We're down to the business end of the World Cup now and in the 2nd Round the first team we had to come up against was Canada who finished in 1st place in Group A with a 6-1 record. We knew the next 4 games are going to be tough to make it to the gold medal game but we were up to the challenge today taking down Canada 7-0. It was a team effort to win this game, but I can't go past the outstanding job Ryan Searle did on the mound today. He threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only 3 hits and striking out 6. He only got into trouble in the 4th inning when he loaded the bases with 0 outs, but got out of it thanks to a out at home, then a double play to end the inning. The offense was lead by Tim Kennelly who ended the game a triple shy of the cycle. We wasted no time getting on the board scoring early and often again. Scoring six runs on eight hits against three Canadian pitchers in the first half of the game.
Once we got back to the hotel, we had a recovery session in the pool. When the pool session was over, we all expected to get back into our rooms and relax for a little while on the internet. The internet had other plans as it did not work for 5 hours. So as I write this, this is the first time I have been online since 5:00pm, quite an achievement for me.
Tomorrow we play the Netherlands and have Dushan Ruzic on the mound, who has spent the last year playing in Europe against many of the dutch players. Netherlands have a 7-1 record and we'll be looking to make that a 7-2 record.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Monday, 10 October 2011
World Cup - Day 14
Today was our day off before the 2nd round of the World Cup begins. First item on the agenda was to move to our new hotel in the morning and as soon as we arrived and were in the lobby, we could just tell that this hotel was going to be a major improvement on the last one. We didn't spend too much time there as we had planned to visit this island which was about a 90 minute bus ride away, followed by a 15 minute boat ride. We were all expecting their to be a ferry and a dock, but all there was were some boats on the beach. So we had 5 boats filled with 5-7 people in each. Luckily I was in the faster boat, so the journey to the island wasn't too painful.
Once we go to the island we all jumped off our boats we immediately saw that there were hermit crabs on the beach, so since we are all grown up, we did what anyone would do, have some hermit crab racing.
After our exciting few minutes of hermit crab racing we did a little bit of exploring through, I guess you could call it a jungle. People were referring to the jungle as something from a 'Predators' movie, I thought it looked more like a scene from the 'Anacondas' movies which kind of worried me for a second because I actually thought there may be snakes in there. I still walked through the jungle fearlessly. After our little exploration we all jumped into the water and had a little recovery session. In my opinion, I think we needed to have a recovery session after the recovery session. Trying to do the same exercises we do in the pool in open water are a lot harder.
After spending some time on the island we all boarded our little boats and headed off back to the mainland. We hopped on the bus and drove back to the new hotel and were able to check into our new hotel. Which is definitely an improvement on the old one, for one the internet here is a lot quicker which will keep everyone happy for the next 5 days. We noticed that the Netherlands team had also just arrived from Panama City and a lot of guys on our team are friends with some of the Dutch players. I caught up with Twins team mate Tom Stuifbergen for a little while before going back to my room, laying in bed and being lazy all night.
Once we go to the island we all jumped off our boats we immediately saw that there were hermit crabs on the beach, so since we are all grown up, we did what anyone would do, have some hermit crab racing.
After our exciting few minutes of hermit crab racing we did a little bit of exploring through, I guess you could call it a jungle. People were referring to the jungle as something from a 'Predators' movie, I thought it looked more like a scene from the 'Anacondas' movies which kind of worried me for a second because I actually thought there may be snakes in there. I still walked through the jungle fearlessly. After our little exploration we all jumped into the water and had a little recovery session. In my opinion, I think we needed to have a recovery session after the recovery session. Trying to do the same exercises we do in the pool in open water are a lot harder.
After spending some time on the island we all boarded our little boats and headed off back to the mainland. We hopped on the bus and drove back to the new hotel and were able to check into our new hotel. Which is definitely an improvement on the old one, for one the internet here is a lot quicker which will keep everyone happy for the next 5 days. We noticed that the Netherlands team had also just arrived from Panama City and a lot of guys on our team are friends with some of the Dutch players. I caught up with Twins team mate Tom Stuifbergen for a little while before going back to my room, laying in bed and being lazy all night.
 |
| A little bit of jungle exploring |
Sunday, 9 October 2011
World Cup - Day 13 - vs Germany
We did our part today by taking down Germany. We scored early and often in the first 3 innings, putting up 9 runs on 10 hits which was just a continuation on the hitting display we put on last night. Mitch Dening led the offence going 3 for 4, driving in a run and scoring 2 runs.
