Fort Morgan Spring Classic

Coach Summary: WP (1-0) Emilio Castaneda 2 2/3 innings, 4 K's, 1 BB;  Tony Zwetzig 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, & a run scored; Reyes Rodriguez 1-for-2, 2B, RBI, & a run scored; Wes Anderson 3-for-4, 2 singles, HR, 2 RBI, & a run scored; Jared Bohm 1-for-4, 1 single, SB, & a run scored; James Blackstun 1-for-3, single & 2 SB; Charlie Rodriguez 1-for-3, 2B, SB, & a run scored; Edgar Soto 1-for-2, single, BB, & SB; Cris Anderson 1-for-3, single, SB, & a run scored; River Barton 1-for-4, GW single and RBI!

A pretty well played game for the first game of spring, other than the too many walks given up (9).  Scored six runs on 12 hits and committed just two errors, which is fantastic.  Guys also did a great job with plate discipline by only striking out four times as a team.  Every member of the team but one earned a hit in the game, which is super not only for the first game but for any game.  Outstanding things that stood out in my eyes form this game was the ability of Emilio Castaneda to come off the bench and provide 2 2/3 innings of no hit relief and for the way Wes, Jared, and River finished off the game for us in the bottom of the 7th.

Coach Summary: WP (1-0) Wes Anderson 4 innings, 8 K's, 7 BB's, 3 hits, & 2 Runs; Tony Zwetzig 1-for-3, single, 3 RBI, & 2 runs scored; Reyes Rodriguez 2-for-3, 2 doubles, & a run scored; Wes Anderson 1-for-3, HR, 1 RBI, & 2 runs scored; Jared Bohm 2-for-4, 2 singles, RBI, & a run scored; Kyle Roark 1-for-3, single & a walk; Emilio Castaneda 1-for-3, single, BB, & a run scored; James Blackstun 1-for-1, single, 2 BB, & 3 runs scored; Edgar Soto 1-for-1, single; Esgar Rodriguez 1-for-3, single, RBI, & a run scored.

Once again a well played game, but once again too many walks given up (8).  Scored 13 runs on 11 hits and committed just one error, which will win us a lot of games if we keep this up.  Once again I thought we kept strike outs to an acceptable number (6) which means that the kids are doing a good job of getting good pitches to hit and putting the ball in play, which is what we want.  Once again everyone but one player had a hit on the day which is just unbelievable; a true team effort.  Game balls go to Wes and Tony for doing a great job of pitching a combined 4 hitter and the defense for playing well especially Chris Valdez who got the last out of the game by throwing out a base runner trying to score from second from his position in right field.  Great job guys lets go get Valley.

Coach Summary:  Things that umpires should never tell the opposing teams coach;  I have a date with my wife at 7:00 p.m., but we should be done in plenty of time.  Then for some mysterious reason the game ends due to the time limit with the score tied and plenty of sun-light remaining.  Seems a little strange, I guess I should have wished his wife a happy birthday on his way off the field, but he seemed to be in a hurry.  On with the highlights;  Jacob Frick 3-for-4, three singles & a run scored; Reyes Rodriguez 3-for-4, 2 singles, a double, 3 RBI, & a run scored; Sergio Baquera 1-for-3, a single and a run scored; Edgar Soto 1-for-3 single & a RBI; James Blackstun 1-for-1, a RBI & a run scored; Cris Anderson 1-for-2, single & a run scored.

Reyes Rodriguez started on the bump went 4 2/3 innings giving up 5 walks, striking out 5, giving up 6 hits, and 4 runs all earned.  Emilio Castaneda came in once again for 2 1/3 and did a great job giving up one walk, one hit and one run, however not earned.  I thought the kids played "ok" baseball, however too many runners left in scoring position (9), and too many strike outs (8).  I guess they say a tie is like kissing your sister, but since I do not have a sister I will take their word for it.

Coach Summary:  The final score of this game does not tell the entire story because after the first inning Berthoud was up 13 to zero.  The kids could have folded the tents, given up and been a victim of the ten run mercy rule, but they chipped away and at one time tied up the score at 14 runs apiece.  With a few questionable calls by the home plate umpire and a few questionable calls by me, the coach, we probably should have won this one.

