Team Updates

Statistics, Pictures, and Website
Team statistics can be found here. Also, there are pictures from last weekend's games against Kernersville can be found here. The league website, www.thsbl.com, has had some server problems. Most of the info on there was lost, so the site manager and league is trying to get everything updated as soon as possible.

Players of the Games
June 16 vs. Charlotte Crowns- Dan Gross
Dan pitched another great game for us on Monday night. We have a team policy that if we shutout a team, the pitchers who threw in that game get to take batting practice the next day. Dan barely missed his chance two weeks ago when he allowed just one hit against Carolina. However, that hit happened to be a homerun. Because of his shutout, Dan took some solid BP on Wednesday. Dan ended up going eight innings, striking out six and allowing just two hits.

June 18 vs. Charlotte Crowns- Mike Pagano
For the second game in a row, a pitcher was our player of the game. Unfortunately, Mike was on the short end of a poor offensive and defensive night. Mike pitched six innings and gave up two runs, neither of which were earned. He struck out ten and walked none. We were unable to muster enough runs to get Mike the win on Wednesday.

June 20 @Monroe Channelcats Game 1- Steve Galella
Steve had a nice night in our loss on Friday. In this first game Steve hit a double in his first at bat. Steve also had a single and went 2 for 3, had a stolen base, and was hit by a pitch. Also of note is Alex Loftin. Alex went 1 for 3 with an RBI. He also came in with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the sixth. He then struck out the side to keep the game within five runs for our last chance in the top of the seventh.

June 20 @Monroe Channelcats Game 2- Tyler Howard
On the offensive side, Tyler was 1 for 4 with a double, run, and walked once. On Friday though, Tyler earned Player of the Game honors for his work on the mound. As many of you may know, we are short on pitching and extra-inning games such as this one do not help our situation at all. Tyler came into the game in sixth and pitched 5 2/3 of shuout baseball before Monroe was able to win the game with two outs in the bottom of the eleventh. It was one of the most fun games I've been a part of in a long time and I was extremely proud of how Tyler worked on the mound.

June 21@ Catawba Valley Stars Game 1- Dan Gross
Dan pitched another fantastic game. He shut down some very good hitters in the Stars' lineup. He pitched a complete game allowing just two runs, but still was given the loss. Our offense began to get out of our hitting slump by putting up ten hits in seven innings, but we also left nine players on base and were only able to muster one run.

June 21@ Catawba Valley Stars Game 2- Alex Loftin
The game was actually stopped in the third inning, so Alex's statistics don't count, but I felt I shouldn't mention what he had done up to that point. Alex got us started in the first inning when he hit a homerun to left field as the second batter of the game. In his second plate appearance he walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and was standing on third when the umpires pulled everyone off the field. You can read more about our Saturday trip below.

Player of the Week- Dan Gross
Dan has been consistently excellent all summer long. This week was no different. He earned Player of the Game honors both nights he pitched this week. For the week he threw 14 innings, allowed two runs, one earned run, struck out nine, and walked none. Dan currently has an ERA of just 0.69 and opponents are only hitting .141 against him.

Saturday Trip to Catawba Valley
We knew early that there was supossed to be rain in the Catawba Valley later in the day, so we hoping we could get in at least one game. Friday night we seemed to be dragging a little bit, even with the great 11-inning game we played in the night cap. I can tell the players really changed their attitudes for yesterday's games.

We were invited to hit at Alex's house before heading to the field. So we met at noon and were able to get a large van just before we left, which made things easier. Because of the van, we didn't have to caravan four vehicles. Instead, Alex led the way and we followed in the van.

I was really impressed with the facilities at the Loftin house. For those who don't know, the Loftins live in Denver (North Carolina, not Colorado), which is about halfway between Monroe and Hickory. When the Loftin boys were younger, the family built a baseball field and indoor batting cages. They now rent out the cages and fields and a minimal price to little leagues and other teams in the area. We really appreciate them letting us use their facilities.

From the Loftin house, it was then onto Hickory for the game. We played at a minor league field. The team that plays there, the Hickory Crawdads, are part of the Pittsburgh Pirate Organization. When we were pulling in, a few of the guys asked if we were at the right place. It was neat to play in a stadium, but in my opinion, the actual playing surface was kept as well as what we play on in Pageland. The professional dugouts, stadium seating, and all of the billboards along the outfield fence gave the game a really neat feel.

We lost the first game 2-1, but I was happy with how things went. Although we left a lot of men on base, we hit the ball a lot better than we had been. The players stayed a lot more upbeat than they had in this week's previous games when we had lost. We got a great start in the second game, but of course were rained out. While we were delayed, the guys horsed around in the dugout and watched a lot of movie clips on the jumbotron.

On our way back, we stopped at Little Cesar's for some takeout pizza. On the way back I took two wrong turns, but nobody minded since it just extended our Name Game. The Name Game is a common game collegiate teams play on road trips that tests their knowledge of current and former Major League Baseball players.

All in all it was an enjoyable trip, even though we weren't able to come away with a win. On Saturday, we started to play a lot more like we were at the beginning of the season. Our next game is tomorrow against Anson at home. Mike Pagano will be starting.