Holland 4-3, scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead for good in a come-from-behind victory. But Holland came back and won game two 7-4, tying the series as they headed to their home field for a three-game stretch with the advantage in their hands. St. Meinrad took it back by winning game three 6-0, Hernandez pitching another gem with six hits, two walks, two strikeouts and no runs against. They then won game four as well in an 8-1 beatdown, giving them a chance to win the title on the road in game five ... and that’s exactly what they did on November 17th, taking a 4-0 lead in the fifth and cruising to a 5-3 victory as they won the ORBL Championship Cup four games to one. - - - - - After much discussion among team owners, it has been decided that we will NOT be restructuring the league to compete in separate conferences, as most of the ownership was happy with the two-home / two-away nature of our 140-game season -- it was decided that, with the playoffs being limited to just eight teams, it is preferable that every team get to play each other during the regular season. There was enough parity that every playoff series was competitive, and the regular season’s 140-game marathon still held a lot of value as the race for the final two wildcard spots wasn’t decided until the final day ... so the vote was that we keep the league structure the same and see how things shake out over the remainder of the decade. And though there has been a lot of interest in setting up competing leagues to join with ours, none appear to be ready for action in the coming year. The committee of owners did decide to expand roster limits, and for the 1872 season teams will be allowed to keep an active roster of 18 players along with a reserve roster with up to 20 additional players. The hope is that, with these loosened restrictions, teams will be able to have a deeper reserve of players at multiple positions to both combat injuries and to develop youth. Because of the expanded reserve roster, there will not be injury lists with the ability to add additional players without penalty during the season. Instead, you simply must put the injured player back on your reserve roster. Should any issues arise where the reserve limits are not keeping up with injury issues, the owners have agreed to revisit this again in the offseason, but nothing about injuries in the previous season suggests this will be an issue. It was also voted that, for now, the league is no longer going to have a “cash limit,” allowing owners to put into their clubs whatever resources they see fit to. This too can be revisited if it is determined that the league is suffering financially due to large disparities between teams, but for the current time being, all 36 teams in the league remain financially solvent and fiscally responsible. Free agency is upon us, and teams are scrambling now to restock their teams with the players of the future ... will our Tell City Baseball Club be able to keep pace and fight our way back into the ORBL playoffs next year? Our community is sure hopeful! __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 06-29-2025 at 02:11 AM.

06-29-2025, 03:26 AM	#24
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,614	1871 Postseason Awards November 27, 1871: The league has announced the winners of this year’s *William Tecumseh Sherman Fielding Awards, awarded each year to the best fielder at each position in honor of the Union Civil War general whose campaigns against the Confederacy earned him the reputation as our first true “modern” general. The awards for the 1871 season are as follows: P - Kevin Searcy (Princeton Baseball Club) C - Tony Alegre (Tell City Baseball Club)* 1B - Chris Barrett (Princeton Baseball Club) 2B - Dave McBride (Darmstadt Baseball Club) 3B - Justin Braunstein (Gatchel Baseball Club) SS - Pat Linn (St. Meinrad Baseball Club) LF - Antonio Chapa (Lynnville Baseball Club) CF - Travis Dubois (Mechanicsville Baseball Club) RF - Melchoir Wilkoszewski (St. Meinrad Baseball Club) Alegre was our lone defensive winner, finishing his season with a .983 fielding percentage, playing 796.1 innings while committing just four errors all year! He had a +13.4 zone and 1.189 EFF rating. Having him behind the plate was incredibly valuable, and though he only hit .228 this year, he put up 2.9 WAR mostly off his incredible catching arm. The 24-year-old will continue to play for us this year while earning $250 for the season. November 28, 1871: Boonville Baseball Club’s ace reliever Ruben Morales was named this year’s ORBL Reliever of the Year! The 39-year-old played in 36 games this year and threw for 51.2 innings, putting up a 3-0 record with five “saves” and a 1.39 ERA, striking out nine against just two walks. This isn’t a league that tends to value strong bullpens, since starters put in so much of the overall workload, but Morales did his part as the best bullpen player who wasn’t also an occasional starter. His 148 ERA+ and .259 opponent batting average suggests that Boonville might want to utilitze him more if they’d like to put together a more competitive record -- they finished at 62-78, in fourth place in the Warrick Division. November 29, 1871: It’s time to announce the winners of the *William Henry Harrison* Honorable Hitter Awards, awarded to the best hitter at each position named in honor of former Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison, who also served (briefly) as our nation’s ninth president. The awards for the 1871 season are as follows: P - Chris Castaldi (Mechanicsville Baseball Club) C - Alfredo Uribe (Troy Baseball Club) 1B - Alex Centeno (Tell City Baseball Club) 2B - Ismael Chinea (Tell City Baseball Club) 3B - Steve Hopkins (Tell City Baseball