Frontier League — Game Recaps, Notes, News & Transactions — May 30, 2021

I’m having a blast watching Frontier League baseball so far and why the hell not? Even Mother Nature is happy to see that brand of baseball back and likes to mess around with the weather, even going as far as cancelling the doubleheader between the Sussex County Miners and the Tri-City ValleyCats that was caused by her the day before.

Baseball Gods, sit down, relax, have a beer and watch some baseball, won’t you?

Gateway Grizzlies reliever Tanner Cable got to the hotel too late after the bus ride for us to have a “Game Talk” about their doubleheader against Équipe Québec, but this morning I’m getting a guest in for that segment, Reed Keller, Broadcaster and Media Relations Coordinator for the New Jersey Jackals. Can’t wait to talk to him about the two huge wins they just had against the New York Boulders. Expect it on our YouTube Channel and IGTV (Instagram TV) page around 10h30–45.

I’ll mention again that if you want the full Frontier League Journal experience, this blog, the YouTube Channel and the Instagram page are the three ressources you need.

As for the Game Recaps and Notes below, I’m still trying to find the right presentation for it that will give you more and make me work a bit less, because I (gladly) do invest a lot of time on it, but need to balance it all. Do not hesitate to mention to me what you like or not in the coverage. I changed things up again this morning, so let’s see if the mix pleases you.

Tomorrow will bring the first edition of “The Frontier League Beat” and that will include the Power Rankings for the league, a simple methodology we’ll explain at that time.

NEWS

Pace of game rules

This is not really news, but that’s the point: I’d like it to be!

I notice a good amount of the games are played a bit more quickly, a welcomed development, but I don’t know if it has to do with the new rules put in place. The teams have received a seven-page document to explain to them the new directives, but so far only a broadcaster on a pre-season show for the Washington Wild Things has talked about them (as far as I know).

They range from the time a batter has to get up to the plate and stay in the batter’s box to the pitching clock between pitches and innings. Would love the league to be a bit more open about those new adjustments, as talking and presenting them could maybe bring attention to the league and make people understand what brand of baseball they are trying to offer.

Just a thought.

TRANSACTIONS

JOLIET SLAMMERS

May 29: Placed OF Alonzo Jones on the 7-day injured list.

SCHAUMBURG BOOMERS

May 29: Signed RHP Isaiah Rivera. Would love to present him to you, but I have no info and the ones I think I have are for a profile that doesn’t fit that of a pitcher. Let’s see what he brings to the table.

TRI-CITY VALLEYCATS

May 29: Activated catcher Oscar Campos from the inactive list.

GAME RECAPS and NOTES

News Release from the team: The Schaumburg Boomers, presented by Wintrust Community Banks, blanked the Gateway Grizzlies 7–0 on Saturday to record their first win of the season.

The Boomers jumped ahead 3–0 in the first inning, taking advantage of four walks and a hit batter by Gateway starter Jordan Barrett. Quincy Nieporte opened the scoring by delivering a bases loaded double to score two runs. Nick Oddo was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the third run. Angelo Gumbs singled home Matt McGarry, who doubled, with the fourth run in the fourth. Oddo doubled home a run in the fifth and Alec Craig notched a two-run triple with two outs to score two more.

The early support was more than enough for starter Andrew Dean. Dean threw seven blank innings and allowed just five hits while walking one and striking out five. Gateway had just two runners reach second base and had multiple runners on base just once. Andrew Cartier and Thomas Nicholl threw back-to-back scoreless innings to complete the shutout. McGarry finished with two hits for the Boomers, who also drew seven walks, were hit by a pitch four times and stole three bases. All nine members of the lineup reached base. Craig was aboard four times from the leadoff slot and Luke Becker drew three walks.

The Boomers (1–1) continue the opening homestand on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. with the first Bark in the Park of the season as well as a Family Day. RHP Orlando Rodriguez (0–0, 0.00) takes the ball for the Boomers in the middle game of the series against RHP Carlos Vega (0–0, 0.00).

My Game Notes

• What the game resume fails to mention is a cool standoff that happened between both bullpens at the beginning of the game. From the info I received (and you can watch the broadcast on Frontier League TV to hear the announcer talking about it), it lasted until at least the third inning. LOVE it.
• Don’t expect that kind of year by Grizzlies left-handed starter Jordan Barrett, a former Blue Jays farmhand that has shown good command in the past and just wasn’t effective for his first start of the season.
• The Grizzlies had to quit Gateway at 6 am on Saturday for the long bus trip and that’s after a long night of baseball (doubleheader against Équipe Québec). Not an excuse, but this team is built to win and their meager four hits (only one extra-base hit) should also reflect the opposing starter’s performance. Let’s talk about him…
• LHP Andrew Dean was in top form for his Boomers’ debut, throwing 68% percent of his pitches for strikes and keeping the ball on the ground. The 24-year-old was in the Padres organization in 2019.
• Grizzlies southpaw Augie Sylk has the weirdest pitching line for that game: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. That’s because he threw a wild pitch, hit two batters and allowed two doubles and a triple.
• There is a lot to like about Boomers LF Alec Craig, their leadoff hitter yesterday, but in the #3 spot the game before. He already has four walks in two games, works the count well, hit a triple and stole a base just to make sure I noticed him (yes… yes, Dave….).
• Boomers SS Matt McGarry already has 5 hits in 7 ABs, including two doubles, giving him a sweet .714 batting average.
• The game was played in 2h26.