Highlights from this game:  LP (0-1) Tony Zwetzig; Emilio Castaneda 1-for-4, a single, RBI, & two runs scored; James Blackstun 1-for-3, single and a run scored; Reyes Rodriguez 1-for-4, single and a RBI; Wes Anderson 1-for-4, double, RBI, & a run scored; River Barton 1-for-3, single, & 3 runs scored; Jared Henderson 1-for-3, a single and 2 RBI; Kyle Roark 1-for-3, single & 2 runs scored; Charlie Rodriguez 2-for-3, 2 singles & 3 runs scored.  I thought Emilio Castaneda once again did a great job coming in to pitch and holding Berthoud to just four runs the rest of the game.  The team did a much better job this game of taking more pitches, getting on base, and creating havoc once they were on the bases.  Just a little too much to overcome.

Coach Summary: WP (1-0) Reyes Rodriguez 2BB's, 3 K's, and one run in 2 1/3 innings of relief.  Reyes Rodriguez 3-for-4, 2 run HR, two singles, 2 RBI, & 3 runs scored; Charlie Rodriguez 1-for-1, one single & 2 runs scored; Jacob Frick 2-for-4, 2 singles & 2 runs scored; Cris Anderson 1-for-2, single; Jared Bohm 1-for-2, GW single & RBI; Tony Zwetzig 1-for-2, single & a RBI; Kyle Roark 1-for-2, a single; Sergio Baquera 1-for-4, single & a run scored;

On most days it is hard to make fourteen guys happy since only 9 guys get to start, so on days when we have seventeen guys it becomes even tougher.  So far I have appreciated the attitudes of many of the guys who have not got the playing time they hoped for.  I just hope that they can keep up the same attitude as the season goes forward.  Atta boys to Reyes Rodriguez who is swinging a hot bat and hitting over .550 so far this early season, Kyle Roark for taking a beating behind the dish and for Jacob Frick and the defense for coming in to shut down Windsor in the top of the seventh.  It will be interesting to see how another game against Windsor plays out on Wednesday at their place.  I just hope we can find some more pitching.

Coach Summary: LP (0-2) Tony Zwetzig 6BB's, 3K's, 7 hits, and 10 runs of which only 3 were earned in 4 innings of work.  Charlie Rodriguez 1-for-2, single & a run scored; Wes Anderson 1-for-2, single; Tony Zwetzig 1-for-2, single & a run scored; Edgar Soto 1-for-2, single & a run scored; Jared Bohm 1-for-2, triple & 2 RBI; Kyle Roark 1-for-2, single & RBI.

Not a great game all the way around.  We got down early and we never really came out to battle today.  Tony started on the hill, but too many errors by the defense, not enough timely hitting and a great fielding job by Windsor made this game a quicky.  Heck we spent more time on the bus than we did playing.  Windsor only faced 19 of our batters in five innings, made no errors and turned two double plays.  Hard to win too many games only sending 19 batters to the plate.  On the other hand we made five errors in the field not counting passed balls or wild pitches, which is way too many at this level.  We have to stop giving the other team extra outs.  Some postives from the game, I thought, was Cris Anderson and James Blackstun both having at bats where they fought off about ten pitches before grounding out.  I thought Jared Bohm and Charlie Rodriguez each hit some balls hard, but either at someone from Windsor or foul.  Hopefully spring break will be good for these guys and they will be hungry to come out and be a little more mentally tough.  I think we have some skill, however I think the lump three feet above are butt gets in the way too often.

Coach Summary: WP (2-0) Emilio Castaneda 7BB's, 5K's, 4 hits, and 8 runs in 5 2/3 innings.  James Blackstun 1-for-3, 1 single & 2 runs scored; Wes Anderson 2-for-3, 2 singles & 2 runs scored; Reyes Rodriguez 1-for-2, 1 single, 1 RBI, & 2 runs scored; Tony Zwetzig 1-for-2, 1 single & 2 runs scored; River Barton 1-for-3, 1 single, 1 RBI & 1 run scored; Chris Valdez 1-for-4, 1 single, 1 RBI, & 1 run scored; Kyle Roark 2-for-4, 2 singles & 1 run scored; Jared Bohm 2-for-3, single, Grand Slam HR, 6 RBI & 2 runs scored.

