American Association Insider: Sunday August 17th Takeaways

 Kevin Luckow

(non member of IBWAA)

Six series wrapped up on Sunday with every team looking at being swept finding a way to win. If you get a chance, check out the Sunday Insider for my thoughts opinions and ideas for the new Blaine franchise. I put a lot of time in crafting the blog. 

Lake Country 11 Chicago 8

In a game that had a line score with more ones than a stripper's G-string, the DockHounds salvaged the final game of the series at Impact Field. Lake Country scored a single run in six innings, the Dogs did it five times. The DockHounds homered five times, all solo shots until a two run blow by in the eighth by Dylan LaRue. LaRue went deep twice and Joshua Mears had two solo bombs to once again take the league home run lead with 31. Givoanni DiGiacomo, Chance Sisco and Ethan Wilder all had solo home runs for the Dogs with Sisco driving in four runs for the day. 

Kane County 8 Lincoln 6

Knotted at four in the eighth inning, Sam Dexter singled home two runs and the Cougars added two more to defeat the Saltdogs. Matt Bottcher had four hits from the DH spot and Josh Allen homered in the fifth. Nick Shumpert went 3-5 with a home run and two runs batted in for the Saltdogs. 

Winnipeg 6 Sioux City 2

It was better late than never for the Goldeyes. Down 2-0 in the sixth the Goldeyes scored a run in the sixth, three in the seventh and an insurance pair in the eighth to prevent the first series sweep of the season by the Explorers. Henry George had a solo home run for Sioux City. Max Murphy was a perfect 4-4 at the plate and Adam Hall had a three hit day with an RBI for Winnipeg. Kevin Vaupel allowed two earned runs in six innings in a no decision for the Goldeyes.

Milwaukee 7 Kansas City 6

The Monarchs climbed out of a 5-0 hole just to have the Milkmen score the winning run in the eighth on an Alec Olund single. Andy Blake had a double in the eighth to set up the winning run as part of a 3-3 day at the plate. Luken Baker is back to doing Luken Baker things, homering in the fourth inning, his 17th of the season, and driving in two runs. It was the only blemish for Chris Young who allowed one run in five innings. 

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Andreachi


Sioux Falls 13 Fargo-Moorhead 4

For the second straight game, the Canaries busted out the wumpin' sticks to guarantee a split at worst of their wraparound four game series in Fargo. Down 2-1 in the third inning, a Joe Vos two run home run highlighted a seven run inning for the Birds. They added five more in the fifth to pull away further. Michael Curialle had a five RBI day and Anthony Hall drove in three runs to lead the Canaries attack. Garrett Martin was the recipient of the run support getting the win throwing six innings allowing three runs. It was a blow for the Canaries not having Calvin Estrada and Jordan Barth back in 2026, but Curialle and Grady Mee have been more than suitable replacements on the same side of the infield. 

Clebuerne 6 Gary SouthShore 5

In a game that the voice of the Railroaders Brad Allred described as the most pivotal game of the season, Frankie Tostado hits a dramatic walk off home run with one out in the ninth inning to give the Railroaders a split of the six game series. Nick Podkul got the RailCats with a three run home run that had more meaning to it than the average fan knew at the time. More on that later. Down 3-2 in the sixth, the Railroaders score three to take a 5-3 lead. The RailCats clawed back to a tie with single runs in the seventh and eighth setting the stage for the Tostado dramatics.

Late in the game last night RailCats broadcaster Andrew Mild gave people a chance to name his Fantasy Football team if you could name the next RailCat to hit a home run. Well, guess who was watching and said Nick Podkul. I introduce to you, the Cowhide JoyRiders. 



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