Monarchs Blue beat the Bearcats in the night cap on Tuesday night 6-3.
Blue struck first in the top of the first inning when Ben Hammer drummed an RBI triple to deep right center to bring home Paul Zalar from second to take an early 1-0 lead. The Bearcats rallied in the second however knocking five hits to score three and take a 3-1 lead after two. That was all they would get though. Blue responded in the top of the fourth. Michael Fahle and Josh White had consecutive walks and Tad Margolies followed with an RBI double to cut the lead down to one.
The Monarchs broke through in the fifth. Nasri Hajjar walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a passed ball to initiate the rally. Michael Dushane walked, and Zalar hit a ground rule double to score Hajjar and put Dushane on third. Hammer and Fahle continued the surge with RBI singles and Zalar scored on a passed ball to give the Monarchs a 6-3 lead that they would hold on to.
Monarchs Gold beat the Trojans on Tuesday night in a nail biter that was just one strike away from extra innings. It took a walk-off single from Corey Lehman to finally seal the deal. Frustrated with his 0-3 performance so far in the game, Lehman stepped up to the plate with the winning run on third and two outs. Two pitches later Ricky Lizcano was coming home and Lehman had belted a walk-off single into left for a 4-3 win.
The Monarchs struck first in this game, in the bottom of the fourth. Adam Yunker started the inning with a single, and promptly stole second. Brett Howard followed with an RBI double that directly hit third base and took a favorable bounce into left field. After Phil Brua walked, and Brian Bilius was hit by a pitch, Lizcano came up with the bases loaded and brought home Howard with an RBI single of his own. With the bases still loaded, the Monarchs were unable however to tack on a few extras leaving the damage done at 2-0.
Colin Meinzer took a no-hitter into the top of the seventh against the Orioles on Sunday for Monarchs Gold.
Meinzer cruised through six innings scattering only two walks and allowing his defense to make plays behind him. Corey Lehman and Brett Howard were involved in many of those defense plays including three consecutive hard-hit grounders in the fourth that hit the lip and forced the defenders to jump in order to reach them. Meinzer seemed to be putting the finishing touches on his no-no with two outs and a man on first, though the next batter laced a fly ball to left center. Despite the outfield’s diving efforts the ball dropped out of reach. The next O’s batter brought a runner in with a single before Meinzer closed the door. He finished with CG, 2H performance allowing the one run, while striking out five.
The Monarchs Blue continued their recent hot streak by beating the Orioles on Saturday 4-0.
Corey Cannon took the mound for the Monarchs and set the tone for the game by recording three strikeouts in the first. In the bottom half, Blue struck early. Michael Dushane sparked the scoring with a walk and a stolen base, and then came across for the first run on Ben Hammer’s RBI double. Matt Vannett followed with a walk, and a Josh White single loaded the bases. Stephen Torres brought home Hammer for the second run of the inning with an RBI single.
Blue’s bats went quiet after that struggling to put much of anything together over the next three innings, but they didn’t need to with Cannon picking them up from the mound. Cannon seemed to find his groove eliminating the Oriole’s batters as he continued to post zeros inning after inning.
The Monarchs were able to capitalize on the Oriole’s mistakes in the bottom of the fifth. Fahle walked to start the inning. Nick Welling then laid down the bunt to third, but the 3rd baseman sailed the throw into foul territory allowing Michael Fahle to score and Welling to reach all the way to third. A couple pitches later, Welling scored on a passed ball to bring the score to 4-0.
The O’s threatened though in the top of the sixth having runners on second and third with only one out. Cannon masterfully worked out of the jam though with a strikeout followed by a soft ground ball out. Cannon finished with a CG shutout with 11 K’s as the Monarchs won by a final score of 4-0.
Blue’s next game will be against the Ohio Trojans on Tuesday.
As the weather continues to heat up, so do the Monarch’s bats. Monarchs Gold were at it again on Saturday as they knocked out the Allegheny Athletics by a final score of 5-1.
The game was tight early as both teams struggled to get runners into scoring position. Scoreless through three innings, the Monarchs began to break through in the bottom of the fourth. It started with Drew Kuns’ towering solo home run to straight away center field. Jake Cappelletty followed with a flair single to right, and Casey Winckowski belted the second home run of the inning on a dead laser to left, bringing home Cappelletty and running the score to 3-0. The Monarchs almost tacked on more with runners on second and third, but were unable to bring them across, keeping the Athletics within striking distance.
The Athletics did just that in the top of the sixth by plating one and closing the lead to 3-1. The Monarchs however quickly changed that in the bottom of the inning. Cappelletty led off the inning with a broken-bat single, followed by a hit-by-pitch for Howard, and single by Winckowski. With the bases loaded, one out, and the Athletics infield playing on the grass for the play at home, Brian Bilius hammered a hard grounder towards short resulting in a RBI fielder’s choice, as Cappelletty scored and Brett Howard was put out at third. Eric Yunker continued the inning with a two out RBI single to bring home Winckowski. Gold closed out with a scoreless seventh resulting in a final score victory of 5-1.
The Monarchs also sported their new red uniforms for the first time in Tri-State league play.
Gold’s next game will be against Monarchs Blue at 5/3 field on Wednesday at 6:30.
Monarchs Blue and All American took the field in the nightcap on Thursday. The Monarchs, led by Tad Margolies and Michael Fahle’s 3 RBI’s each, recorded back to back big innings in the 3rd and 4th to outslug All American en route to a 7-4 victory.
