Redwood Baseball

4/26: After a week off, the Giants returned to MCAL play with a matchup against Tam in Mill Valley. This game was real horrorshow, and I don’t mean that in a grand, Alex DeLarge sort of way. The teams were tied 2-2 at the end of 7, but Tam took the game in the 8th on walk-off walk.

There wasn’t a whole lot of offense in this game. The Giants had 5 hits, while the Red Tailed Hawks had just 4. The biggest difference in the game was that Giant hitters struck out 7 times, while the Hawks only tallied 4 punch outs. In addition, Redwood pitching walked 8 batters, while Tam pitchers only gave up one free pass.

Rory Minty got the start on the mound and he pitched well for 6 innings. He gave up 2 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits, with 3 strikeouts and 3 walks.  Rex Solle came on in the 7th and he pitched a scoreless frame to keep the game tied at 2-2; however, he came back out in the 8th and couldn’t find the strike zone. He retired the first batter in the inning, but then walked 4 straight batters to force in the winning run. Inasmuch as Solle has been incredibly effective and dominant all season, I suspect that he will bounce back in heroic fashion since he is such an outstanding ballplayer. He just didn’t quite have it today, although I’m told by a fan who was behind the plate that the strike zone was very tight.

Without a doubt, this was team’s biggest loss of the season; however, the good news is that if the squad can rally and defeat Tam on Friday, they will reclaim first place. With that in mind, I think it’s fair to say that Friday’s game is a must-win, and given the stakes involved, I’m expecting a “John Kreese-no mercy-sweep the leg” type of intensity in that game. We’ll find out what this team is made of, and perhaps they will even learn what it takes to sell real estate.

The Giants now sit at 15-6 overall, 10-3 in MCAL. Friday’s game is at Moody.

4/12: Varsity returned to MCAL play with a matchup against Archie Williams at Moody Field. Not much offense in this game, but the Giants did just enough to win, 2-1.

The Giants started fast, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the first. Merritt Brinckerhoff started the inning off with a single; Cole McGowan walked, and then Charlie Welch singled to drive in the first run. McGowan later scored on a wild pitch for the 2nd run. Redwood didn’t score the rest of the game, but the 2 runs in the first were all they needed.

Rory Minty started on the hill for the Giants. He pitched five solid, giving up one run on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts. He started the sixth, giving up a single, so Redwood brought in Rex Solle in relief. Solle proceeded to mow down the next three hitters, striking out the side. Solle came back out in the seventh and gave up a single and a HBP, but he got out of the inning by striking out two hitters, and inducing a ground ball for the final out.

The Giants are now 14-5 overall, 9-2 in MCAL. These two teams will meet again on Thursday afternoon at Archie.

4/8: Santa Rosa came into this game with a 3-10 record, so no one expected this game to be close. The Giants prevailed 6-2, but the difference in the game was that Redwood came through with some clutch hitting and pitching when it mattered. SR, on the other hand, didn’t get much done in the key moments of the game.

Kent Goodman got the start on the mound for the Giants. He looked sharp; his fastball was live and he was locating his sharp-breaking curveball for strikes. Over four and a third shutout innings, Goodman only gave up 4 hits, while punching out 6. Goodman found a little trouble in the 5th. He gave up a walk and a single and SR had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Rex Solle came on in relief and this was where the game went south for SR. At this point, the Giants were up 3-0. Inexplicably, and reminiscent of a Little League play, the SR runner at 1st went halfway down to second in an attempt to get into a run down, so that the runner from 3rd could score. Remember this play from Little League? The problem, which seemed lost on the SR coaching staff, is that while this play often works in Little League, it doesn’t work against a good high school team. And even if it did, it wasn’t an appropriate call given the score and the point in the game. In any case, Redwood had this guy in a rundown and then then the runner from 3rd broke for home. Rory Minty calmly threw a strike to home plate and cut the runner down by a good 15 feet. It was an ugly play to put it mildly.  I can only hope that no young children were exposed to it.

After this debacle on the base paths, the life was sucked out of SR and they really had no chance. They did, however, show a little life in the 7th. Going into the bottom of the 7th, the Giants were up 6-0 and Johnny Bayler came in to pitch. Bayler quickly found himself in a jam, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. The Giants’ manager went to the pen and brought in (rarely used as a pitcher) Cole McGowan. McGowan came in throwing good old-fashioned heat, but walked the first batter to load the bases with no one out. Needless to say, this was a golden opportunity for SR who was down 6-2 at this point. McGowan faced the pressure situation with his best stuff, striking out the next 3 batters to secure the victory.