Club) SS - Mike Purcell (Fort Branch Baseball Club) LF - Danny Santiago (Lincoln City Baseball Club) *CF - Randy Musselman (Tell City Baseball Club)* RF - Joe Kontor (Fort Branch Baseball Club) November 30, 1871: Holland Baseball Club’s 17-year-old first baseman Matt McNeely was named the ORBL Rookie of the Year for the 1871 season, honoring his .316 season, during which he hit 17 doubles and batted in 68 runs, putting up 3.7 WAR. He was Holland’s third round pick in the league’s inagural draft, and in August he put together an impressive 20-game hitting streak, performing well above the #48 prospect ranking he’d gotten at the start of the season. December 1, 1871: The league announced the *William Tell Sharpshooter Award* today, given to the league’s top pitcher, and in a stunning turn of events, our ace Aaron Bjornson finished fourth in the voting, with only two first-place votes! Instead, the award went to St. Meinrad’s Moises Hernandez, proving that wins aren’t everything. Hernandez finished the year with 635.0 innings pitched and a 44-25 record, a 1.71 ERA, 76 strikeouts and 10.3 wins above replacement. The 41-year-old held opponents to a .228 average all year and threw 59 complete games with 10 shutouts, including a one-hitter against Darmstadt on October 4th. He was also a huge part of their championship push in November, so in all fairness he more than deserved the honor. He received 29 of the 36 possible votes, finishing ahead of Evansville’s Nate Picou (40-29, 1.66 ERA, 638.0 IP, 70 K’s, 1.03 WHIP, 60 CG, 9 SHO, 9.7 WAR) and Fort Branch’s Devin Tennyson (39-27, 643.0 IP, 1.51 ERA, 66 K’s, 0.89 WHIP, 49 CG, 5 SHO, 11.4 WAR). December 2, 1871: Today the league announced the biggest award of all, the *George Rogers Clark MVP Award, given to the league’s most valuable player in honor of George Rogers Clark, the “Hannibal of the West,” who was one of our state’s earliest settlers. This season the league’s 36 first place votes were almost evenly split among two of our hitters -- Alex Centeno* (15 first place votes, 399 total points) and the overall winner, Randy Musselman (21 first place votes, 429 total points)! Both players had incredible seasons, but voters were clearly impressed with Musselman’s ability to manufacture runs ... as our leadoff hitter he put up 195 hits this season and, thanks to his staggering 133 steals, he SCORED 158 runs while batting in 51! He and Centeno led the league in hits and runs, but Musselman’s run total was 42 better than Centeno’s due almost entirely to the power of his baserunning ... and it showed when he was injured in the playoffs, unable to leg out the runs like he had in the regular season. The 28-year-old will earn $250 this season, and we’re hopeful he can stay healthy and fast for years to come. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-29-2025, 04:19 AM	#25
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,614	1872 Preseason and Opening Day Lineups January 24, 1872: We’ve signed a number of young players to add depth to our organization, but we got into a bidding war with the Troy Baseball Club over the services of the “big fish,” who this year was reliever Tim “Shutdown” Seay! The 17-year-old graduate of Tell City High School is hugely popular throughout the county, and he has the makings of an incredible bullpen ace, and if he can improve his stamina and add a third pitch, he could have starting potential as well. A groundball-focused pitcher, he’s got an arm to hold runners in place, and his stuff and control are impeccable. Still, a lot of folks are wagging their heads at the fact that our owner authorized us to pay him the staggering sum of $1,520 this year as a one-time bonus to keep him with the hometown team. He won’t make that much every year, but if it can keep him out of the bullpen of a divisional rival, I’m all for it! At the moment we have our 18-man roster set, and have 14 of our 20 spots filled on the reserve roster. I do not expect us to fill the full roster, as we’d like to maintain room for future prospect signings as the situation warrants. Our hitting lineup looks unlikely to change much from last year with all our key starters returning, and with Bjornson and Cadenhead both returning as well, the biggest change this year is likely to be the deeper bullpen ... as due to the expanded rosters to 18 players we intend to keep four players around for bullpen usage. April 24, 1872: The schedule for the 1872 season of ORBL play has been announced, and we’ll open the year with back-to-back home series against Oakland City and Patoka, with opening day set for May 24! We have high expectations for the coming season, having won 101 games last year while not making it to our goal of appearing in the ORBL Championship Cup series. We’ve got an expected total payroll this year of $6,992, which puts us heads and tails above the rest of the league (our next nearest competitor is Ferdinand, at $5,570) so if we can’t deliever the goods on the field it will be difficult to maintain that level of spending in the future and still remain financially solvent. But early season ticket sales have been great, even with a price increase to 15 cents per ticket, and if we can pile up wins I think we’re well on the right track to becoming a year-in, year-out favorite. May 23, 1872: The preseason top prospects list came out today, and our new bullpen ace, Tim Seay, is ranked #2 in the league behind 24-year-old starter Mike Esquivel of Fort Branch, who they discovered out of the independent leagues back in November. Another of our signings from this fall, 21-year-old second baseman Chris DePaola, comes in ranked 11th overall, and 25-year-old left fielder Ryan Trainer is ranked #12. David Rosenberger, who saw limited playing time last year, is ranked 16th, while 19-year-old infielder Danny Hall remains ranked 21st after a year on our reserve squad. We easily have the top development system, with Grandview, Ferdinand and Lincoln City fighting for distant second place. Attached Images __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-30-2025, 03:25 PM	#26
