All sorts of men in blue were huddling with Rockies and A’s
personnel after nine innings of San Benito County Babe Ruth League
baseball were played at Vet’s Park Monday night.
All sorts of men in blue were huddling with Rockies and A’s personnel after nine innings of San Benito County Babe Ruth League baseball were played at Vet’s Park Monday night.
The rule book was out to determine if play should go on as the two teams had stalemated after three hours at 4-4. Babe Ruth League rules state that games are called after nine innings, but a few at The Vet have gone more than that this year (one went 11 innings), but not on a school night.
Besides, the snack bar had already closed.
For now, the Rockies sit in second place at 9-3-1, while the A’s are in fourth at 7-5-1. The game will be resumed at the top of the tenth only if it has a bearing on the regular season standings. At stoppage, the pitchers of record were the Rockies Zeke Lopez and the A’s Ronnie Fhurong.
The A’s could have won this one several times. For starters, two A’s errors, two Anthony Trefielo walks and a passed ball in the top of the first led to three unearned Rockies runs.
Secondly, with two runs already in for the A’s in the third inning to cut the lead to 3-2, they blew an opportunity for another run, which, as it turns out, would have led to a victory in regulation. Trefielo, who had reached first when he shouldn’t have by striking out with first base occupied and less than two outs, ended up at third base with no outs. Kevin Graham’s short fly ball to right wasn’t deep enough to score Trefielo as one out went in the books. A deep shot to right by Jake Verissimo, the next hitter, was more than deep enough for Trefielo to score.
However, A’s coach Steve Ross, who was coaching third, didn’t think Verissimo’s ball was going to be caught so Trefielo went about halfway down the line towards home. It was, in fact, caught with much aplomb by Rockies right fielder Daniel McDonald, who made a hustle catch and hurried the ball back in. Rockies hurler Danny Ayala retired Tyler Smith on a pop-up to end the inning.
The A’s knotted the game in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Fhurong, which scored Travis Ross. Ross had soared a sun-kissed double to left with two outs, then stole third when Ayala wound up instead of stretching.
The A’s would have gone ahead in the fifth, but Rockies center fielder Dean Wilkins – who made two great catches in the game – showed he could do it with his arm too when he gunned down Doug Conte at the plate on a basehit from Smith.
Zeke Lopez relieved Ayala in the sixth and promptly walked pinch-hitter Ryan Wiltse. Adrian Perez laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Wiltse to second. After Wiltse was wild pitched to third, Fhurong, who had three hits and two RBI, singled in the lead run.
The Rockies, who hadn’t done a thing against Conte, who relieved Trefielo in the second, had a jolt on offense from Tim Lango in the top of the seventh. Lango belted a three-bagger to left field, beating the relay on a head-first dive into the bag. Conte walked Johnny Sanchez before Kevin
Gonzales ripped a game-tying single to right field as Lango came home. The hard-throwing Conte, who had 11 strikeouts in 6.1 innings, pitched well enough to win, but didn’t get the decision.
The A’s had one last gasp to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. Conte singled to right, then Graham walked. Verissimo’s sac bunt advanced the runners. Ross gave Smith and Conte the squeeze play sign. If the bunt gets down, game is over. Smith’s bunt, though, was popped up in the air and Sanchez pounced on it out in front of the plate to make the catch. Conte had no chance to get back to third base and was doubled up to end the entertaining contest for the present.
Rockies coach Kelly Gonzales blamed his club’s offensive woes for not coming away with a ‘W’.
“We’ve been struggling hitting the ball since we’ve come back from the Memorial Day break,” said Gonzales, whose team lost the first two games coming out of the break before Monday night. “Before the break we were pounding the ball, scoring nine or ten runs a game. Our strengths were hitting and defense, but we’ve had trouble with both lately.”
“Both teams played well tonight,” said Ross, a well-respected baseball man. “Conte pitched a good game. Trefielo had trouble with his control, mainly because he has so much movement on his ball. It has a late break and it’s nasty.”
Tonight’s game features the Marlins (6-6) vs. the Yankees (5-7) at 5:30 p.m. at The Vet.
Game notes: The catch of the game was made by Rockies first baseman Nick Huston, who went full bore for a diving catch in foul territory on a ball hit by the A’s Bobby Bravo in the second inning….Conte collided hard with Huston on a play in the third when Conte was safe at first on a Rockies error. Both parties were all right after gathering their senses…The A’s only struck out twice….The Rockies had only three hits to the A’s eight…..Some young fan not interested in watching the game brought a basketball to the park. He was officially 0-2 on the evening.
Rockies 300 000 100 – 4 3 3
A’s 002 101 000 – 4 8 2
Ayala, Lopez (6) and Sanchez; Trefielo, Conte (2), Fhurong (9) and Smith. -Game to be resumed if needed.
