Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Giants Continue Winning in

Close One with Evanston in
Game 2 of 2
JACKSON, Wy. (JHYB)
By, Chris Moulder

Giants Line-up-

1. Charlie Wild Shortstop

2. Grant Smith Pitcher
3. Charlie Keegan 3rd base
4. Colter Huhn Center Field
5. Bryn Windle Right Field
6. Robbie Caesar 1st Base
7. Ethan Moulder 2nd Base
8. Bryan Weber Left Field
9. Carlos Toledo Catcher

Substitutes-

Cameron O’Donahue
Patrick Renz
Ian Chapman
Rookie 1st baseman Robbie Caesar gets ready to take his
hacks at the plate
The second game of this twin billing match-up with the Evanston Rebels found Grant
Smith on the mound for the Giants. Smith who is still technically recovering from a shoulder
injury on this throwing side has popped in from time to time to relieve and shown a strong
presence every time. With the Giants confident after upstaging the Rebels in the first game
forcing out the Rebels from the game after 5 innings, Coach Euart opted to leave his rookies in
the game substituting Patrick Renz for Ethan Moulder at 2nd and sitting veteran, Cameron
O’Donahue for the start of game 2.
GrantSmith took the hill for the Giants and after a good first at bat battling off foul balls,
Tommy Van Syoc drove a ball to deep right field where Bryn Windle chased it down with a
long-legged gallop. Cordell Hicks was the #2 batter and Smith dispatched him after a full count,
then James Short popped up to Charlie Wild at shortstop to end it for the Rebels. Charlie Wild
started things off for the Giants with a bloop ball to shortstop for a base hit, Grant Smith struck
 out swinging after loading the count against Rebel
pitcher, RL Colangeld. Charlie Keegan then grounded
out to the shortstop Tommy Van Syoc for the 3rd out.
The beginning of the 2nd inning brought JR
Woody to the plate who after Smith threw 3 balls, Smith
decided that if he was going to get on base, it was going
to hurt so he drilled Woody in the arm. With Colangeld
at the plate and Woody leading off, Smith snapped a
quick throw over to Robbie Caesar who then applied the
tag to Woody sending him back to the dugout. With 2
strikes, Colangeld thought that leaning into one might be
the ticket to first so he too was tattooed by Smith.
Grant Smith seemed to be a bit shaken by all of the free
passes to 1st and promptly walked Mickey Williamson
without incident. The Rebel 3rd baseman, Mark
Kampman was now up and he took a second strike past
a diving Charlie Keegan at 3rd to get the RBI base hit
scoring Colangeld. Mike Woody also walked thereby
loading the bases for Suede Lester who hit a sacrifice fly
to center field where Colter Huhn quickly relayed the
Grant Smith took the hill for the Giants against ball in to halt any further runs. The top of the order
the Rebels
batter Tommy Van Syoc also walked to elevate the
Rebel threat but Cordell Hicks grounded out to Robbie Caesar who tagged first for the unassisted
3rd out. The home half of the 2nd inning was only marginally better than the first inning as Huhn
tried to bunt his way on in vain, both Bryn Windle and Robbie Caesar got clean base hits but
Ethan Moulder and Bryan Weber went down swinging to end it for the Giants.
The top of the 3rd had Grant Smith regaining his composure as he sat down James Short
and then JR Woody stepped up to the plate and grounded out to trusty Charlie Wild at short.
Smith then got the Rebel pitcher Conlangeld to hit a fly ball to left where Weber in true fashion
drifted left, then drifted right and reined the ball in for the 3rd out. The bottom of the 3rd was
getting increasingly more frustrating for the Giants as Carlos Toledo grounded out to short,
Charlie Wild grounded out to 3rd and Grant Smith hit a fly ball the other way to a running
Mickey Williamson in right field who shagged it down for the 3rd out.
Enter the 4th and our Hometown Heroes are down 2-0. Grant Smith was starting to dial
in his strike zone in the 3rd inning but seemed to loose it again in the top of the 4th as he walked
Mickey Williamson on 5 pitches. Rather than wait for Smith to find his zone again, Coach
Euart brought in the rookie right hander Patrick Renz from left field. Renz took the place in the
line-up of Bryan Weber, Robbie Caesar went from 1st to left field and Grant Smith took up
residency at 1st. The new blood on the mound got Mark Kampman off balance as Renz struck
him out but walked Mike Woody. Renz found his focus again and struck out Suede Lester and
 Tommy Van Syoc resulting in a roller coaster of an inning that held
the Rebels scoreless. The bottom of the 4th and the sleeping Giants
were still sleeping after their throttling by this very same team less
than 2 hours earlier. Colengeld up-ended Keegan and got him to
pop up to center after a full count, The Mighty Colter Huhn whiffed
on 3 like his hero The Mighty Casey, Bryn Windle did manage a