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,614	May 24-31, 1871: New Beginning May 24, 1872: It’s opening day, everyone! Oakland City has come to town to play us for a pair of games, and we’ve got our ace, 18-year-old Aaron Bjornson, taking the mound. Oakland City scored the first run of the season in the top of the first, but Musselman got on base with a double to lead off in the bottom of the inning, and he tied the score off a groundout by Steve Hopkins ... game on! Danny Graham scored off a flyball single by Ryan Carl in the bottom of the second to give us our first lead, but he took a cleat to the head sliding into home and is going to be out for a couple weeks due to blurred vision. 21-year-old Alex Fernandez took his place in left field in the top of the third, They tied it up off a passed ball in the top of the third, and they took the lead in the fourth when their leadoff man Josh Ruiz hit into a fielder’s choice. From there the game stayed close but we struggled to get past their infield defense and make anything happen. Bjornson pitched well and kept us in the game down the stretch but we came up to hit in the bottom of the ninth really needing something to pop ... still trailing by a run, Ismael Chinea led off with single into left and advanced to second off a groundout, but he blew it when he tried (and failed) to steal third. Centeno popped out harmlessly to the pitcher and this was over, a 3-2 opening day loss. Bjornson pitched a complete game with nine hits, a walk and three runs, only one of which was earned, but he couldn’t power our hitting too ... we were outhit 9-5, led by Chinea with two hits to nowhere and by Musselman who had a hit and a run. We’ve moved Danny Graham to the reserve roster until he recovers from his concussion, and in turn have called up 25-year-old Ryan Trainer, the #12 prospect in the ORBL, to get his shot in the outfield. Graham, at 31, has seen his better days and may be fit to return to the main lineup as a backup when he’s healthy, but if the young prospect delievers, Graham’s days as a non-reserve player may be numbered. May 25, 1872: Cadenhead took the mound for his first game of the year this afternoon, and from the start we were locked in a pitching duel. Oakland City broke through in the top of the fifth with a two-run single by catcher Johnny Symons, but we got on the board in the bottom of the inning when Musselman hit an RBI triple that bounced around the outfield, and he scored when Chinea reached on an E5 error, tying the score at 2-2! We took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, Centeno scoring off an RBI single by rookie Ryan Trainer, but they tied it a few minutes later, Symons scoring off a single by center fielder Jason Graf that was coupled with an untimely E8 error, sending the game into the stretch knotted up at 3-3. Ismael Chinea woke everyone up in the bottom of the inning with a solo homer out of left, the first Tell City homer of the season, and Tony Alegre added on with an RBI triple in the eighth to extend our lead to two! Cadenhead came out in the ninth but got just one out around two hits that put a runner in scoring position, so we called upon rookie Tim Seay to close out the inning ... he allowed a base hit to load the bags, but got our second out on a 3-2 fielder’s choice, but alas third baseman Nick Black hit a screaming drive into right and drove in two runs ... tie game. Two outs, runners in scoring position and a groundout to first ended the top half of the inning, sending us into the bottom with a burning need to score a run. Musselman grounded out to first, Chinea popped out to their catcher, and Hopkins popped up to second and we were headed for extras knotted at five runs each. They scored a run in the top of the 10th to take the lead back, and then shut us down with three quick outs in the bottom of the frame, beating us 6-5 for the series sweep. That’s definitely not how we’d hoped to start this season. Cadenhead lasted 8.1 innings with 10 hits, a strikeout and five runs (two earned), but it was the rookie Seay who took the loss after the blown save ... he pitched 1.2 innings with five hits and an earned run, an inauspicious beginning to what is still sure to be a long career. It was a hitter’s game, and they blasted us 15-10, our team led by Musselman and Chinea who each had two hits, a run and an RBI. May 26, 1872: Patoka (0-2) came to town for our next two games, and that meant somebody was gonna get their first win of the year today. Patoka drew first blood in the top of the fourth by scoring off a sac-fly, but Chinea tied it up with an RBI triple off the center field wall in the bottom of the fifth, and we took the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Ryan Carl reached first on an E5 error, scoring Centeno! Alegre scored moments later off an E3 error, and finally our bats woke up as Musselman hit a single coupled with an E8 error that drove in two more to give us a 5-1 lead! He promptly stole third, his first stolen base of the season, but didn’t score as we went into the top of the sixth with a four-run advantage. Patoka scored off back to back RBI singles in the top of the sixth to keep the game interesting, but we held them off from there and were able to pick up our first win of the season by a 5-3 margin. Bjornson improved to 1-1 with a 2.00 ERA, allowing seven hits and three earned runs in