The Black Widows have emerged top-of-the-heap after week two of the 2009 Kyle Hunlock Series. After crushing the Blue Dogs 12-3 in the morning opener, they went on to hand the Red Roosters their first loss of the Series by a score of 12-7. While this left the Roosters and the Widows each with a 3-1 record, the Widows mountainous run differential was just too steep for the Roosters to climb; although they beat the Blue Dogs 15-2 in the final match of the day, they would have needed another 16 runs scored to surpass the Widows and take first place.
BLUE DOGS 3 @ BLACK WIDOWS 12
In the morning matchup the Blue Dogs got off to an early lead off Widow hurler Mark Hoffman. Although “the Hoff” quickly tallied a pair of strikeouts, a Widows error followed by a walk and a clutch single from Blue Dogs manager Andy Cornish brought the first run across the plate.
But that was all the offence the Dogs would see until the fifth inning. Hoffman settled down and pitched three scoreless innings, followed by two solid innings from Marty Cullen. Altogether, Hoffman and Cullen wracked up 7 strikeouts with only 3 walks and 3 runs allowed on 6 hits.
The Widows offence was timely. Marty Cullen went 4-for-4 with 4 RBI, and fellow-American Greg Bochan was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Luis Goncalves and Arnie Longboy had a hit each, and both crossed the plate multiple times. Newcomer Marcus Capper – while hitless – still scored two runs for the Widows.
BLACK WIDOWS 12 @ RED ROOSTERS 7
The Roosters had high expectations after hitting the field fresh at midday to face a (hopefully) game-weary Widows lineup. Newcomer Mike Vasquez took the mound for the Red squad, but he surrendered 4 walks and 2 hits in the first inning, and his team committed 3 errors behind him. Altogether that amounted to 7 Widows runs, which proved the difference in the game.
The Roosters fought hard to battle back, putting up crooked numbers in the second, third and fifth innings. They were aided by a 2-for-3 performance from first baseman Dave Baird, but it was too little too late. The Widows had the momentum. Luis Goncalves went 2-for-3, Chris Barnes 2-for-2 with 2 RBI, and Amit Odedra came into the game in the bottom of the fourth inning and had a clutch 2-run single with a stolen base.
RED ROOSTERS 15 @ BLUE DOGS 2
The Blue Dogs failed to score a run until the final inning of this third game. The Roosters were out of the gates early with a 2 RBI double from Jason Greenberg, who finished the day with a second 2 RBI double. Young Liam Green was 1-for-1 with an RBI, and the mighty Edwin Alcantara went 3-for-3 with 2 RBI.
The only Blue Dog RBIs came from Jonathon Lewys, who also delivered an inning of work from the hill allowing 2 runs on 2 hits.
The pitcher of the game was most certainly Pete Kikel, who upped the speed on his fastball by 5-10mph over game one, and walked away with 4 strikeouts in 3-innings of scoreless baseball.
WIDOWS AWAITING THEIR PREY IN WEEK THREE
After two weeks of Hunlock action, the Black Widows are sitting pretty. They can rest up and watch the 2nd/3rd place action on Sunday morning to see which squad they’ll face in the ’09 Series Final.
The Blue Dogs have an uphill battle in store. They’ve now lost to the Red Roosters by scores of 8-7 and 15-2. If they hope to find their stride and coast into the championship game they’ll have to get by a resurgent pitching rotation of Pete Kikel, Dan Kerry and Mike Vasquez, who in particular will be looking for a solid rebound on the mound. The Dogs will be aided by the emergence of late-coming teammates Nic Goetz and Jamie Munn, and returning sluggers Louis Hare and Riley Fisher, all of whom were missing from the week two action.
Which squad will emerge victorious? It all comes down to 18 innings of riveting Herts Baseball.
GAME ONE
| Blue Dogs at Black Widows | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Blue Dogs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| Black Widows | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 5 |
| Black Widows 12, Blue Dogs 3 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Widows | Blue Dogs | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Luis Goncalves ss | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Ken Pike ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Arnold Longboy lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Iwan Evans cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Greg Bochan 3b | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Jeff Witter p | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Marty Cullen 1b | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | (t3) Reagan Wood 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Chris Barnes c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Kal Dimitrov c | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Jose Morillo cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Andy Cornish 1b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Mark Hoffman p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jonathon Lewys 3b-p | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Andrew Slater 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (b4) Nick Russell pr-p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus Capper rf | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Phil Crooks 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (b4) Tom Green rf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Perrie Sherman rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t4) Lin Yuchih rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Nick Read lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (t4) Paul Auchterlounie lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 25 | 12 | 9 | 7 | TEAM TOTALS | 21 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| E: Chris Barnes, Marty Cullen, Mark Hoffman, Marcus Capper, Ken Pike, Jonathon Lewys, Phil Crooks. LOB: Blue Dogs 7, Black Widows 8. 2B: Marty Cullen, Luis Goncalves, Kal Dimitrov, Andy Cornish. 3B: Greg Bochan. SB: Mark Hoffman, Marcus Capper, Chris Barnes, Marty Cullen, Nick Russell(2), Andy Cornish, Iwan Evans, Paul Auchterlounie. CS: Mark Hoffman, Andy Cornish. |
| Black Widows | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Mark Hoffman | 5.00 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Blue Dogs | ||||||
| Jeff Witter | 2.00 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Jonathon Lewys | 1.67 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Nick Russell | 0.33 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
WP: Mark Hoffman. PB: Kal Dimitrov. T: 2:00. A: 69.