walk to 1st but Caesar hit a dribbler back to the pitcher for the 3rd
out.
Top of 5 and Patrick Renz and his cam padres were starting
to feel the heat. Coach Euart decided to replace Ethan Moulder at
2nd with the veteran infielder Cameron O’Donahue. The Rebels
from Evanston really turned the pressure on Renz who was starting
to lose his zone. The game took on an air for the Giants like the
last one for the Rebels where the pitchers just couldn’t seem to buy
Reliever Patrick Renz started a strike. Renz walked the first 3 batters and although some
strong but then struggled redemption occurred for Renz as he picked off Short at first but a
sacrifice fly to left from RL Colangeld scored Hicks from 3rd. Mickey Williamson also walked
and Mark Kampman then drove a base hit to right-center scoring Woody. Thankfully, Mike
Woody popped up to Charlie Keegan to stop the threat but not before the Rebels added 2 more to
their total. The Giants still could not get their act together as despite 2 walks; 1 for Patrick Renz
and the other for Charlie Wild, a throwing error by Colangeld trying to pick-off Renz at first and
a passed ball, the Giants could not convert the opportunities into runs.
The top of the 6th and the wheels were really getting wobbly for young Patrick Renz on
the hill. Although Patrick managed to sit down the #9 hitter Lester, he grooved one for Van
Syoc who hit a line shot to Charlie Wild at shortstop who gloved it cleanly but overthrew Smith
at 1st , allowing Van Syoc to advance to 2nd. Renz then walked Cordell Hicks and with men on
1st and 2nd, James Short ripped an RBI base hit to left and JR Woody did the same scoring Hicks.
Coach Pat Euart had enough and marched himself out to the mound to make some more changes.
Colter Huhn came in from center to relieve Renz, Renz went to shortstop and Charlie Wild went
to center to hopefully thwart the onslaught. With one out, enemies at the corners, a seemingly
befuddled infield and outfield, Huhn managed to get RL Colangeld to pop out to Smith at first.
The fly ball was deep and by the fence as Grant Smith sprinted to grab the out and then whirled
and threw a strike to Carlos Toledo at home as James Short tagged at 3rd and attempted to snatch
home but Short did not attempt to slide into home on the close play but rather tried to bowl over
Toledo at home. Not only did Toledo prove tougher than Short but the Umpire threw Short out
for not sliding at home. American Legion rules are specific about close plays at home and do
not tolerate deliberate blind-sided attacks like that. This last play seemed to wake the sleeping
Jackson Giants up in the bottom of the 6th despite being down 6-0, Chucklin’ Charlie Keegan
crushed a lead-off double to the fence, Colter Huhn took one for the team as Colangeld hit him in
the numbers, Bryn Windle laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt advancing Keegan and Huhn to
3rd and 2nd respectively. With the force off, Robbie Caesar pushed another sacrifice bunt to 2nd
base, who then threw him out at 1st but not before Keegan scored putting our Heroes on the
board. Cameron O’Donahue hit Huhn in with an RBI single up the middle. O’D then made
quick work and stole 2nd . Patrick Renz finally put his bat on the ball and laced a single to left
scoring O’D. It ended for the good guys with Carlos Toledo missing the 3rd strike and sending
our Hometown Heroes out to the field to stop the Rebels from advancing further.
Colter Huhn took the mound in the top half of the 7th with a vengeance and a belief that
his men can still take this game if everyone settled down and did their jobs. Huhn certainly did
his by sitting down Mikey Williamson and Kampman. Mike Woody reached base on an error
by Grant Smith at 1st and then stole 2nd. But the mighty Huhn suckered Suede Lester into
grounding out to Keegan at 3rd to end it for the Rebels offense. 6-3 and the Giants better get
something going in the bottom of the 7th as they need 3 to tie and 4 to win this one. The Giants
top of the order, Charlie Wild grounded out to short, Grant Smith hip a sharp one to Kampman
at 3rd who could not come up with it, allowing Smith to reach base on the error. Charlie Keegan
was now up and hit a routine ball to shortstop who then dispatched Smith at second. Although
the clouds of despair seemed to close in on our Hometown Heroes again, the Giants willed them
away as Colter Huhn walked, Bryn Windle was belted with an inside pitch thereby loading the
bases. Robbie Caesar came through and hit safely to left scoring Keegan and then with a
throwing error on the left fielder Mike Woody, Huhn scored as well. Cam the Man O’Donahue
also came through for his lads and zapped a line drive single to the fence in left-center scoring
first Windle to tie the game and the hard running Robbie Caesar from 2nd to win the game for our
Hometown Heroes in spectacular fashion.