his complete game. We managed to get eight hits ourselves, led by Musselman who had three hits, a steal, a run and an RBI. The problem is our batters are not consistent throughout the lineup ... Musselman (.462) and Chinea (.385) have hit well at the front of the lineup, but beyond that only Trainer, batting sixth, is even hitting .250 ... we’re going to need the offense to stop slumping if we’re going to win consistently in a league that’s clearly going to be a lot tougher this season. May 27, 1872: Patoka didn’t waste any time, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the second off a pair of RBI singles, one of which was coupled with an E8 error. And though our offensive struggles were real, our pitching held through the heart of the game, keeping us within reach if we could just string some hits together. Musselman still hasn’t gotten his legs back properly, which has kept us from manufacturing runs like we did so well last season -- he stole a base early in the game but was picked off twice, the third time so far this year when he only got caught a dozen times in all of last year’s games. Patoka added on a run in the top of the ninth to take a three-run shutout lead, and we just held up our hands in surrender, losing this one 3-0 to fall to 1-3 on the young season. Cadenhead fell to 0-1 with a 2.60 ERA, allowing nine hits, a walk and three runs with a strikeout. But the issue remained our lack of sustained hitting -- they outhit us 9-7, with Musselman (two hits, one steal) being our only real spark ... which may have spurred him to take risks on the basepaths that were more desperation than logical. May 28, 1872: Today we’re on the road against 3-1 Huntingburg, a team that is off to a solid start after finishing last year 16 games under .500. We outhit them significantly early on in this one, but neither team could get a real foothold. In the top of the sixth we saw our first real chance, when Chris Johnston hit a one-out double and took third on a groundout by Trainer. We pinch-hit Chris DePaola for Tony Alegre, who has been hitting a miserable .059 through his first five starts, but DePaola grounded out to first and we missed the opportunity. Bubba Masiello took over at catcher in the bottom of the inning, and it was Huntingburg who scored first via an RBI double from right fielder Larry Goguen. But we tied it in the top of the seventh with a two-out RBI double by Chinea, scoring Musselman from first thanks to a no-throw from center field ... and in the top of the eighth we got the lead when Masiello hit an RBI single in his first at-bat of the season, sending us into the bottom of the eighth leading 2-1. But two passed balls in a row and an RBI single tied this one up quickly. In the top of the ninth Bjornson was set to bat leadoff, but we pinch hit Jimmy Hall for him, and the 29-year-old shortstop quietly grounded out to first. Musselman and Chinea did the same, and we went into the bottom of the inning hoping for extras, with Tim Seay taking over on the mound. He did the job with three quick outs, and we went into the 10th with a chance. We couldn’t buy a run to save our lives, and it started to feel like this game might go into the evening. Jim McDonald took the mound in the bottom of the 12th, still knotted up at two-all, getting three quick outs to keep us going. We used our last pinch-hitter in the 13th with Alex Fernandez hitting on one out with runners on first and second, replacing Carl in right. And it paid off! He singled down the right field line to load the bases, and we took the lead when McDonald successfully pulled off a squeeze bunt ... 3-2! Musselman singled in another run with a shot up the gap, and Chinea hit one into shallow left to make it a three-run lead before Hopkins hit into a 6-3 double play to end the inning. McDonald stayed out in the bottom of the inning with the three-run lead as a cushion, and he got two quick outs but with runners on the corners, a passed ball led to Huntingurg scoring, cutting our lead to two. We brought out David Rosenberger with the runner on second and two outs, and he got the out we needed to win this one 5-3 after 13 grueling innings. McDonald got the win, pitching 1.2 innings with a hit and an unearned run, and Rosenberger got a save thanks to ONE PITCH ... but it was a high leverage situation, and he came through for us in a pinch. We outhit them 16-10, so it shouldn’t have been as tough to win as it was, but we got the win and that’s what matters. Musselman led the way with three hits, a run and an RBI, while Johnston added three hits and a run. May 29, 1872: Glen Cadenhead took the mound this afternoon for game two against Huntingburg, and they took the lead quickly in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by shortstop Salvador Verdusco. But in the top of the fifth we loaded the bases on back-to-back-to-back errors, and Steve Hopkins hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Masiello to tie the game at 1-1. We loaded the bases again in the top of the ninth with one out, bringing up Steve Hopkins, who hit into a fielder’s choice with the out made at home. Centeno then hit into one with the out at second and that was the inning. They came up to hit in the bottom of the ninth still tied 1-1, and for the second day in a row we took this one into extra innings. Cadenhead got us through the 10th, but with him set to lead off in the top of the 11th we brought out DePaola to pinch hit ... pop-out to short, no dice, and Musselman and Chinea followed suit. Joe McDonald took over on the mound in the bottom of the inning and pitched around a base hit to keep this one going. But in the bottom of the 12th they stuck the dagger in ... their third baseman John Wright hit a solo homer