Frontier League: Game Recaps, News & Transactions — May 29, 2021

8 min readMay 29, 2021

What a night! Once again, Frontier League baseball rocked my world, Friday night, with great baseball and the first ever Home Run Derby in the league’s history.

If you missed it, I introduced yesterday what I hope could be a mainstay during the season: Game Talk. This feature gives a platform to players, coaches, executives and media members around the league for some baseball talk about the latest game they played or watched. The first one, below, was a chat with Florence Y’alls Pitching Strategist, Chad Rhoades.

Later today, we’ll talk with Grizzlies pitcher Tanner Cable about his first outing last night and his experience in the Home Run Derby.

This is an open invitation to everybody, just contact me and we’ll set it up quickly.

NEWS

First Home Run Derby in Frontier League History

How else could the doubleheader between Équipe Québec and the Gateway Grizzlies end? Read all about it in the Game Recaps below!

Mother Nature had other plans for Friday

A few teams were scheduled to have their Opening Day celebrations on Friday, but the weather forced the postponement of four games in the league. Québec and Gateway played through very cold weather and the other two games that night were delayed for an hour or so.

Let’s hope the Baseball Gods cooperate this weekend to ensure the organizations can welcome as much people in the stands as they originally expected.

Schaumburg promote from inside

Hanna Olson Becomes Assistant General Manager as Anthony Giammanco Assumes Leadership in Gary. You can read all about it in their article on the site.

Power Rankings for the Frontier League

This Monday, I’ll be introducing the first ever Power Rankings of the Frontier League, along with the new “Frontier League Beat” column. Both will be presented together, weekly. The methodology will also be explained at the same time. This work is made in collaboration with Jean-François Côté, a spread sheet expert, but also one of the main reason why the Québec Capitales exist today, being one of the two people who instigated this project in the Province’s capital.

STANDINGS

GAME RECAPS and NOTES

Équipe Québec vs Gateway Grizzlies — Game 1

We saw a little bit of everything in that game and it started with a bang in the first three innings with 15 runs being scored, a few of them because of some errors that were mainly a product of the game conditions; cold and wet.

ÉQ manager Patrick Scalabrini used 6 pitchers in that first contest of the day, certainly not the way he had wanted things to go. Nick Economos, his starter, had a nightmarish first game, looking frustrated quickly on the mound with the overall conditions, the plate umpires’ calls and a general lack of effectiveness on his part. Same with the first reliever, Lachlan Fontaine, who struggled, but should really get back to a strong season in the coming weeks. Both pitchers only threw half of their pitches for strikes.

The rest of the bullpen completely shut the door and gave a chance to the visitors’ offense to come back and win it 10–9. Closer Andrew Case got the save with four outs and 14 out of 17 pitches thrown for strikes. Really impressive display.

C Jeffry Parra was the main architect of that offense, producing 3 RBIs on two home runs. RF Jack “The Spy” Barrie also made his presence known with three singles and a sacrifice fly that opened the scoring in the 1st inning. 2B David Glaude (HR) and LF L.P. Pelletier (2B) each had a hit and a walk in that game. Pelletier walked in the fourth inning and a very weird play happened when he stole second, but then was caught in-between second and third base after he was a bit too aggressive when he thought the ball had rolled into the outfield.
Grizzlies starter Sebastian Kessay was not in top form, but still managed to squeeze in four innings of work (4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB and 6 Ks), putting the bullpen in a better position to attack game 2. Reliever Cody Thompson was rocked hard during his inning of work, allowing 4 earned runs. Justin Watts and Tanner Cable, however, shut Québec out for the rest of the game
Offensively, the Grizzlies were led by LF Axel Johnson with 3 RBIs, a double, a single and a walk. Watch out for this left-handed batter this season, he will open some eyes. His outfield partner, Jay Prather, did the exact same thing, but only an RBI to show for it and a stolen base to get the season going. The whole lineup worked the counts and were able to get on base for free nine times.