The Monarchs struck first in the top of the third, when Fahle singled home Michael Dushane. One batter later, Margolies belted and RBI double, his second hit of the game, through the gap to score Stephen Torres and Fahle. All American struck back adding two runs in the bottom of the inning to put the score at 3-2 after three. The Monarchs though were at it again in the top of the fourth, when they quickly loaded the bases on a single, bunt single, and a walk. The next batter, Fahle, brought home Nasri Hajjar and Dushane on a 2 RBI double to deep right center. Margolies followed with his third hit of the night, an RBI single to score Ben Hammer, and give the Monarchs a 6-2 lead after four.
The Monarchs added an extra run in the top of the fifth on an RBI ground out by Hajjar that scored Josh White, giving Blue a comfortable five run lead. All American attempted to rally in the bottom of the seventh by scoring two runs and having the tying run at home plate, but that’s as close as they got, as the Monarchs closed out the game won by a final score of 7-4.
Blue turns right around and faces the Cleveland Black Wolves Friday night @ 7:00pm.
Monarchs Gold defeated Black Swamp on Thursday by a score of 8-0. The Monarchs put up runs in five of the seven innings and four pitchers combined to completely shutdown Black Swamp and complete the shutout. The keys to this game for the Monarchs were staying patient at the plate and capitalizing on the Black Swamp’s mistakes. The Monarchs advanced a total of 17 bases due to walks, passed balls, or wild pitches- not to mention four stolen bases, that weren’t even close.
The Monarchs loaded the bases in the first from a single and two walks, when Ben Kauder came home on a wild pitch to score Gold’s first run of the night. After another walk, Drew Kuns scored on Casey Winckowski’s RBI fielder’s choice. The scoring picked up again in the third. Corey Lehmen and Kauder walked consecutively to start the inning, and then completed a double steal to put runners on second and third with no outs. Kuns followed with an RBI ground out to bring Lehmen home. Kauder stole third and then later scored on another passed ball.
After a walk and wild pitch in the fourth, Phil Brua came home on an RBI double to right center field. In the top of the fifth, Kuns singled, and Jake Capelletty walked to start the inning. Winckowski sacrificed to move the runners into scoring position, and right on cue, Brian Bilius brought both runners home with a 2RBI single to give the Monarchs a 7-0 lead. Gold tacked on one more in the seventh on an RBI single by Bilius to bring home Capelletty for a final score of 8-0.
The Monarchs take on Allegheny Athletics on Saturday @ 3:00pm.
Monarchs Blue squared off against Black Swamp on Tuesday and witnessed a stellar performance from pitcher Dan Parson as he recorded 18 of the game’s 21 outs via strikeout. Parson was a little unlucky in the first as a pair of groundball singles, which just squeezed through the gaps, turned into two earned runs and an early deficit for the Monarchs- despite Parson’s 3 K inning. After the first inning, Parson never looked back. He proceeded to put up zero’s the rest of the way out while recording two or three strikeouts in every inning. One by one Parson sent the opposing batters back to the dugout en route to a superb, Complete Game performance.
After falling behind in the first, the Monarchs struck back in ‘small ball’ style as Michael Dushane singled, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Tad Margolies then recorded an RBI ground out to cut the deficit to one. The Monarchs struggled after that to hit with runners in scoring position. Over the next four innings the Monarchs threatened to score, including having the bases loaded in the fifth.
They were unable to bring the runs home though until the sixth, when the Monarchs manufactured four in the inning. After a Tyler Vance single, Kelly Barnes bunted to move the runner into scoring position. The catcher sailed the throw into foul territory allowing Vance to score from first, and Barnes to move all the way to third. Nasri Hajjar knocked in Barnes with an RBI single. Hajjar proceeded to steal second, and moved to third on Dushane’s Sac Fly. Margolies then walked on a wild pitch, and Hajjar came home to give the Monarchs a 4-2 lead, but weren’t finished. Ben Hammer had a broken bat single moving Margolies to third, and Josh White brought him home with another RBI single.
The three run lead was more than enough for Parson to close out the game with another three strikeout inning, and a 5-2 victory.
Monarchs Blue’s next game will be on Thursday against All American.
A little ‘small ball’ made a big difference in Sunday’s game for the Monarchs Gold against Northern Ohio. Ryan Mouch had the bases loaded for him with one out in the bottom of the 6th with the score deadlocked at three a piece. After battling the pitcher to a full count, Mouch and the base-runners executed a perfect squeeze play, bunting the ball down the first base line, and enabling the runner at third to score while Mouch beat out the throw to first. This proved to be all the breathing room needed for the pitching staff to shut the door on a 4-3 victory.
All the scoring happened in the first as Jake Cappelletty and Brian Bilius had RBI singles, and Drew Kuns scored from third when the catcher made an errant pick-off throw to second that sailed into the outfield. The pitching for the Monarchs started off a bit rocky for the first two innings giving up two runs in the first, and another in the second. The staff bounced back though and combined to end the game with five shutout innings. Defensive play of the game goes to Casey Winckowski in the top of the third when he gunned down the Northern Ohio base-runner at home plate preserving a 3-3 tie and recording the Outfield Assist.
It was a first pitch strike from starter Jacob Drerup and the LDS Monarchs Blue got their season underway. The Monarchs struck first in the bottom of the second. After a single and advance to second on an errant pick-off for Ben Hammer, Josh White singled him over to third, and Alex Timofeev picked up the first RBI of the year on a single through the gap.
Northern Ohio countered with two runs in the third, but the Monarchs proceeded to tack on one in each of the next three innings for a 4-2 lead after six. Nasri Hajjar got an RBI bases-loaded walk in the 4th, Michael Fahle added an RBI single in the 5th, and Tad Margolies finished the streak with another RBI single in the 6th. The Monarchs ran into trouble though in the top of the 7th when Northern Ohio rallied to score six. Hammer added an RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh, but the Monarchs dropped the season opener 8-5.
Monarchs Blue beat the Bearcats in the night cap on Tuesday night 6-3.