out of left, his first of the year, walking this off as they took the 2-1 win. McDonald took the loss, falling to 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA, allowing two hits and a run, and the homer gave them an 8-7 hits advantage in what had been a tight game the entire way. Steve Hopkins led the way with two hits and an RBI, and he’s brought his average up now to .267 through our first six games. We’ll finish the month out with a pair of games back in Tell City against Derby (4-2) in our first divisional battle of the season. May 30, 1872: Derby got off to a fast start, thanks to an RBI single and a passed ball that got them up 2-0 just eight minutes into the ballgame. But we got on the board in the bottom of the second when Bjornson reached on an E6 error that drove home Ryan Trainor, and Musselman hit one into right field that drove home Ryan Carl to tie it up 2-2! Bjornson scored the go-ahead off a wild pitch, and our fans went nuts ... could this be a turning point? With two outs, Musselman stole third, but we went into the third inning leading 3-2 after a groundout squelched our chance to blow this one open ... and Derby struck back in the top of the third, two outs and men on the corners, scoring two when their right fielder Jonathan Miller hit an RBI double. Lead? Gone. They added on with a run in the fifth, but Musselman got on base off an E5 error in the bottom of the inning to get one of those runs back, and Chinea hit one that bounced around center field, tying the score as Bjornson scored off the double! Hopkins hit an RBI single that drove in two more, and we went into the seventh inning leading 7-5! Chinea wrenched his back hitting that double, and had to be pulled from the game for Chris DePaola as we started the seventh, but thankfully it’s not expected to be a lingering issue. We held them off nicely from there and finished this as a 7-5 victory! Bjornson improved to 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA, allowing just six hits, and only one of his five runs was earned. We outhit them 9-6, led by Steve Hopkins who had two hits and two RBIs. Musselman had a hit, a steal, a run and an RBI, giving him three steals this season off six attempts. May 31, 1872: Derby again got out to a lead in the top of the first, this time scoring off a double by first baseman Bobby Flores. But we loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, no outs, and tied it up when Trainer reached first on an E4 error! Centeno scored off a passed ball to give us the lead, and a sac-fly by Ryan Carl put us up 3-1 heading into the top of the fifth. We added on in the seventh when Steve Hopkins reached on an E5 error with the bases again loaded, and Alex Centeno hit a grand slam, his first homer of the year, to blow this one wide open! We loaded the bases again in the eighth, scoring with two outs off a botched fielder’s choice, and they went down quietly in the ninth as we completed the 9-1 blowout win. Just like that we’re now 4-4 heading into the month of June, and the division is wide open. Cadenhead improved to 1-1 with the complete game, allowing just five hits with a walk, two strikeouts and an earned run, and we outhit them 7-5, capitalizing off five Derby errors. Centeno led the way with his grand slam, a hit and a walk generating two runs and four batted in, and though he’s only hitting .183, these were his first runs batted in this season. Hopefully it’s a sign that he’s once again ready to shine in this league. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-01-2025, 02:21 PM	#27
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,614	June 1-15, 1872: Spring Sensation June 1, 1872: It’s time to face St. Meinrad (5-3) for a pair on the road, and while we’re traveling, our owner is having additional temporary grandstands built that will allow us to increase our home field’s capacity to 1,500 from 1,200 seats. Demand has been high despite our slow start, and we’ve sold out -- or came close to selling out -- four of our six home games thus far. That puts us in the range of teams like Birdseye and Evansville for stadium capacity, but still slightly behind Celestine (1,600), Ferdinand (1,700), Fort Branch (1,700), Knob Hill (1,600) and Troy (1,700). We’re working on a fundraising campaign to build a permanent set of center field bleachers next year that could bring our capacity to 2,000, but that’s a matter for the future. Of all ORBL teams, the team with the lowest stadium capacity is Cannelton (1,100), one of the smallest towns in the organization. But they’re selling out the place day-in, day-out, and their owner is happy with their crowds, figuring most of the town is there on a daily basis anyway and he’s making money, so why push it? We loaded the bases in the top of the first against St. Meinrad, taking the lead with a groundout by Alegre that scored DePaola ... that’s just the second run of his rookie season thus far! We added on a run off a single by Trainer, giving us a two-run cushion before Bjornson threw his first pitch. Unfortunately he had a rough go in the bottom of the inning, mostly thanks to piss-poor defense ... they scored off an E5 error, tied the game off another E9 error, and then took the lead with an RBI single by first baseman Jose Lopez. After one inning, five runs had scored for the two teams combined, and NONE of them were earned. Bjornson tied it up with a single in the top of the second, another unearned run, in a game that had already seen seven combined errors. But Centeno broke it open from there with a three-run homer out of right ... he IS waking up! We went into the bottom of the inning leading 6-3 and feeling good about our chances if we could just settle down on our defense. Ryan Carl scored