On offense, the Giants only tallied 6 hits, but 2 of those hits were long balls. Matty Jessen crushed his 2nd homerun of the year – a deep shot to left, while Cole McGowan hit a long drive over the wall in right, his first homerun of the season. McGowan also notched a single and drove in 2 runs. Nick Gehrman, Charlie Welch, and Tyler Blair also had hits for the Giants. Speaking of Blair, it was great to see him back in the lineup after many months on the IR. In addition to a basehit, Blair also knocked in a run.

After the victory, the Giants are 13-4, 8-2 in MCAL. Tomorrow’s game figures to be much tougher as the Giants take on 14-1 Foothill.

4/1: It figured to be a great day of baseball. The Giants traveled to the outer reaches of Marin County suburbia, where it was a beautiful, sunny day with two solid teams facing off. Based on Tuesday’s game, Novato showed that they are a quality team. I figured the Giants would have to play good baseball, particularly since they were facing the best pitcher on Novato’s staff. In a stunning turn of events, the Giants took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth, but ended up losing 5-4.

The game started with Merritt Brinckerhoff laying down a bunt for a base hit. Then, he was able to come all the way around to score, courtesy of two errors by the Novato shortstop. In the third, Brinckerhoff singled again and he scored when Charlie Welch grounded to third on a fielder’s choice. In the fourth, Matty Jessen crushed a home run to left for the Giants first long ball of the season. The score was 3-0 at this point. In the fourth, Cole McGowan drew a walk, then stole two bases. He later scored on an error by the Novato third baseman. The score was 4-0 after five and a half innings.

Kent Goodman started on the mound for the Giants and he pitched very well. Over four and a third shutout innings, he only gave up 2 hits and 2 walks, while punching out 5. In the fifth, Goodman found a little trouble when he walked the first batter and then gave up a single. Jerry Omara came on in relief and got the final 2 outs of the inning without giving up any runs. In the bottom of the sixth; however, the wheels came flying off the tricycle. Omara walked the first 2 batters and then gave up a bomb to the Novato shortstop, making the score 4-3. Omara walked the next batter, and then Nick Gehrman came on in relief. The first batter he faced laid down a sac bunt to move the runner to second. Gehrman fanned the next batter for the second out. The next batter hit a blooper just out of the reach of the second baseman to drive in the tying run. The next batter popped out to end the inning, but the game was now tied at 4-4.

The Giants went down in order in the top of the seventh. In the bottom half, Gehrman came back in to pitch and retired the first batter on a ground out. Rex Solle then came on in relief. Solle walked the first batter he faced, but then struck out the second batter for the second out. Solle also walked the next batter intentionally to put runners at first and second. The runners moved to second and third on a wild pitch. The final batter hit a slow chopper to third – a tough play that wasn’t made, allowing the runner from third to score and complete the walk-off.

Each team only managed 4 hits, but the biggest difference in the game was that Novato pitchers only issued 2 walks, while Redwood pitchers issued 7. In fact, four of the five runners who scored for Novato got on base as a result of a walk.

This loss will probably sting for awhile and the team will have some time to think about it. The team’s next game is April 7th in Livermore. The Giants now stand at 11-4 overall, 8-2 in MCAL

3/25: Without a doubt, this was the biggest game of the season so far. After losing to MC on Tuesday, it was important for the ballclub to make a good showing today – which they did. In front of the biggest crowd of the season at Moody, the team looked much better and was able to dominate the game, securing a 9-1 win.

The Giants drew a better pitching matchup in today’s game, so it was a good opportunity to get the bats going. The team responded with seven hits. Merritt Brinckerhoff, Rory Minty, Charlie Welch, Cole McGowan, Jerry Omara, Danil Wells, and Rory Coughlan all had hits for the Giants.

