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Rosalind Athletics - 13

Heisler Cardinals - 5

The weather looked to be a beautiful night for baseball throughout the day, but the skies quickly turned dark and the wind started to howl by the third inning.  Dan Enright was the starting pitcher for the few innings that we did play.  In the hurricane winds, Enright's two seamer was backing up mightily, while his curveball had extra bite.  Both considerable reasons as to how ZamZam was racking up the strikeouts.

Offensively, Rosalind looked to have their hitting shoes on for the first time in this season.  The A's put 7 runs on the board before the game was called off by the umps.  Nic Ronsko was unlucky, as his routine fly ball to left field nearly left the Homer Dome as the wind could only take it off the fence for a double.

With the game called off in the bottom of the third inning, and having not played 5 complete, the game was cancelled with Rosalind up 7-0.  A make up game will have to announced later.  The Athletics travelled to Heisler this weekend for a tournament against 6 local teams.  Rosalind plays Spring Lake at 10am and Heisler at 6pm on Saturday, with one game on Sunday to be determined.  Atleast the weather forecast looks hot and dry, for now.

After a soggy week of weather in the Powerline Baseball League, Rosalind hosted the Holden Blue Jays at the Homer Dome on a beautiful Thursday night. Holden had two games rained out last week, and were sitting at 0-2 in the early portion of the season, while the A’s were looking to put together a winning streak after defeating Armena on Tuesday night. With a Slo Pitch game going on at the same time, the Rosalind sports park was a buzz of activity and spectators until the rain rolled in.

Steve Enright got the nod to as the starting pitcher for the Athletics. Enright had his legendary arsenal of pitches, from multiple angles working, as the right hander induced 17 groundballs through his 8 innings of work. The defence was sharp behind him, especially a couple of memorable plays by the left side of the infield. Ryan Yuha made a diving grab, with runners at second and third, with one out, and Adam Enright completed the back half of the inning ending double play on a perfect throw to pick off the Holden base runner at 2nd, getting Steve out of a jam. Yuha also scaled the fence to get an important pop up in foul territory.

Rosalind tried to make a 1-0 game even more intense and interesting in the top of the 7th, as a couple of errors and a few bloop singles suddenly erased the lead and had the A’s down 3-1 heading into the bottom of the 7th, narrowly wasting a solid start by Enright, 8 innings, 8 hits, 1 strikeout, 0 walks and 0 earned runs.

Offensively, the Athletics bats were fairly silent, as the Holden left hand pitcher, Kyle Muzechka, looked like pitcher that could be of use in the Blue Jays bullpen in Toronto. The A’s got on the board in the 4th, when Sheldon Pederson led off with a double down the left field line, and then proceeded to steal 3rd with none out. The A’s were lucky to cash that run, on a two out error by the right fielder on Nic Ronsko’s fly ball. That run should have held up, but the A’s had to rally in the bottom of seven to send the game to extra’s.

Mark Gjesdal led off the home half of the 7th with a single, followed by a walk by Bart Orr. Gjesdal unfortunately got picked off at second, before Ronsko singled to centerfield. Orr came in to score on Matt Enright’s single to make it a 3-2 ball game. Dan Enright scored the tying run as Clayton Harbark continued to swing a hot bat, going 2 for 4 on the night. Holden ended up throwing out the potential game winning run, as Matt Enright was dead on arrival after a perfect throw from the Blue Jays centerfielder. Sheldon Pederson led off the top of the eight with a “hit by pitch”, and stole second, setting the table for Adam Enright to produce the game winning hit up the middle.

Nic Ronsko is lucky he doesn't have to eat out of a straw, as Pederson hit a screaming line drive foul ball straight into the Rosalind dugout.  The hot shot narrowly avoided hitting Ronsko and Cory Lohr, without any time to react, the ball was a couple inches above their heads. 

Rosalind's next game is against the Rebels in Ryley, hopefully the weather cooperates.