My room mate Clayton Tanner got the start tonight, although it wasn't his best day he still left the game giving us a chance to win, and that's all you can ask from your starting pitcher. Justin Erasmus threw a scoreless 5th innings then Hayden Beard took over for the 6th. He allowed an unearned run in the 6th, then gave up a 2 run home run to his Canberra Cavalry team mate Donald Lutz. So guess Donald knew Hayden's scouting report better then Hayden knew Donald's scouting report. We then sent out the ever reliable Andrew Russell to close out the game and preserve the victory, and then we played the waiting game.
Now after winning that game, our fate was in the hands of other teams. First of all we needed Venezuela to beat Italy, which they did in an extra inning thriller, then we either needed Korea to beat Dominica, or for Dominica to beat Korea by 9 runs or more. As I watched the game unfold on TV, Dominica led all game and were up 4-0 heading into the 9th inning, and then the Korean fightback began. The 9th inning consisted of, 3 straight singles to score a run, then 2 straight pop ups. Korean were down to there last out in the 9th and then! They hit a 3 run home run to tie the game. As the home run was hit, you could hear all the boys yelling from their rooms with excitement. I was thinking, we did our part and won today, Venezuela won in extra inninga, so they did their part, surely the baseball gods are with us. Cuba could not score a run in the 9th, so the game went into extra innings and as I mentioned in a previous post, in an IBAF tournament, extra innings will start with runners on 1st and 2nd. Korean came up in the 10th, executed a perfect bunt that put their runners on 2nd and 3rd. The Dominican pitcher then struck out the next guy he faced, so now it was 2 outs with runners on 2nd and 3rd. They then intentionally walked the next hitter to load the bases up, and set up a righty-righty match up. The match up failed as the Dominican pitcher walked the hitter, which drove in the go ahead run. The next hitter struck out to end the inning.
Korean came out to defend their 1 run lead. Dominica laid down a bunt, but the runner was thrown out at 3rd base. So Dominica had runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out which is a perfect situation, that is until the Korean pitcher threw a wild pitch to advance the runners a base each. The next hitter walked which loaded the bases up, which is still a perfect situation because they could still get the double play to end the game. Korea then made a pitching change and sent Ji Woong Yoon to the mound, who is now my best friend. He struck out the first hitter he face looking for the 2nd out of the inning, and then struck out the last hitter to end the game, and send Team Australia into the 2nd round. As the batter swung and missed at that last pitch, you could hear the yells from our team in this block as we all ran outside our rooms celebrating our birth into the 2nd round at the World Cup.
We have a off day tomorrow, and then prepare for the playoffs. You can just feel right now, there's something special in the air for Team Australia, and we aren't going down without a fight.
My room mate Clayton Tanner got the start tonight, although it wasn't his best day he still left the game giving us a chance to win, and that's all you can ask from your starting pitcher. Justin Erasmus threw a scoreless 5th innings then Hayden Beard took over for the 6th. He allowed an unearned run in the 6th, then gave up a 2 run home run to his Canberra Cavalry team mate Donald Lutz. So guess Donald knew Hayden's scouting report better then Hayden knew Donald's scouting report. We then sent out the ever reliable Andrew Russell to close out the game and preserve the victory, and then we played the waiting game.
 |
| After the game I caught up with my Elizabethton Twins team mate, Max Kepler |
Now after winning that game, our fate was in the hands of other teams. First of all we needed Venezuela to beat Italy, which they did in an extra inning thriller, then we either needed Korea to beat Dominica, or for Dominica to beat Korea by 9 runs or more. As I watched the game unfold on TV, Dominica led all game and were up 4-0 heading into the 9th inning, and then the Korean fightback began. The 9th inning consisted of, 3 straight singles to score a run, then 2 straight pop ups. Korean were down to there last out in the 9th and then! They hit a 3 run home run to tie the game. As the home run was hit, you could hear all the boys yelling from their rooms with excitement. I was thinking, we did our part and won today, Venezuela won in extra inninga, so they did their part, surely the baseball gods are with us. Cuba could not score a run in the 9th, so the game went into extra innings and as I mentioned in a previous post, in an IBAF tournament, extra innings will start with runners on 1st and 2nd. Korean came up in the 10th, executed a perfect bunt that put their runners on 2nd and 3rd. The Dominican pitcher then struck out the next guy he faced, so now it was 2 outs with runners on 2nd and 3rd. They then intentionally walked the next hitter to load the bases up, and set up a righty-righty match up. The match up failed as the Dominican pitcher walked the hitter, which drove in the go ahead run. The next hitter struck out to end the inning.