Wild Things news release: AVON, Ohio — Washington, after dropping two to Florence on the road to start the season, hit the road overnight to Avon in preparation for a Saturday series opener against the Lake Erie Crushers, looking to get in the win column for the first time in the young season. Despite a late comeback effort and two runs in the ninth, the efforts proved to not quite be enough as the Wild Things fell 5–3 to Lake Erie.

After two strong innings from righty Kevin McNorton to start for Washington, the starter ran into some third-inning trouble, as a Connor Oliver two-run flared single to center brought home the first two before an error on the same play brought a third run home. Washington got a run back in the fifth when Joe Campagna grounded to short plating John Sansone, but Lake Erie added two off Spencer Bivens in the sixth.

The Wild Things managed to get two in the ninth on a wild pitch and a groundout by Trevor Casanova but were unable to push the tying run to the plate in the defeat.

McNorton took the loss while former Southern Illinois Miner Robby Rowland picked up the win in his Crushers’ debut. JT Perez notched a save for Lake Erie, who won its first game of the young season.

Keven Pimentel will take the ball for the Things tomorrow with first pitch of the middle game of the series slated for 2:05 p.m. from Mercy Health Stadium.

Right-hander Sean Johnson will get the start for the Crushers

My Game Notes

• The Wild Things might be 0–3 to start the season, but there is no doubt in my mind that they will turn things around when you consider the deep / powerful lineup that combines with the great pitching staff. Breathe Washington fans, it will get better.
• CF Derek Reddy made a throwing error in that game, but he continues to do his thing at the top of the lineup, now hitting .308 and stealing his first base yesterday. LF Grant Heyman also looks in mid-season form with three of his four hits going for extra-bases this season (1.280 OPS).
• From the Lake Erie game recaps: “The Crushers forced Washington starter Kevin McNorton (0–1) to throw 41 pitches in the inning as they sent nine batters to the plate and scored a trio of runs on three hits.”
• Impressive start by the Crushers right-hander, Robby Rowland, with whom the Frontier League Journal has a nice little partnership that will see him analyzing his starts on his different platforms and the whole thing is presented by the Frontier League Journal. Very happy to be involved with this dynamic and charismatic pitcher
• Lake Erie scored five times on eight hits that were all singles. OF Connor Oliver has 4 hits in 7 ABs so far.

Miners news release: Marion, IL — The Southern Illinois Miners jumped in front against the Florence Y’Alls on Saturday night at Y’Alls Ballpark in Florence, but could not hold the lead, as the home team came back before a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning by Chad Sedio handed the Miners a 5–4 loss, their first of 2021.

Reigning Frontier League Pitcher of the Year Chase Cunningham got the start for the Miners on the mound, and he and Florence starter Christian Tripp put up scoreless frames for the first three innings. That changed in the top of the fourth, as Luke Mangieri came up with two runners on base against Tripp and hit a towering, three-run homer to right field to put Southern Illinois up 3–0.

Florence got two runs right back in the bottom half on a two-out home run by Harrison DiNicola, but the Miners kept the lead at 3–2 into the middle frames. Against reliever Yoshi Hamazaki in the sixth inning, Gianfranco Wawoe and Mangieri connected on back-to-back singles before Jarrod Watkins drove Wawoe home with another sharp single off DiNicola’s glove at second base, making the score 4–2.

But again, Florence got two runs back in the bottom half, this time tying the game on Trevor Craport’s two-run shot to left field, making the score 4–4. It would remain tied heading into the ninth inning thanks to stout relief pitching on both sides, with Jose Fuentes tossing two scoreless innings for Southern Illinois.

Florence threatened to walk it off in the ninth inning, loading the bases with one out, but Kyle Hinton (0–1) got pinch-hitter Jose Brizuela to ground into an inning-ending double play to send the game to extras. With the International Tiebreaker in effect in the tenth, the Miners failed to score the automatic runner, and in the bottom half, Sedio came up with runners at the corners and one out, and hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Brizuela and end the game.