from second off a single by Jimmy Hall in the top of the third, and a groundout by Bjornson drove in an eighth, giving us an 8-3 lead midway through the inning. The rout was on from there as we blew them up 15-3, outhitting them 16-6! Bjornson improved to 3-1 with a 1.43 ERA, allowing six hits and striking out one with one unearned run. Musselman led the way on hits, going 4-6 with a run and two RBIs, while Centeno had all the power, hitting three times and walking once, scoring four and batting in six. That tied the regular season record for runs scored by any Tell City team in the regular season. There are no undefeated teams left in the ORBL right now, and since Leopold, once 0-6, has rattled off three wins in a row, the last team in the league without a win is ... and I’m shocked by this ... Fort Branch, which is now off to a miserable 0-9 start just a few months after winning 85 games last year and making a playoff run. Six of those nine games have been by one run, but even discounting their bad luck, they’re still vastly underperforming against expectations. I fully expect them to have righted their ship before we face them on their field in early June. June 2, 1871: Musselman led off with a hit and a pair of steals in the top of the first in today’s game against St. Meinrad, coming around to score off a single by Steve Hopkins to give us the early lead. Hopkins scored when Tony Alegre reached first on an E5 error, and Centeno scored when Ryan Carl hit into a fielder’s choice, the out taken at second. Alegre made it a 4-0 lead after an RBI single by Jimmy Hall, Cadenhead popping out to right to end the inning with everyone having had a turn. That set the tone, and we held them off nicely from there to dominate with a 5-1 win as we completed the sweep. Each team had eight hits and it was a relatively error free game (we actually had two to their one). Cadenhead got the win, pitching a complete game with eight hits and an unearned run, improving to 2-1 with a 1.39 ERA. Musselman led the way with two hits, two steals, a run and an RBI, and he’s hit .383 through his first ten games. June 3, 1872: We’re back in Tell City for a pair against Evansville (5-5), and right now our 6-4 record and four-game winning streak has us in a tie for second in the Perry Division with Derby, Gatchel leading the way at 8-2. Evansville took the lead in the top of the second with a quick run scored thanks to an E7 error, and though several times we got runners into scoring position, we couldn’t quite finish the process. They added a run in the top of the seventh, off an E5 error, going into the stretch leading 2-0. But Centeno came out and hit a two-run double in the bottom of the inning, and just like that we were tied up! Bjornson kept them from scoring anything in the eighth and ninth, and we came up to hit in the bottom of the inning smelling blood. Chinea reached first on an E5 error, advancing to second with a single by Hopkins. Centeno hit into a fielder’s choice that put runners on the corners, and that’s when the rookie Ryan Trainor walked it off with a single .... the streak continues as we won 3-2! Bjornson is now 4-1 with a 1.19 ERA, giving them just eight hits and a pair of unearned runs as he continues to pitch at a grade-A level. We outhit them 13-8, led by Steve Hopkins, who hit four times and scored a run, while Centeno added three hits and two RBIs, bringing his average up to .298 after his slow start. After ten consecutive losses, the Fort Branch Baseball Club finally got its first win of the season, beating Haubstadt 3-1 on the road. June 4, 1872: We took the lead against Evansville in the bottom of the first when Musselman reached first on an error, stole a pair and then came in to score off a Centeno RBI single! Nice to see him getting his confidence back on the basepaths. We added on with an RBI single by Chris Johnston in the bottom of the third, and Tony Alegre hit an RBI single of his own on two outs to increase our lead to three runs. Trainor tried to score off a hit by Ryan Carl, and it should have been an out but an error on a throw from left let him in safely after all ... I guess his greed paid off! Leading 4-0 after just three innings, we coasted the rest of the way, giving up the shutout with a garbage-time run in the ninth but winning 4-1 nonetheless. Cadenhead was phenomenal, pitching a complete game three hitter, his one run unearned ... he’s now 3-1 with a 1.16 ERA, as both our starters are performing at their top level. But the bats definitely helped ... we outhit them 11-3, led by Hopkins with three hits and a run while Centeno added two hits, a run and an RBI, getting him over .300 as he’s been our top player easily over the last week. We’ve signed a young prospect who has moved into the region from the Indianapolis area. Joe Greathouse, 15, has incredible stuff and a blistering fastball, but has yet to completely harness his control. But he built a great deal of buzz playing on the central Indiana youth circuit, and we’ve signed him with a $300 bonus this season. We intend to bring him up in place of Tony Jimenez, using him as a spot starter and long reliever. He’ll pitch in extra innings situations and will get a start every fifth game or so while he gets his feet wet. We’re on the road to play Tennyson (6-6) starting tomorrow, and he’s tentatively scheduled to get a start in our home game against Cannelton (6-6) on Saturday. June 6, 1872: Tennyson took the lead in the bottom of the third off an RBI single by Mike Graff, their 42-year-old second baseman, and they added on after a wild pitch, going into the top of the fourth with a 2-0 advantage. Bjornson got us on the board with an RBI single in the top of the fifth that let Ryan Trainer score