The Rosalind A's travelled to Armena to take on the Royals for the first of a home and home series against the team that the Athletics lost two in the finals.  Much like the the RosalindA's twitter account pointed out, hopefully the Royals bats had cooled off since last July.  The Athletics versus the Royals game was the only match up of the night in the PBL, as all the other diamonds were unplayable following the much needed rain over the last few days.

Dan Enright got the start for the A's, after having entered two previous games in relief and earning two saves.  Enright, known as @MexicanHat2 on twitter, a great follow if you want to know when JA Happ is dominating for the Blue Jays.  From the start of the game Enright was on top of his game.  After hitting the lead off hitter, Enright's quick feet was able to pick on the speedy Armena base runner.  Enright got another solid defensive play behind him, as Hoover hit a line drive down the left field line, but Nic Ronsko made a tremendous play to cut the ball off, hit the relay, as the Enright combo layed the tag at second.  Enright continued to challenge hitters, as he was able to work around a couple errors, that unlike the game versus Beaumont, didn't come back to haunt the A's.  Steve Enright also made a rare spinning pick up at second, a pretty defensive play.  Dan froze a few Royals hitters with a big hook, and executed a fastball up in the zone, like JA Happ, to pick up 4 strike outs.  Not knowing how the official scorer ruled plays earlier in the game, Ronsko and Pederson nearly avoided a head on collision, trying to catch a line drive in the bottom of the seventh.  ZamZam ended up pitching a complete game, 2 hit, shutout of the regining PBL champs.

Offensively, Adam Enright hammered a 2 out line drive into the outfield gap to score two A's baserunners.  This big moment in the game would be counteracted, as Enright tried to steal home, with the bases loaded, on what appeared to be a passed ball. ARod ended up being out by quite a large margin, as the Royals catcher was waiting a the plate to tag him out and end the rally. But that two out, 2 RBI hit was clutch.  Clayton Harbak continued to put together important at bats, tacking on insurance runs.  Harb was going to work on his sprints, as he was thrown out by the right fielder on a fly ball to right field.  Ryan Yuha looked strong at the plate again, in a two for three effort. 

In the first away game of the year, a favorite for many of the A's, Rosalind travelled to Beaumont to take on the youngest team in the league.  The Angels were coming off a tough loss to Bardo, while the Athletics had mercied the Roadrunners on Tuesday.  Rosalind lost both games to the Angels last year, a disappointing effort in Beaumont, and an extra innings loss at home in Rosalind.  The A's were eager to stay atop of the standings, with parity running wild in the PBL this season.

Coming off his opening day start, the A's went back to the well, as Brayden Benson got the start against the young, but fundamentally sound and talented Angels.  Benson put together another blue collar effort, pitching to contact.  However, the weather conditions and sub par defence behind the young right hander made pitching to contact a sketchy proposition.  The calling card of the Athletics in the current era has been limiting walks and playing tight defence.  Defensively, Rosalind made 5 errors behind Benson, unfortunately resulting in 5 unearned runs.  Benson went 4 innings, 5 runs allowed, 0 earned, 5 htis, 4 strikeouts, and 2 walks.  Dan Enright came in the game in relief, pitching 1 inning, 1 run, 0 earned, 1 hit, 1 walk.

Somehow, while the Athletics were booting the ball around defensively, and had to right to be in the game, they were still in striking distance all game.  In large part because of two RBI doubles by Clayton Harbak, driving in 3 runs.  The big man was on fire at the plate, and made a solid diving snare at 3rd base, but had a couple of tough bounces at first.

The A's look to get back on track against the reigning champs, the Armena Royals, early next week.  Rosalind would like nothing better than to make up for a hard fough, extra inning loss in  Armena last year.  Additionally, the A's felt like they had more to give in the league championship loss.  Either way, there is definitely motivation to put a better effort next week, with lots to prove.