Équipe Québec vs Gateway Grizzlies — Game 2

What else did you expect after the wildness of Game 1?

Both teams exchanged runs in the second, third and sixth inning to lead to a Home Run Derby that was won, 8–4, by the Grizzlies. You can watch it on Frontier League TV in their archives.

RF Jack Barrie continued his hot hitting with his first homer of the season. CF Jonathan Lacroix a double, the only other only other extra-base hit for the team during that second game.
On the mound, RHP Codie Paiva pitched 5.1 strong innings (6 Ks, 3 ER and no walk), exactly what his manager needed. The sidearmer John Witkowski was dominant with almost all his outs recorded via the strikeouts (1.2 IP, 4 K)
Grizzlies starter Jorge Tavarez was just as effective as his counterpart (6 IP, 3 ER, 2 BB and 5 K) and throwing a lot of strikes, giving way to Clinton Hollon and Geoff Bramblett in the ‘pen to shut the door. Keep an eye on Hollon this season, who should mainly be a starter and be a strong candidate to be returning to affiliated ball.
RF Jay Prather was at it again at the top of the lineup, this time with a homer and a single. 3B Chris Owings played his part with a double and a single. DH Chase Vallot and Nick Rottola each hit a home run to power the offense.

Windy City Thunderbolts vs Joliet Slammers

Only nine hits were produced in that game, all singles. Joliet 3B Brylie Ware and LF Alonzo Jones each got two of them in their team’s win, 3–1, over the Thunderbolts.

Alonzo Jones added to the entertainment by stealing opposing catcher, Rob Calabrese. He responded a stolen base of his own and also two singles, keeping his average at a sweet .429. Great start to the season for him.
Third baseman Jack Strunc had a difficult night in the field with three errors that were all the Slammers needed to win. He can play all over the field but Friday was just not his night.
Windy City continued to get great pitching, starter Kenny Matthews and reliever Neil Abbatiello combining for a great pitching line: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 ER 1 BB and 10 K.
After a shaky Opening Day for the Joliet pitching staff, it was nice to see four pitchers ready to rock and getting their team back on track (4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB and 12K), especially starter Bobby Milacki who took charge and set the tone with an impressive display to begin the game: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 BB and 7 K.

Washington Wild Things vs Florence Y’alls

Florence continued their winning ways against the Wild Things, struck early with 3 runs in the second inning and the pitching took care of the rest. They are 2–0 to begin the season.

With the speedy leadoff hitter Rodney Tennie hitless, Chad Sedio, 3B Trevor Craport, 2B Harrison DiNicola and DH Connor Crane took care of things at the plate. Florence RF/SS Jose Brizuela stole two bases against C Trevor Casanova.
The Florence pitching was stellar in that contest, led by starter Edgar Martinez: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB and 5 K. Full pitching report by their pitching coach, below.
Washington starter McKenzie Mills was hurt by four walks in his four innings of work, allowing three earned runs, but also striking out 4 batters. The bullpen shut down the offense after that, combining for 8 K in four 4 IP.
After an offensive display in game one, the WT were reduced to only two extra base hits in this game, Grant Heyman and Cody Erickson each collecting a double.

PRESS REVIEW

A very nice piece by Nancy Haggerty, from the Rockland / Westchester Journal News, about the return of baseball to the region and what it means to the community.

Tony and Lisa Carrozza of Suffern have been coming to the Boulders’ stadium (now called Palisades Credit Union Park) since the then-Can-Am League/the Rockland Boulders’ inaugural opening day in 2011.
For these season ticket-holders, the Boulders are their “stay-cation,” explained Tony, who, like his wife, wore a Boulders shirt — Tony’s with the old “Rockland Boulders” logo.
And the Boulders are also, in a sense, extended family.
Lisa recalled the club’s first game and a player proposing on the field to his girlfriend.
“It was really nice,” she said.