Kent Goodman got the start on the mound for the Giants. He pitched three and two-thirds innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits, with 2 strikeouts, and 4 walks. Goodman got into a bit of jam in the fourth. MC put two men on with 2 outs. Jerry Omara came in to finish the inning, striking out the batter to end the threat. Omara also pitched a scoreless fifth. Rex Solle came on in the sixth, and pitched 2 scoreless innings, striking out 3 to end the game and re-establish some order in the MCAL baseball universe.

With the victory, the Giants are now 10-3 overall, 7-1 in MCAL.

3/18: This was David vs. Goliath, game 2, with Goliath (Redwood) dominating San Rafael to win by two touchdowns, 17-3.  The Giants jumped all over SR pitching to the tune of 16 hits. Players with hits for the Giants included Merritt Brinckerhoff, Cole McGowan, Nick Scott, Charlie Welch (2), Luca Bove, Rex Solle (2), Rory Minty (3), Colin Cunneen, Jerry Omara, Rory Coghlan (2), and Ben Resnick.  The biggest blasts of game were by Cole McGowan (triple), Nick Scott (triple), and Ben Resnick (deep double).

Kent Goodman got the start on the hill for the Giants. He didn’t have his best stuff, but only gave up 3 runs on 3 hits over 4 innings, with 4 strikeouts. By the fourth, Goodman appeared to find his groove as his curve ball was breaking very sharply, baffling the SR hitters. New addition to the ball club, Jerry Omara, came on in relief in the fifth and looked great. He was throwing mid-80’s gas to go along with a very sharp-breaking curve ball. Over two innings of work, Omara did not give up any runs, on one hit, while striking out 5. Needless to say, everyone in attendance was excited by what they saw in Omara’s debut.  Rex Solle came on in the 7th to close game. Solle gave up no runs on one hit, with 2 strikeouts.

Despite being blown off the field, SR started the game with some promise. In the bottom of the first, they put the first two runners on with no outs, but then attempted to steal third. Rory Coghlan promptly cut the runner down by about five feet, effectively destroying a promising inning. This play was a real head scratcher, and it appeared that SR was going to be roadkill; however, they did show some life in the third. They had a man on first with one out, and the next batter hit a single. Inexplicably, the runner from first tried to make it to third, but was easily gunned down by Brinckerhoff in left. Although this was another head-scratching decision (SR was down 8-0 at this point in the game), SR rallied with 2 outs to load the bases. Then, a SR hitter hit a bases-clearing triple to put SR on the board with 3 runs.

Over the past four games, Redwood outscored the two teams from San Rafael, 62-4.  Fortunately, we anticipate the return of real baseball next week as the Giants prepare for a two-game set against MC.  The Giants now stand at 9-2 overall, 6-0 in MCAL.

3/11: On a beautiful Friday afternoon in San Rafael, the Varsity Giants took on Terra Linda for the second and final game in their 2-game series. The contest was tight prior to the first with the teams locked in a scoreless tie. The game appeared to hang in the balance until Redwood broke it open in the top of the first with 2 quick runs, followed by another 5 runs in the second. In the end, the Giants cruised to a 15-0 victory.

Kent Goodman started on the mound for the Giants, overmatching most of the TL hitters. Goodman gave up 3 hits and struck out 8 over 4 innings. Rex Solle pitched the final 3 innings and was even more dominant, dealing consistent heat that the TL batters simply couldn’t catch up to. Solle didn’t give up any hits, striking out all 9 batters he faced. On offense, the Giants had 19 hits, including a 3-hit game by Danil Wells.

While it was exciting to see the Giants pitch and hit so well, I kept thinking that this 2-game series provided a strong argument for some sort of MCAL realignment.

The Giants’ record now stands at 7-2 overall, 4-0 in MCAL.

3/7: The March 4th game against San Marin ended in a 7-7 tie after seven innings. It was too dark to continue, so the game was completed on March 7th. Kent Goodman continued on the mound for the Giants and retired the San Marin batters in order. In the bottom of the 8th, Matty Jensen led off with a double. Rory Coghlan laid down a perfect bunt down the third baseline for a base hit, moving Jessen to third. Rex Solle hit a ground ball to the shortstop, who mishandled it, loading the bases. Rory Minty hit a fly ball to center for the first out; Jessen elected not to tag up and risk the second out, so the bases were still loaded. Goodman came up and crushed a drive deep into the left-center field gap, winning the game 8-7. The Giants now stand at 5-2 overall, 2-0 in MCAL.