In the second game of the A's homestand, Rosalind took on their county cousins, the Camrose Roadrunners.  Coming off a win in the home opener, and knowing how every game can have playoff implications, Rosalind wasn't taking the Roadrunners lightly.  Although the Camrose team has struggled in recent years, they looked to turn things around and showed up with 18 players; including a former Athletics hall of famer, Kevin 'Skip' McDonald.

The bearded farmer, Matt 'Gibby' Enright, got the pitching start for the A's in the Tuesday night matchup.  The veteran has been tinkering with his 2 seamer, and was showing off the impressive 1" of movement in the first inning, catching a Roadrunner batter looking at strike three.  The Camrose bats found a few holes in the following innings, as the Roadrunners put 2 runs on the board in the following two innings.  Enright's final line read 3 innings pitched, 4 runs, 6 hits with 2 strikeouts.  As this is the Rosalind A's, of course another Enright would come in to pitch in relief.  Steve Enright once again kept batters off balance and buckling knees with his filthy curveball and arcing change up.  Simple, yet effective, as Steve threw two scoreless innings.

Offensively, the A's looked for production from Brandon Heck, having recently been signed to a PTO.  Of course, without having swung a bat or seen a pitch this year, the A's had Heck batting 3rd in the order.  That probably speaks more to the offensive prowess of the Rosalind offence than Heck's ability with the bat.  The Roadrunners must have had scouting reports from Heck's fill in duty last season, as he was hit by pitches in two of his four at bats.  The offensive player of the game however, went to Cory Lohr, as the Rosalind local went 2 for 3 with 4 RBI's.  Bart Orr also racked up a single and a double, in a 2 for 4 night.  Lastly, Matt Enright's consecutive walks to start a season record came to a close, as Gibby crushed a line drive right into the right fielders glove after 7 walks in a row to start the season.

The final score was 14-4, as the A's mercied the Roadrunners in five innings.  The Athletics travel to Beaumont on Thursday to take on the young and talented Angels's squad.  Although based on their twitter feed, I'm sure only their mothers think their Angels off the field.  Oh to be young and livin' the dream in the PBL!!

The Rosalind Athletics kicked off their 2016 season, and sophomore membership in the Powerline Baseball League on the bright, sunny day of May 14th.  The A's were league finalist in their inaugural season in the PBL, falling to the Armena Royals last summer.  With more to left to prove Rosalind was eager to kick off the season with one goal in mind.

Much like the CFL in the 90's, the Rosalind Athletics were taking on their name relatives, the Bardo Athletics.  The good guys went 1-0-1 last year versus Bardo, after a memorable game due to "lack of sunlight".  That game kicked off a stretch of playoff desperation games, and wins, for Rosalind to close out the regular season. 

Coming off an impressive run in the playoffs, Rosalind sent budding ace Brayden Benson to the mound. Benson went about his business as he's continued to establish in his young career, pounding the strike zone and inducing plenty of ground balls. The youngster on the bump got solid defence behind him early in the game, as Bart Orr channeled his inner Kevin Pillar as he laid out superman style on the first batter of the game to make an incredible catch. Brayden ended up pitching 4 solid innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, racking up 4 strikeouts and no walks. Dan Enright came in relief to close out the win for Rosalind, spinning his bending curveball for 3 shutdown innings while earning the save.

Ryan Yuha was the A's player of the game, leading the offence with a 2 for 3 effort with a double, single and 3 RBI's.  Rosalind capitalized on their opportunies, and had a good eye at the plate, scattering 6 hits and drawing 5 walks in home half of the innings.  Speed and conditioning, yet again, didn't appear to have been a priority again this off season as the A's collective weren't gazelle's on the base paths.

The Athletics take on the Camrose Roadrunners, and former A's veteran Kevin McDonald on Tueday in Rosalind at "The Homer Dome".  The farmers on the team are hoping that scheduled baseball games soon jinx the hot, dry weather and the clounds release a soaking 1" rain.