GCL Twins 2 at Elizabethton Twins 0
Ian Mopas and six other pitchers combined to shut down the Elizabethton bound Twins team during a 7-inning scrimmage Saturday Morning at the Lee County Sportsplex. Kudos to the grounds crew who got the field playable despite last night's thunder storm that knocked power out in various parts of Cape Coral for over three hours.
Herbert Lara singled off E-Town bound Chris Anderson in the first inning, then stole 2nd. Deibinson Romero's outfield fly got him to 3rd, and he was sacrificed in by Andres Diaz. Newcomer Tyler Ladendorf struck out to retire the side.
Mopas allowed a single to Jon Waltenbury in the bottom of the stanza with two outs on the board, but Rene Leveret reached on a fielder's choice that took Walt out at second.
Tim Atherton reached on a dropped-ball third-strike count when Danny Rams passed the ball and then ended up chasing it over to the visitor's bench. Rams did not have a pretty game Saturday morning, I've seen him play better. Thom Wright got Reggie Williams to hit into a double play however. Rookie catcher Jae-Hyung Jang (a.k.a. J.J.) drew a walk, but Hyun-Wook Choi struck out.
I believe Alex Curry pitched the second inning for the GCL Twins. I'm a little vague on this because Elliott Biddle, who was doing the charting, was a bit vague on the new pitchers as well. Hence we have "Scott somebody" pitching the 3rd inning for the GCL Twins and "I want to say his name is Mike" pitching the fourth. Angel Morales struck out before Rams would get drilled by a pitch. Evan Bigly hit a double, but Rams never moved from second base, so the new outfielder found himself stuck between 1st and 2nd and surrendered without a battle. Nick Papasan struck out to end the inning.
Lara lead off the third inning by taking a single off Jarrad Eacott. With Jakub Hajtmar at the plate, he stole 2nd. Hajtmar - who for some reason missed his first at bat - struck out. Romero - playing a rehab assignment for Beloit - ground out. With Andres Diaz at the plate, Lara stole 3rd. Rams throw went wide of 3rd and into the outfield, so Lara simply came home, giving the GCL boys two. Diaz would ground out to third, giving the Elizabethton boys another shot.
James Beresford would strike out and Eric Santiago ground out in the third before Andrew Schmiesing and Paul Kelly hit back-to-back singles. Kelly was playing on a rehab assignment - unofficially of course - for the Fort Myers Miracle. However, Waltenbury would strike out to end the inning, stranding the runners.
Ladendorf and Atherton both ground out before Williams drew a walk in the top of the fourth, but JJ struck out to end the side. Leveret would lead off bottom of the inning with a single, but a fly out to Morales and strike outs to Rams and Bigly did nothing advance the E-Town Twins offense.
The fifth inning would put three-up and three-down on both sides.
Diaz and Ladendorf draw walks in the sixth but took them no where, while Schmie led off with a single for the home team, Kelly struck out and Walt and Rene ground out to end the inning.
The GCL boys did not bat the top of the 7th. Lee Martin worked the fourth inning for the E-town team, Omar Alcala the fifth and Danny Rondon the sixth.
Argentinian pitcher Schiovani pitched the 7th for the GCL Twins, getting Morales to strike out and Rams to ground out before issuing a single to Bigly and a double to Papi to put men in scoring position. Beresford would strike out however, to end the game.
"We need to get a lot better, fast," Jim Shellenbach said of the Elizabethton Team. "We just got shut out."
The bus leaves at midnight for Joe O'Brien Stadium.
The boys had a slight thrill when Space Shuttle Discovery passed over head and they heard the sonic boom which one described as "it sounded like someone shot off two cannons." The space shuttle landed safely this morning at 11:15 at Cape Canaveral which is about 200 miles from the Sportsplex.
In other news, Jose Leger was released by the Twins and while some of the boys on our DL are getting healthy, others are not. Liam Hendriks was added to the Disabled List with bone spurs in his back. He will be leaving this week for Minnesota for treatment.
The Elizabethton Twins open their season on Tuesday, while the GCL Twins begin play on Thursday. Barring another power failure, I will get the GCLTwins.com site updated with the new schedule later today.
3 comments:
Thanks, Dianna. I heard that Liam might have to have some kind of spinal surgery to remove the bone spurs. Have you heard anything about that?
Regardless, it's a tough break after a good '07 season in Elizabethton.
He said something about having to have an injection into his spine. Other than that, I don't know. He did say his folks were coming over in a couple or so weeks and that he was looking forward to being able to spend time with them.
It looks like he's coming to Minnesota on Tuesday to meet a back specialist. The spurs are pinching the nerves in his right arm which is causing his arm discomfort.
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