Box Scores-

Player AB R H RBI SO BB E SB B.AVG

Wild 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 .333
Smith 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 .000
Keegan 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 .250
Huhn 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 .000
Windle 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 1.000
Caesar 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 .666
E. Moulder 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000
O’Donahue 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 .666
Weber 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000
Renz 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1.000
Toledo 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .000

Team Batting Average- .269

Game Score- Jackson Giants (home) 7
Evanston Rebels (visitors) 6

Pitcher Statistics-

Pitcher W/L/S IP AB R H SO BB HB

Smith -- 3 15 2 1 2 6 2
Renz -- 2 2/3 15 4 3 2 6 0
Huhn W 1 1/3 5 0 0 2 0 0

The View From The Cheap Seats-

The scorebook read as a fantastic story of perseverance, not giving up and coming from
behind. The lads from paradise rallied behind their pitchers on the mound even though the
starting hurlers were struggling on the mound.
Offensively, the Giants sluggers were all over the map as they started the game with a
yawn and ended with a roar scoring 4 timely runs in the bottom of the 7th to win it for our Heroes
and giving the Jackson Faithful an exhausting yet thrilling roller coaster ride for the afternoon.
Stellar efforts from the plate include; Cameron O’Donahue and rookie Robbie Caesar each going
2 for 3 hitting .666 and each scoring once. A solid showing from Charlie Wild who went 1 for 3
and a stolen base, Bryn Windle and Patrick Renz each went 1 for 1 batting perfectly and last but
not least Charlie Keegan who despite going 1 for 4 managed to add 2 runs to the Giants tally
which was crucial in putting them on top for the win.
Defensively, Grant Smith started strong but the strike zone seemed to get tiny on him as
he walked 3 Rebel batsman in the 2nd and hit 2 others besides. Smith got it together again in the
3rd as he had a 1-2-3 inning, but walking the lead-off batter in the 4th forced Coach Euart to make
some changes as the score stood 2-0 in favor of the Rebels. Renz started like Smith strong from
the mound striking out the side but again loosing his focus quickly in the 5th as he seemed to
walk everybody. Young Patrick Renz needs to focus his mind after delivering a great inning as
he typically falls apart in subsequent innings. Renz was replaced in the 6th by Colter Huhn who
brought his experience to the hill shutting down the Rebel offense and getting the win

“A great ballplayer is a ballplayer who will take a chance.”

Branch Rickey