American Association Insider: Friday June 19 Takeaways

 Kevin Luckow

(non member of IBWAA)

Sioux City 3 Kane County 0

If you were running late tonight and didn't get to Northwestern Medicine Field, you didn't get to see a run score. The Explorers plated three runs in the first two innings before Konnor Ash got in a groove. Ash settled in and gave the Cougars five shutout innings after the second inning. But the story of the night was Josh Landry who went the distance for the X's allowing four hits. Landry won't overpower you, he only struck out two batters, but the Monarchs were kept off balance all night. Steve Montgomery is looking for pitchers to step up, and Landry did just that in winning his first game as a professional.

Cleburne 8 Sioux Falls 1

If this game was played on Sesame Street, the game would've been sponsored by the number five. It was five runs in the sixth inning that was the difference as the Railroaders came out on top. Cole Foster doubled two runs in, a part of a three RBI night while Mallex Smith and Delino DeShields Jr. combined to go 5-9 with Smith homering and driving in two runs. In the little I've seen Smith play, he is fun to watch. A player that makes no mistake that he enjoys what he does. 

Gary SouthShore 6 Fargo-Moorhead 3

A Cooper Weiss two run home run broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning and the RailCats went on to defeat the RedHawks. Parker Harm's tough season continues as he allowed the Weiss home run while throwing 1.2 innings allowing two runs, one earned. Marc Flores in his RailCats debut went 3-5 and drove in a pair of runs. Deyni Olivero allowed two runs or less in his fifth consecutive start.

Chicago 9 Lake Country 7

The Dogs, trailing 6-4 going into their half of the seventh inning, scored 5 runs total in their last two innings to knock off the East leading DockHounds. The two clubs combined for 10 doubles. Josh Mears and Drey Dirksen both homered for the DockHounds. Jacob Maiben, receiving consistent playing time, had three hits and raised his batting average to .301. Austin Eaton finally gave up a run but was still able to pick up his second save for the Dogs. 

Winnipeg 10 Lincoln 5

The Dogs and Fish took their week long engagement to Winnipeg on a soggy Friday night at Blue Cross Park. The Goldeyes pulled away with eight runs in the middle innings. The top five batters in the Goldeyes order all collected two hits. Noah Marcelo has taken nicely to the move to the #3 spot in the order with a two run home run, his ninth, Marcelo is now riding an eight game hitting streak.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Andreachi


Milwaukee 7 Kansas City 2

Hey Skipper Dave, objects in the rear view mirror of your yacht are closer than they appear. The Milkmen go into Kansas City and do what teams are supposed to do with teams that made the long bus ride back from Cleburne, defeating the Monarchs. With the win, the Milkmen are now sitting one game behind the DockHounds and will go into Saturday with a nine game winning streak. The ol' war horse Christian Young was superb going six innings and allowing one run. The Milkmen have gotten great starting pitching during this nine game run. And Michael Hallquist? Just another three hit night while Erik Ostberg danced in the middle of a game somewhere in America. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

American Association SUNDAY Insider: Speaking in terms of "what if?"

Image
 Kevin Luckow (non member of IBWAA) What was once a rumor passed between league colleagues, has now been reported by media. The story being the potential move of the Kane County Cougars and Cleburne Railroaders to the Frontier League, soon to be renamed National Association of Professional Baseball. The move would be made for the 2027 season. A real blow to an American Association that has ambitions of expansion.  To get a real feel for what this would mean to AAPB, let's go all the way back to 2006. In the Fall of 2005, the St. Paul Saints, Sioux Falls Canaries, Sioux City Explorers and Lincoln Saltdogs all departed the Northern League. Philosophical differences between ownerships being cited as a major reason for the defection. But a four team league was not going to cut it. Enter the St. Joe Blacksnakes as a stopgap, a team that likely would not have long term stability but filled an immediate need.  Enter Texas. The Texas-Louisiana League was winding down. So the five...
Read more

American Association SUNDAY Insider: The underpaid, overworked liaisons of the American Association

Kevin Luckow (non member of IBWAA)  The idea of this Insider came to my head on Thursday night as I was watching a game in Cleburne. It was the 750th American Association broadcast for voice of the Railroaders, Brad Allred. The Railroaders produced a video for Allred with numerous colleagues from the past, former players and current players paying tribute to Allred.  It got me to thinking just how important the play by play men are to the teams which they are employed. Teams in the AAPB do not have local newspapers following the teams on the road. Often times it is the play by play guys that may put a game story on their team website that the local newspaper picks up to condense into a tiny part of the newspaper. Not to discount the media relations director who also do gamers with no byline given if the newspaper picks it up.  For myself this goes all the way back to the Northern League. Although St. Paul had great coverage from Mike Augustin (mentioned a few weeks ago in...
Read more

American Association SUNDAY Insider: American Associaiton returning to Minnesota

Image
 Kevin Luckow (non member of IBWAA) It's been funny. I've seen stories, thoughts and opinions all around about the announcement of an American Association team in Blaine. They are nice recaps, crosses the t's and dots the i's. But all from an outsider perspective. There's a phrase I like to use when people refer to me as knowledgeable about the going ons in Independent Baseball. It's not that I'm smart, it just means I've been around a long time. For this story I think we have to go back to September of 2020. The St. Paul Saints were playing their final game of the Covid season against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. It was in front of a relatively sparse crowd. A weeknight in mid to late September and there was nothing at stake outside of who was going to win the American Association batting title. Drew Ward would end up edging Correlle Prime after Prime was robbed of a base hit late in the game. After the game I talked to Jeff Bittiger who was traveling w...
Read more