Korean came out to defend their 1 run lead. Dominica laid down a bunt, but the runner was thrown out at 3rd base. So Dominica had runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out which is a perfect situation, that is until the Korean pitcher threw a wild pitch to advance the runners a base each. The next hitter walked which loaded the bases up, which is still a perfect situation because they could still get the double play to end the game. Korea then made a pitching change and sent Ji Woong Yoon to the mound, who is now my best friend. He struck out the first hitter he face looking for the 2nd out of the inning, and then struck out the last hitter to end the game, and send Team Australia into the 2nd round. As the batter swung and missed at that last pitch, you could hear the yells from our team in this block as we all ran outside our rooms celebrating our birth into the 2nd round at the World Cup.
We have a off day tomorrow, and then prepare for the playoffs. You can just feel right now, there's something special in the air for Team Australia, and we aren't going down without a fight.
 |
| And we're going to the 2nd round! |
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Quote of the Day
Todays quote of the day comes from relief pitcher Andrew Russell. For everyone that's been following the Australian team, and who followed today's game against Venezuela, this quote is going to make a lot of sense.
"For the first three games we couldn't get anyone on base, now we can't get out!"Even though the first three games of the World Cup were very frustrating for us, we still manage to see the light side of everything.
World Cup - Day 12 - vs Venezuela
The day didn't start according to plan as our bus was 20 minutes late so we had to rush when we got to the field to get ready for a 11:45am batting practice, but once we arrived they allowed us more time to get ready so we could stop panicking. Once batting practice was over we headed back into the clubhouse to relax before game time, which was 90 minutes away, but once game time came around the ground crew put the tarp on the field just before the rain had arrived. Once they got the tarp on, the rain started to come down hard and within 5 minutes the field was absolutely saturated, except for the infield that is. That is until they decided to take the tarp of the field at 2:45pm and somehow the water on the tarp rolled onto the field and turned the area between shortstop and 3rd base into a swimming pool, which meant we now had to wait for them to clear all that water off. After about 30 minutes of them trying to get rid of the water, they told us the new starting time would be 5:00pm so it allowed us to all go back into the clubhouse and relax for a while. A couple of guys played cards, as for me, I decided to take a nap.
 |
| A couple of the boys playing cards |
Once the game got underway we started on fire with Mitch Dening hit a 2 run home run in the 1st inning. That was only the start of the offensive onslaught as we continued to score runs at a frantic pace, adding 4 runs in the 2nd, 4 more in the 4th, then capped it off with 5 runs in the 5th inning to finish it off. Every runner got on base, and all but two got a hit and drove in a run, so it was major team effort. All this offence was supported by starting pitcher Chris Oxpsring who cruised through 5 innings only allowing a few harmless singles.
Tomorrow we play Germany, and a win will give is a big chance on making it to the next round, depending on other results. We can't worry too much about the other games, all we have to do is focus on our own game and hopefully the other results will go in our favour. I also have two Minnesota Twins team mates playing for the German team, Max Kepler and Markus Solbach. So I definitely want to beat them. I can't give these two bragging rights heading into spring training.
 |
| Mitch Dening being greeted at home by James Beresford after his home run |
Friday, 7 October 2011
World Cup - Day 11 - vs Dominican Republic
Today, just like yesterday was a must win game for us and well, we didn't disappoint, we may have caused a few heart attacks but we still came out with a hard fought win against the Dominican Republic. This game had it all, we had lightning delays, the IBAF tie break rule and even a pitcher hitting.
