Buffaloe Road Shootout
What a fun weekend of baseball. It has been so fun playing so much baseball this summer with this great group of young men. This weekend was no exception. Due to some travel schedules we needed to pick up a nine-year old and a player who had never stepped on a baseball field in his life (he grew up in Europe – lots of soccer, little baseball). But EVERYONE contributed to a 3-1 weekend.
Nathan Sandy, Jeff Gemmell, Lachlan McKinion, and Tyler Patridge all did exceptionally well on the mound in our wins.
In game one, Nathan started the game and pitched 3 strong innings, giving up only 1 run. Ryan Speer went 3-3 at the plate. Jeff Gemmell was 2-2 and Lachlan McKinion was 2-3. The Raptors won 9-7.
Game two was a disaster. In the second game of a 95 degree double-header, the wheels came off. The Chargers hit the ball hard and their pitchers kept the Raptors off-balance. Raptors pitchers had a tough time finding the plate, and when they did the Chargers made them pay. A good lesson in humility, but the Raptors only loss of the weekend.
Sunday afternoon the heat continued, as did the Raptors winning ways. In the first game Jeff pitched four solid innings, giving up only 1 run. Lachlan finished the final two innings, shutting down the G-Force. The Raptors won 5-1.
The final game of the weekend was one of the most exciting this season. The Raptors played the Carrboro Yankees, who earlier in the day had won. Lachlan started for the Raptors and went two innings. He was relieved by Tyler who finished the game and got the win. The score was nip and tuck all game long. In the fifth inning, with the Raptors down one, Jacob Hildreth scored for the home team to keep the game alive. The Yankees scored one in the top of the sixth to go ahead. The Raptors came up in the bottom half of the final inning needing at least one run to keep playing. After a lead-off out, Ryan Speer beat out a roller to short for an infield single. He then stole second on the first pitch. Lachlan McKinion moved him over to third on a sac bunt, putting him in position to tie the game with two outs. Ryan scored on a passed ball to tie the game. Tyler Patridge was then hit by a pitch and was replaced on first by Lachlan, who stole second and third to put the winning run only 70 feet away.
With two outs, and two strikes on the batter, the Yankees intentionally walked Jeff Gemmell and Jake Pritzlaff in an effort to set up force plays at every base. With Spencer Shiflett at the plate, Lachlan scored the winning run on a passed ball.
The win was nice, but more importantly both teams played some really good baseball, both offensively and defensively.
It was another fun weekend with the Raptors. The boys have worked so hard in practice that the wins are a good reward. More importantly, the kids are having fun playing baseball. These boys are easy to coach because they are disciplined, and want to learn. But they are also fun to coach because they are good teammates. I wouldn’t trade a single one of them for any player in North Carolina! Let’s keep having fun playing the great game of baseball.