Mangieri finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs, while Wawoe reached base three times and scored two runs for the Miners to lead the offense, but it was not enough as the Miners dropped their first game of the 2021 season. They will look to bounce back and even the series on Sunday, May 30, at 4:30 pm CDT. Justin Ferrell will start for the Miners against Florence’s Jonaiker Villalobos.

My Game Notes

• One of the two games I watched yesterday and it was awesome! Miners starter (and 2019 Frontier League Pitcher of the year) Chase Cunningham walked the first two batters he faced, but the two speedsters (Rodney Tennie and Luis Pintor) ran into a powerful arm behind the plate: Marshall Rich. My Instagram story when I saw this live:

• The Miners’ Craig Massey is such an impressive hitter and baseball player. Just look at his stats, but even more important his overall play and demeanour on the field. Professional at-bats that deserve to be recognized.
• Miners CF Brandon Pugh was back in Florence after being released during camp. They already had speedster Rodney Tennie on the roster and Pugh may have become expandable, but what a nice pick up for the Miners.
• That middle of the Y’alls lineup with Luis Pintor, Chad Sedio, Trevor Craport and Nick DiNicola is having a very good start to the season.
• For the Florence Y’alls pitching staff, always look for the Game Reports by their Pitching Strategist, Chad Rhoades (noticed the “Minies”?…):

Windy City news release: CRESTWOOD, IL — Cole Bellair struck out a career-high eight hitters over six shutout innings and the Windy City ThunderBolts cruised to a 3–1 win over the Joliet Slammers at Ozinga Field Saturday night.

Bellair got all the support he would need in the first couple of innings. In the bottom of the first, Dan Robinson singled and advanced to third on a Zach Racusin base hit. When Rob Calabrese reached on an error, Robinson scored the first run of the night.

The ThunderBolts (2–1) added another in the second, when Jairus Richards singled and stole second base. He came home on a Robinson double that made it 2–0.

Bellair was challenged only once. In the top of the fourth inning, a walk and a double gave Joliet (1–2) runners at second and third with no outs. Bellair bounced back to strike out the next two hitters. He ended the inning with a pop up.

Peyton Isaacson provided some insurance for the ThunderBolts with an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning that made the score 3–0..

The Slammers broke the shutout with a Sean Green RBI triple in the seventh, but that was the extent of their offense.

Through three games, ThunderBolts pitchers have allowed only two earned runs and none of them have scored off a Windy City starter through 18 innings.

Bellair improved to 1–0 with the win while Cam Aufderheide (0–1) allowed two runs in five innings for the loss. Dylan Prohoroff tossed a perfect ninth inning for his first save.

The four-game series with the Slammers wraps up on JULIE Family Sunday at Ozinga Field. Jake Fisher makes his first Windy City start in four years and Joliet will counter with Austin Shea. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 CDT

My Game Notes:

• Interesting to see Slammers C Bryan Parreira at the top of the lineup for this one. Good eye at the plate (7 pitches seen in his first at-bat), but is that optimal? Let’s see if manager Aaron Nieckula keeps that order today.
• Slammers starter Cam Aufderheide should really be proud of his outing, throwing 70% of his pitches for strikes, going fairly deep into the game and not allowing a walk. Last season in pod play with Joliet, he impressed with a 3.35 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9 pitching line.
• Bolts’ infielder Jairus Richards already has four stolen bases, including two yesterday, and a single in every game so far. C Rob Calabrese continues his hot-hitting with another two singles to keep his batting average at a cool .455. He pulls the ball pretty much every time, so let’s see how the opposing teams adjust in the coming days / weeks:

New Jersey Jackals (8) vs New York Boulders (6)

New Jersey news release: The New Jersey Jackals welcomed the New York Boulders to Yogi Berra Stadium for the home opener of their 2021 season with an electric, comeback win 8–6, improving to 2–0 on the young season. John Hayes was the Jackals starting pitcher, who was effective early on but left the game after giving up 4 runs on 5 hits in 3 1/3 innings. Brian Rapp gave the Boulders four complete innings and left with a 4–2 lead.

In the top of the fourth, the Boulders landed what looked to be a knockout punch to the Jackals pitching staff. They sent 10 men to the plate, scoring four runs, on five hits with two walks sprinkled in for good measure. Brock Knoten relieved John Hayes for the Jackals and put a stop to the onslaught, sending the game to the bottom of the 4th with the Jackals down 4–0.

The Jackals responded quickly with a Russ Olive walk and an Alfredo Marte 2-run home run that clanged off the left field foul pole, cutting the deficit to 4–2. The Boulders would extend the lead to 5–2 in the top of the sixth, thanks to a lead-off single by LF Jack Sundberg, who would come around to score after 2B Zach Kirtley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Although the weather was chilly, the Jackals offense heated up in the bottom of the 6th. They forced three pitching changes in the inning, batted around and scored six runs. The big blow came off the bat of RF Russ Olive who laced a line drive off the 398-foot sign in dead centerfield for a three RBI triple. The offensive onslaught turned the 5–2 deficit into an 8–5 advantage for the Jackals.