Stefan Welch got the scoring underway in the 2nd inning with a solo shot over the right field wall, I think over the wall is an understatement. I'm pretty sure his home run went over the 2 lane road, and landed in someones front yard. We scored another run in the 4th with an RBI single from Tim Kennelly, then scored 3 runs in the 5th thanks to Justin Huber's bases clearing double. In the meantime Dushan Ruzic was throwing a hell of a game only allowing 1 run through his first 5 frames. In the 7th Huber was at it again, this time hitting a 2 run home run to left field, then an inning later Mitch Dening hit an RBI single to put us up 8-1 in the 8th. Then things became interesting as we went into a 30 minute lightning delay which meant Dushan Ruzic would not come back into the game. He finished the game throwing 7 strong innings, only allowing 1 run on 4 hits and was in line for the win. When the lightning delay was over we started the game in the bottom of the 8th and handed the ball to Kable Hogben who ran into some trouble in the inning allowing 3 runs whilst getting 2 outs. Brendan Wise backed up from last night and shut down the inning. He came out again for the 9th with a 4 run lead and all of a sudden the Dominican bats woke up and they tied the game up on 4 singles, a sac fly and an error which meant we were heading into extra innings.
Now extra innings in an IBAF competition you play under the tie breaker rules, which means you start every inning with runners on 1st and 2nd base. So we sent Scott Wearne to 2nd, David Kandilas to 1st and sent James Beresford to lead off the inning. Beresford got on from a very lucky bunt base hit that flirted with the foul line, then Mitch Dening came up in the clutch again delivering a bases clearing double to put us up by 3. Steve Kent came out to throw the bottom of the 10th, he struck out the first hitter, then gave up a single to left that scored the Dominican runner from 2nd base. Then the game got even more strange. Due to the Dominican manager pinch running for the designated hitter, then sending that pinch runner into the game, it meant the pitcher had to hit for himself, and well, in the 10th, the pitcher came up and struck out on a very ugly swing. Two pitches later, they attempted a double steal and the runner trying to take 2nd got caught ending the game and handing us our 2nd win to keep our hopes of making the playoffs alive.
It was very nerve wracking and exciting in the dugout, and I could only imagine what it would of been like for everyone back home watching the play-by-play online. Tomorrow we play Venezuala who lead our division with a 4-1 record, so everyone back home should gear up for another heart stopping game. Don't say we aren't making things exciting for you!
Stefan Welch got the scoring underway in the 2nd inning with a solo shot over the right field wall, I think over the wall is an understatement. I'm pretty sure his home run went over the 2 lane road, and landed in someones front yard. We scored another run in the 4th with an RBI single from Tim Kennelly, then scored 3 runs in the 5th thanks to Justin Huber's bases clearing double. In the meantime Dushan Ruzic was throwing a hell of a game only allowing 1 run through his first 5 frames. In the 7th Huber was at it again, this time hitting a 2 run home run to left field, then an inning later Mitch Dening hit an RBI single to put us up 8-1 in the 8th. Then things became interesting as we went into a 30 minute lightning delay which meant Dushan Ruzic would not come back into the game. He finished the game throwing 7 strong innings, only allowing 1 run on 4 hits and was in line for the win. When the lightning delay was over we started the game in the bottom of the 8th and handed the ball to Kable Hogben who ran into some trouble in the inning allowing 3 runs whilst getting 2 outs. Brendan Wise backed up from last night and shut down the inning. He came out again for the 9th with a 4 run lead and all of a sudden the Dominican bats woke up and they tied the game up on 4 singles, a sac fly and an error which meant we were heading into extra innings.
Now extra innings in an IBAF competition you play under the tie breaker rules, which means you start every inning with runners on 1st and 2nd base. So we sent Scott Wearne to 2nd, David Kandilas to 1st and sent James Beresford to lead off the inning. Beresford got on from a very lucky bunt base hit that flirted with the foul line, then Mitch Dening came up in the clutch again delivering a bases clearing double to put us up by 3. Steve Kent came out to throw the bottom of the 10th, he struck out the first hitter, then gave up a single to left that scored the Dominican runner from 2nd base. Then the game got even more strange. Due to the Dominican manager pinch running for the designated hitter, then sending that pinch runner into the game, it meant the pitcher had to hit for himself, and well, in the 10th, the pitcher came up and struck out on a very ugly swing. Two pitches later, they attempted a double steal and the runner trying to take 2nd got caught ending the game and handing us our 2nd win to keep our hopes of making the playoffs alive.
It was very nerve wracking and exciting in the dugout, and I could only imagine what it would of been like for everyone back home watching the play-by-play online. Tomorrow we play Venezuala who lead our division with a 4-1 record, so everyone back home should gear up for another heart stopping game. Don't say we aren't making things exciting for you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)