The Ohio Monarchs Gold swept the Michigan Monarchs in two close competitive games at Bowman field Wednesday. Gold shutout Michigan both games winning the first game 3 to 0 and the second game 2 to 0 .The pitching was rock solid on both sides with Josh Stidham (6-0) pitching an awesome 5 1/3 innings for the Gold and holding the Michigan Monarchs to just one hit with 6 strikeouts, while Bret Kuebler came in to close the game in his usual fashion and secured the shutout. Michigan’s Ludwig threw a 4 hitter in his 5 innings of pitching.
The Monarchs faced the Glass City Elite Wednesday night and won by a score of 1-0. With only two hits on the night, the defense had to step up to make some crucial stops early on. The lone run came after the first hit by Steven Bateson who eventually scored on an overthrow from the catcher. That was all the Monarchs needed to win. The Monarchs will look to improve the offense on Thursday in another game against the Elite.
The Monarchs Gold had a perfect week by winning 6 straight games, including two wins over top ranked JL Thomas on July 5th.
Gold started their week on Tuesday (6-30) with a decisive win over NWO Dirt Devils 18 to 1 in five innings. Gold had 11 hits and the pitching was led by Josh Stidham (no hits) and relieved by Garcia, Kuebler, and Peffley holding the Dirt Devils to only 2 hits. McFarland (3 hits), Cappeletty, and Kuebler led the offense with 7 of the 11 hits.
The Monarchs went 2-2 on the weekend by splitting a pair of double headers against JL Thomas and the Ohio Oriels. The final game of the weekend against the Oriels went down to the wire as the Monarchs pulled out a win in 9 innings. A score on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh with two outs allowed the Monarchs to take the Oriels into extras with the score tied at 3. Finally in the bottom of the ninth, Alex Timofeev hit a ball up the middle to plate the winning run.
Reprint with permission by Press Publications Written by Deb Wallace
On June 25, the wood bat summer college Ohio Monarchs Blue team played against the defending National Amateur Baseball Federation College World Series champs, the Ohio Monarchs Gold, for the first time this summer season.
However, a hard fought contest between the two teams was not to be as the game was called on account of rain with only two outs in the bottom of the second inning. A make-up game is planned, but details are not yet known.
Monarchs Gold split with the Black Wolves after narrowly losing the first game 4 to 3 at Ousky Field Saturday. Gold came back in the second game winning 10 to 7. Matt Kaighan started on the mound in the first game holding the Wolves to 4 runs on 7 hits in the first five innings. Ben Kauder closed the last two innings not letting anyone on base.
The Monarchs Blue traveled to Pittsburgh this past weekend to face the Allegany Athletics and the Pittsburgh Pandas. After dropping the first game against the Athletics on Saturday, the Monarchs stepped up to win the second game of the double header as well as winning both games against the Pandas on Sunday. The hitting improved as the weekend progressed and the defense was solid for the most part. The Monarchs have three games this coming week, beginning with the Ohio Legends on Tuesday.
After a disappointing weekend of losing three of their four games on the road, the Gold team came back with a decisive win over the Ohio Trojans Tuesday at Joe E. Brown field. Colin Meinzer took the mound for the Gold not allowing any runs on 4 hits shutting down the Trojans in the first five innings. Nate White and Bret Kuebler came in relief to preserve the win.
The offense was led by Bret Howard who had two singles and one RBI on a sacrifice fly. Cory Hornyak and Eric Yunker both crushed triples while Kauder, Bilius, and Winckowski, finished out the hit parade. The Gold won with 6 runs on 7 hits committing two errors.
The Gold traveled to Eastlake, Oh to play a double header against Shannon Fence on Saturday and split with them. Gold had very strong pitching by Phil Brua and Josh Stidham who both pitched a complete game. Brua only allowed 3 hits and Stidham pitched a one hitter for the win. Unfortunately the Gold only had 7 hits in two games.
Gold then traveled to Walsh University and played the Canton Terriers. In the first game the Terriers out hit Gold 16 hits to 7 and Gold took a 7-8 loss. In the second game Gold received strong pitching from Derrick Garcia on his first start pitching 5 innings allowing only 4 hits with Ben Kauder closing out the game. Gold couldn’t muster enough consecutive hits and lost 4 to 1.
The battle between Monarchs Gold and All American was a pitching duel for the first five innings at Bowman field Thursday. Cory Hornyak threw an awesome 5 innings shutting down All American and allowing only 2 hits. Dunn, pitching for All American, shut down the Gold also the first 5 innings allowing only 2 hits. Tim Hennemen then came in relief and kept the game in check.
The Game got exciting in the 6th when All American scored their first run. Gold responded in the bottom of the 6th with two runs to gain the lead with the help of an error and a walk before Brandon McFarland ripped a double. All American then retaliated with 2 runs in the top of the 7th to take the lead again.
Colin Meinzer and Ryan Mouch led off in the bottom of the 7th each with a walk. Eric Yunker with pressure building laid a bunt down with two strikes but the defense threw out the runner at third leaving Yunker on first and Mouch on second with one out. Val Helldobler then stepped up and smashed a line drive blast over first base down the line to deep right field. Mouch scored the tying run and Yunker kicked in the burners to score from first as the throw was coming to the plate, but not in time. The crowd went wild as Monarchs Gold pull off the win 4 to 3 to give All American their first loss.
Monarchs Gold drops the first game 2-0 in a double header game against Shannon Fence in Eastlake, Ohio. The Monarchs Gold came back in the second game and won 3-1.
Reprint with permission by Press Publications