The Jackals called on the services of Dylan Brammer for his second save opportunity in as many games. Although he allowed a run on a Kevonte Mitchell RBI double, he was able to strike out Sundberg to end the game.

The Jackals are now 2–0 on the young Frontier League season. They return to action Sunday, May 30th at 2:05pm against the Boulders.

My Game Notes:

• There is no box score available anywhere, so I propose we all learn about the game during my Game Talk with Reed Keller, the Jackals Broadcaster and Media Coordinator, at 10h30 this morning. Deal?

GAME 1 of the Équipe Québec vs Evansville Otters doubleheader

Game Two of the doubleheader:

Evansville news release: EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The Evansville Otters split their home-opening doubleheader against Equipe Quebec Saturday night, winning 6–3 in game two after a 3–2 loss in game one.

After over 600 days since their last regular season home game at Bosse Field, the Otters welcomed back 1300 plus fans to the historic ballpark Saturday.

The home-opener featured exciting baseball and fun for the fans.

Tyler Vail started for the Otters in game one and pitched well. He earned a quality start after going six innings and allowing three runs. Unfortunately, Evansville’s bats just could not get going enough against Equipe Quebec’s pitching staff.

The lone offense in game one came off the bat of Trent Nash, who tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with a clutch, two-out, two-run double.

Equipe Quebec regained the lead a half-inning later off the bat of Elliot Curtis, who hit a go-ahead solo home run in the fifth. Equipe Quebec would hold on to win 3–2.

The Otters would fare better in game two. After allowing Equipe Quebec to take a 2–0 lead in the top of the first, a misread in right field allowed a Riley Krane fly ball to fall on the warning track for a three-run, inside-the-park home run.

In the bottom of the third, after David Glaude had tied the game in the top half with a solo homer, Riley Krane stepped to the plate for a second time. With Andy DeJesus aboard, Krane belted a home run to right field that gave the Otters a 5–3 lead.

From there, the Otters never looked back, as Justin Lewis, Abraham Almonte, and Logan Sawyer threw a scoreless fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, respectively, retiring nine Equipe Quebec batters in a row. Sawyer earned his first save of the year.

The Otters continue their 2021 campaign and close out their three-game series with a rubber match against Equipe Quebec on Monday.

The Evansville Otters announced Saturday that Monday’s game against Equipe Quebec will be played at 4 p.m. from German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium on the campus of the University of Evansville.

The change in time and location is due to the IHSAA Sectional Tournament being hosted at Bosse Field, with three games on tap Monday.

The Memorial Day game will have limited seating and no concessions.

My Games Notes:

• ÉQ starter David Gauthier had everything going for him in the first game, holding off the Otters by changing speeds and not fearing to attack the hitters inside. Both earned runs on his pitching line were scored when left-handed reliever Nick Horvath was brought in to face Trent Nash and Miles Gordon. Gauthier gave manager Pat Scalabrini some length and that was a very important aspect of his job that day.
• Interesting note: Nick Horvath was a pitcher in Game 1 and the starting RF in Game 2! Nice little two-way action.
• The new acquisition for ÉQ, starter Austin Hutchison, was hit hard in his first look for his new team, but I’m very comfortable in saying that he’ll rebound nicely and provide great starts down the road for the team.
• ÉQ reliever Marshall Shill throws from the side, his breaking stuff has a lot of bite and he throws strikes (over 63% of the time). He has yet to allow a hit in two games (3 IP) and he allows either weak contact, pop ups or grounders. What a nice weapon out of the bullpen, especially with his right arm at that angle after you’ve faced left-handers throwing over the top since the beginning of the game.
• For the time being and it’s very early in the season, Gift Ngoepe looks lost at the plate (0-for-12, 1 BB, 6 K) and even made a fielding error in Game 1. Nothing to complain about, but his body language is a bit off. All that said, just watch him be a leader in the field, always smiling and directing players, very cool.
• C/DH Jeffry Parra just keeps on hitting, going 4-for-6 (3 doubles) during the day.
• Otters 1B Riley Krane is having a amazing start to his season with a .545 average, including 2 homers (one an inside-the-park job) and a double yesterday alone.
• Nice production so far out of the shortstop position for the Otters with Andy DeJesus recording at least a hit in all three games (.364 average), including two doubles.
• On the mound for Game 2, Polo Portela made his pro ball debut and struck out 9 batters in 4 innings (20.3 K/9 that he won’t keep up, but let’s just stare at it for a second, and that beautiful?). I’ll watch that start to see what kind of stuff he throws, especially with 66% of his pitches going for strikes.