after an erroneous throw to third missed and let him come around from first base. But they got the run back in the bottom of the fifth, maintaining a two-run lead on us. They added another in the sixth, but Musselman hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh to drive home Carl and keep us in the game. With runners on second and third and one out, Chinea walked the bases loaded, and with two outs Centeno walked in another run to get us back within one! In the top of the ninth, still trailing by one, we just didn’t have a hit in us ... they won this one 4-3, snapping our win streak at six games. Bjornson fell to 4-2 with a 1.48 ERA, giving them eight hits, four runs (three earned) and striking out a pair, while we matched them on hits with eight. Trainer led the way with three hits and a run while Musselman hit twice, walked once, stole a base (his ninth) and scored a run, batting in another. June 7, 1872: In game two against Tennyson, Musselman got on base with a single and then stole his way to third, coming in to score when Ismael Chinea hit a single into right, advancing via an E9 error in to scoring position. He took third on a wild pitch, scoring himself when Steve Hopkins took first on an E1 error, and just like that we were up 2-0, no outs, three hitters into the game. They settled down and shut our next three hitters down, but Cadenhead had himself a nice cushion when he threw his first pitch. We added four more runs in the top of the second, and though they got a run back in the bottom of the inning they showed no signs of being able to make a full-bodied comeback. They got a second run in the bottom of the fifth to cut our lead to four, but we got both runs back off a double by Tony Alegre in the top of the seventh, and Musselman scored off a single by Chinea in the ninth to pile on. They scored a run in the bottom of the inning but it wasn’t nearly enough, and we won with ease, 9-3. Cadenhead gave them 10 hits a walk and three runs (two earned) with one strikeout in his complete game, and we outhit them 14-10, led by Musselman, who had four hits and three runs with four stolen bases! June 8, 1872: We’re ready to host Cannelton (6-8) in a divisional battle this weekend, and we’re currently tied with Derby at 9-5, a game behind Perry Division leaders Gatchel, at 10-4. We’re starting 15-year-old rookie Joe Greathouse tonight against Cannelton’s Mike Schoolfield, who has started his year with a 2-4 record and a 2.90 ERA. Cannelton took the lead in the top of the second on two outs via an RBI single from right fielder Manny Hargrove, and they added another in the fourth off a two-out single by shortstop John Thibeau. We got on the board in the bottom of the inning with a two out single of our own, this one via Ryan Trainer, and we tied the score on a wild pitch that scored Chris Johnston from third! They got the lead back in the top of the seventh with an RBI single plus an E7 error, but we flipped it back into our favor with a two-run single by Chinea that made it a 4-3 game heading into the top of the eighth! Greathouse was remarkably efficient, and though he put two runners on in the ninth due to poor infield defense, he got the outs we needed and completed the 4-3 win on just 80 pitches! He finished with six hits and three runs (two earned) ... no walks or strikeouts, so he starts his career out with a win. We outhit them 7-6, led by Chinea with a hit, a run and two RBIs, while Musselman added a hit, three steals and a run scored -- he’s suddenly on pace to shatter last year’s steals record and it’s just 15 games into the season! June 9, 1872: In game two against Cannelton, we gave up a pair of runs in the fourth to spot them an early lead, and a pair in the fifth had our fans getting concerned, trailing 4-0. In the bottom of the sixth we loaded the bases without an out, getting on the board when Trainer hit himself a line drive that rolled fair down the right field line, driving in three with a double ... that’s how you do it! They got a run back in the seventh to get their lead back to two runs, but Ismael Chinea got us a run in the bottom of the inning off a balk call, keeping us within a 5-4 margin heading into the eighth inning. Jerry Hall pinch hit for Bjornson in the bottom of the ninth, leading off with a single up the middle, and Musselman followed him with a single into left, putting a runner in scoring position. Chinea hit one into right, loading the bags, and Steve Hopkins walked it off with a two-run single as we stunned Cannelton to win 6-5! Bjornson improved to 5-2 with a 1.67 ERA, pitching a complete game with nine hits and five runs (three earned), and we had 12 hits ourselves -- we were captained by Hopkins, who hit three times for a run and two RBIs. Musselman stayed hot as well, hitting twice with three more steals, scoring a run and bringing his average up to .373. With this win, we’re now 11-5 and have taken the lead in the division by a game over Gatchel and Derby! June 10, 1872: We’re on the road against Santa Claus (6-10) in the Spencer Division, and this one turned into an epic pitching duel, with just two hits for each team in the first five innings, no runs scored, no errors! Hopkins hit a line drive double into left for us as the leadoff hitter in the top of the seventh, just our third hit of the game, and a few minutes later we finally broke through with two runs off a single by Ryan Carl to take a 2-0 lead! We added a run on in the top of the eighth, and Cadenhead shut them down the rest of the way as we won 3-0. He pitched a complete game four-hit shutout, striking out a pair, and we had eight hits ourselves, led by Ryan Carl with a hit and two RBIs. Musselman didn’t get on base all game, a rare day where he had no