Finally got a typical spring weather baseball game (cold & windy).  I was beginning to think it was going to be nice for every game.  I guess we have been spoiled so far this season.  Emilio gave a great effort today throwing over sixty pitches and picking up the win on a cold and windy afternoon.  Wes Anderson playing with a tired shoulder came in and got the last four outs for the save.  Jared Bohm broke out of a little slump in a big way this afternoon with two hits, the biggest being a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth which ended up being the difference in the final score.  Jared also had 6 RBI of the 13 total runs ont he day; a heck of a way to pull out of a slump.  Eight of the nine players scored at least one run and had at least one hit in the game.  When a team gets hitting from every spot in the line up and great pitching from only a couple of arms a team should win their fair share of games.  With the strong pitching and amount of innings that Emilio ate up on Monday I feel good about going to Fredrick on Wednesday with a couple of arms that are now rested and a group of guys who are putting the ball in play.  A weakness we need to work on still is the amount of walks given up.  Those walks always seem to come back and bite us in the butt.  Hopefully the weather is nice for Wednesdays game.

Coach Summary:  I guess I got my wish because the weather was beautiful, too bad the nice weather was the best thing on the day.  I have a hard time understanding how two days earlier our team can come out get a strong pitching performance and hits from every spot in the line up and then with a rested pitching staff and confidence we come out, play the same team, and lay and egg; BASEBALL is the only explanation.  I guess baseball and women have something in common, they are both hard for me to understand sometimes.  The kids have the skill to compete they just lack the mental metal to handle adversity.  We need to learn how to face tough situations and battle through them and not give up so easy.  Out of the 17 runs given up only 8 were earned, which tells me too many errors from the defense.  The kids think the grey uniforms are the reason for the losses, however I think we need to forget about excuses and eliminate the errors and come out and have some fun playing the game of baseball.  We will have a few days of practice before we have to play again, so hopefully we can work on some things and come back Monday with a win against Skyline.

LP (1-1) Reyes Rodriguez 3BB's, 2 K's, 6 hits & 10 runs of which 3 were earned in 1 1/3 innings.  James Blackstun 1-for-2, single, BB, & a run scored; Tony Zwetzig 1-for-3, single; Kyle Roark 1-for-2, double & RBI; Charlie Rodriguez 1-for-2, single; River Barton 1-for-2, single & a run scored.

Coach Summary: Bseball, like life, is all about doing the little things well, and the little things make a big difference.  Well today Skyline did the little things well and we did not.  When they got runners on base they moved them over, either by steals or bunts and did a good job of manufacturing runs.  Their pitchers did not walk many (4) and did not give up many hits (5), while striking out 12 Fort Morgan batters.  As the level of competition gets better the team making fewer physical and mental errors usually prevails and today Skyline was the team who made fewer mistakes.  The nice thing about baseball is there is always another game and on Wednesday we will get to see if we can make fewer mistakes than Skyline.

Highlights:  Received a pretty good pitching performance from Jacob Frick and Sergio Baquera.  Between the two guys they gave up 6 free passes, struck out 5, gave up 5 hits and 6 runs.  Not bad for two guys coming in with little advanced warning.  Missiel Franco 1-for-3, single & a walk; Wes Anderson 1-for-3, single, walk, & a run scored; Jacob Frick 2-for-4, 2 singles; Jared Bohm 1-for-1, single.  As one can tell not a huge offensive performance today.

Coach Summary: Today we received another chance at redeeming our past missteps from Monday at Skyline and we took advantage by making just a few more plays against Skyline to pick up the 5 to 4 win in eight innings.  We received a huge shot from Jared Bohm who started his first game this season throwing a total of 80 pitches in 7 innings of work.  Jared gave up only eight hits, four runs, two earned, striking out eight and walking no Skyline batters.  Unfortunately baseball is a cruel game somtimes and in the top of the seventh our defense let Jared down and we could not get him the win he deserved, however Emilio Castaneda came in and held down the fort for one inning giving up one hit, striking out two and walking none.  Baseball can also be rewarding as well, because in the bottom of the eighth with a runner on third and one out Sergio Baquera came to the plate, who has been in bad hitting slump and delivered a sharp line drive up the middle to score the winning run.  One has to love baseball just for the ups and downs.  One never knows who the goat is going do be or who the champ is going to be on any given day and this afternoon the Mustangs were the champs.