GAME TWO
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Black Widows | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 4 |
| Red Roosters | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Black Widows 12, Red Roosters 7 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Widows | Red Roosters | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Luis Goncalves ss | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Aspi Dimitrov 3b-lf-2b | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Arnold Longboy lf | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Peter Kikel ss-p | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| (b4) Amit Odedra lf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Edwin Alcantara dh-3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carlos Casal 3b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Jason Greenberg c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marty Cullen p-1b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | David Baird 1b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Chris Barnes c | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Dan Kerry cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bart Schouwenaars cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Rob Jones lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Hoffman 1b-p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hunter Devine 2b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Andrew Slater 2b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | (t5) Ilya Dimitrov rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t4) Greg Bochan 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ben Alway rf-lf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Tom Green rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Mike Vasquez p-ss | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| (t4) Stuart Boast rf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 25 | 12 | 10 | 7 | TEAM TOTALS | 22 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| E: Luis Goncalves, Carlos Casal, Bart Schouwenaars, Mark Hoffman, Peter Kikel, Hunter Devine, David Baird, Jason Greenberg. DP: Black Widows 1. LOB: Red Roosters 3, Black Widows 6. 2B: Luis Goncalves, Arnold Longboy, Dan Kerry. SB: Chris Barnes(2), Carlos Casal(2), Marty Cullen(2), Luis Goncalves, Arnold Longboy, Amit Odedra, Aspi Dimitrov(3), David Baird(2), Mike Vasquez(2), Dan Kerry(2), Hunter Devine, Ben Alway. CS: Chris Barnes. |
| Black Widows | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Marty Cullen W | 3.00 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mark Hoffman | 2.00 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Red Roosters | ||||||
| Mike Vasquez L | 3.00 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Peter Kikel | 2.00 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
WP: Mark Hoffman. T: 2:00. A: 69.
GAME THREE
| Red Roosters at Blue Dogs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Red Roosters | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 3 |
| Blue Dogs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| Red Roosters 15, Blue Dogs 2 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Roosters | Blue Dogs | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Aspi Dimitrov 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Nick Russell ss-p-2b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| (b4) Ben Alway lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Paul Auchterlounie c | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Liam Green 3b | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Tim Elkins 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Vasquez ss-cf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | (t4) Ken Pike ss | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Edwin Alcantara cf-p | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Jonathon Lewys p-ss-3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Jason Greenberg c | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | Iwan Evans cf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Dan Kerry 2b-1b | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | (t4) Perrie Sherman cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peter Kikel p | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Kal Dimitrov 3b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| (b4) Rob Jones ss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (t4) Andy Cornish lf-1b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ilya Dimitrov lf-2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jeff Witter 1b-p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Martin rf | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Phil Crooks rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t4) Nick Read rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Reagan Wood lf-p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 25 | 15 | 12 | 13 | TEAM TOTALS | 21 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| E: Aspi Dimitrov, Ilya Dimitrov, Paul Auchterlounie. LOB: Red Roosters 4, Blue Dogs 6. 2B: Jason Greenberg(2), Mike Vasquez, Edwin Alcantara, Aspi Dimitrov, Andy Cornish. SB: Edwin Alcantara(2), Jason Greenberg, Aspi Dimitrov, Dan Kerry, Peter Kikel, Chris Martin, Liam Green. CS: Peter Kikel. |
| Red Roosters | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Peter Kikel W | 3.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Edwin Alcantara | 2.00 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Blue Dogs | ||||||
| Nick Russell | 2.00 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Reagan Wood | 1.67 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Jonathon Lewys | 1.00 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeff Witter L | 0.00 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
HBP: by Jonathon Lewys (Liam Green), by Jonathon Lewys (Dan Kerry). . , by Nick
Russell (Liam Green), by Nick Russell (Edwin Alcantara). , by Reagan Wood (Chris
Martin). . WP: Jonathon Lewys, Nick Russell. T: 2:00. A: 69.