impact on our offensive performance. June 11, 1872: Bjornson started game two against Santa Claus, and they scored in the first and third to build a quick 2-0 lead on us. But we got on the board in the top of the fourth thanks to an Alex Centeno RBI double, and we tied it in the top of the sixth with a solo homer out of right field by Centeno, his fourth of the year! We took the lead in the top of the ninth when Ryan Carl scored from first off a single by Bjornson that was coupled with an E8 error, and Bjornson pitched brilliantly in the ninth, getting around runners on the corners to hold the lead as we won 3-2! He had nine hits, a walk, two strikeouts and two earned runs in the game, improving to 6-2, and we outhit Santa Claus 11-9 ... Johnston had four hits to nowhere, and Musselman added two hits and five steals all without scoring ... so it was Centeno who led the way with two hits, a run and two RBIs as we came back to steal this win. June 12, 1872: Next up we’ve got Elberfeld (11-7) coming to town to face our 13-5 club, and we’re riding a five-game winning streak, just one off our season high from before the loss to Tennyson on the 6th of June. Glen Cadenhead pitched in game one, and we took the lead quickly in the bottom of the first off an RBI single by Ismael Chinea, driving home Musselman who’d opened the game by reaching on an E7 error and stealing his way to third! Elberfeld answered with a run in the top of the second, but we got the lead back with a two-run homer from Allegre, his first of the year and just his second of his career! We got another run in the third to extend the lead to three, and we had a 4-1 lead still in the top of the seventh when Cadenhead got into a bases-loaded jam with no outs. We brought out Tim Seay to take over, something of an unorthodox move, but he struck out pinch hitter Xavier Ramirez, and though two runs scored off a single by catcher Glenn Spotts, he got us out of the inning with our 4-3 lead still safe. He stayed out the rest of the way to protect our razor-thin advantage, and we held tough to win 4-3, extending our streak to six in a row! Cadenhead pitched six innings with four hits, a strikeout and three runs (two earned), improving to 6-1 with a 1.26 ERA, while Seay picked up a three inning save, allowing just three hits, with a strikeout ... his ERA is now 1.17 through 7.2 innings across three appearances. We outhit Elberfeld 10-7, led by Alegre who had two hits, a run and two RBIs. June 13, 1872: Joe Greathouse pitched his second game of the season this afternoon, and we knew going in that if it went as well as his first, we were likely to add him as a permanent third starter in our rotation, despite his very young age. We took the lead in the bottom of the second when Ryan Carl reached on an E6 error, scoring Chris Johnston, and we added on with an RBI single for Greathouse to go up 2-0. We added on a run in the bottom of the fourth, and Greathouse was perfect until, with two outs in the top of the fifth, their right fielder Jorge Palomera hit a single he was able to extend with an E8 error, getting into scoring position. Chinea scored a run in the bottom of the inning to extend our lead thanks to an E6 error, and another scored in the sixth to make it a 5-0 lead. Two more scored in the eighth, and Greathouse held on to blank them in the end by a 7-0 margin, as we outhit them 14-4! In addition to pitching a complete game four hit shutout in his second career game, Greathouse struck out a pair in a dominating performance, showing real maturity for a kid his age. Musselman led our offense with four hits, a steal and two RBIs, while Greathouse also proved solid from the plate, hitting three times with a run and an RBI. June 14, 1872: We’re headed for Jasper (10-10) with the month almost at its midpoint and our record a sparking 15-5, three games up on the Derby Baseball Club. Aaron Bjornson pitched today, and we took the lead in the top of the first with a groundout by Centeno that scored Chris DePaola from third. A five-run second inning turned this into an early blowout, and we had a 14-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth when suddenly Jasper showed some spark, knocking in seven runs! Bjornson got us through the inning, and David Rosenberger came out to mop up in the ninth, closing the door on them as we won 14-7 despite the late innings insanity. Bjornson improved to 7-2 with a 1.76 ERA, allowing nine hits in eight innings with seven runs, two of which were earned -- no walks, one strikeout. We outhit Jasper 18-11, led by Chris DePaola with four hits, two runs and two RBIs. June 15, 1872: Cadenhead pitched game two against Jasper, and we scored first again in the top of the first inning, dominating much in the same way we did yesterday, though without the collapse in the eighth. Leading by five in the bottom of the ninth, Cadenhead shut them down with ease and we won this one 8-3 to continue our solid win streak. That improved Cadenhead’s record to 7-1, allowing 10 hits and three runs, none earned, with a strikeout, outhitting them 14-10. Ismael Chinea led the way with three hits, a walk, a run and two RBIs. At the month’s midpoint we’re still in the lead in our division by three games over Derby and we’re on a nine-game win streak, but Derby has won four in a row as well, while Cannelton (11-11) has won five in a row and Leopold (11-11) has won three. Attached Images __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 07-01-2025 at 03:48 PM.

07-01-2025, 06:47 PM	#28
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,614	ORBL's New Logo! We've created an official logo for the ORBL to be used by all regional media. Attached Images __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)