Highlights:  Wes Anderson 2-for-2, double, single, walk, RBI & a run scored; Jacob Frick 1-for-4, double & a RBI; Missael Franco 3-for-4, three singles, two stolen bases, a RBI, & two runs scored; Sergio Baquera 1-for-3, run scored, game winning single and RBI.  We still had more strike outs (9) and errors (5) than I would like, but we received great pitching and made our hits count.  I just realized our team has not lost a home game, however we have not won an away game either.  Maybe we can change our ways next week.

Coach Summary:  I knew it could happen I was just hoping it would not happen against Sterling, but we finally lost a home game this year.  Maybe we can shake things up and win our first road game this season when we visit Sterling on Thursday.  Emilio Castaneda took the mound this afternoon and pitched a 95 pitch complete game, but we just could not score enough runs to get him the win.  As a team we started out very lethargic and could not get anything going offesnively until the fifth inning.  We put up three in the fifth to cut Sterling's lead in half (4-8) and Jared Bohm hit a three run home run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a one run game (8-9).  However, we gave Sterling another run in the top of the seventh and could not match the two runs, to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, to lose our first home game of the year at the WEB.  To little, too late and too many miscues to put Sterling away.  As has been the case all year we get another shot at Sterling on Thursday to even our conference record to .500 and maybe pick up our first road win.  If we are going to get our first win on the road nothing would be better than to get one in Sterling.

Highlights:Tony Zwetzig 2-for-4, 2 singles, 1 run scored & 2 RBI; Charlie Rodriguez 1-for-3, 1 single & 2 runs scored; Jared Bohm 2-for-4, single, 3 run home run, 2 runs scored, & a team leading 14th RBI on the season; Cris Anderson 2-for-4, 2 singles, 2 stolen bases, & 2 RBI; Jared Henderson 1-for-4, single; Reyes Rodriguez 1-for-2, single, stolen base & 3 runs scored.  Emilio Castaneda takes the lose his first on the year (3-1), 95 pitches, 8 BB, 4 K's, 11 Hits, 10 Runs, of which 7 earned.

Coach Summary:  Unfortunately Sterling was not as hospitable to us as they were to the freshman and varsity teams this week.  Two Sterling pitchers combined to throw a three hitter against us today sweeping the two game series this season.  Only ten runners reached base, of which two made it past second, and three were either picked off or thrown out trying to steal.  Not a great offensive day for Fort Morgan JV baseball today.  Jared Bohm (0-1) picked up the loss going six complete innings, throwing 82 pitches, giving up his first and only walk so far this season (amazing), nine strike outs, nine hits, and six runs of which only half were earned.  Jared's ERA is a team low 2.69, which is outstanding for junior varsity baseball and in two starts this season has already pitched the second most innings of anyone on the team.  Too bad we have let him down his last two starts or he could easily have two wins to his name.

Highlights:  Jared Bohm 1-for-3, single; Wes Anderson 0-for-1, 2 BBs; Reyes Rodriguez 1-for-3, single; Edgar Soto 1-for-3, single.  With only three singles not too many offensive highlights.  Currently our toughest opponent is ourselves.  We have committed 38 errors out of 12 games to date on the season, struck out 84 times, walked a meager 40 times compared to our opponents who we have walked 77 times.  To compare it to basketball we are letting our opponents shoot the ball two to three times to every one of our shots.  Bottom line is we keep giving the other team way more opportunities than we are taking for ourselves.

Coach Summary:This game started out too much like the Berthoud game earlier this season.  We gave up seven in the first inning and another eight in the second inning and were looking to get back on the bus and head to dinner due to the ten run mercy rule.  However, we started to wake up and in the top of the third put up six runs of our own, four from Jared Bohm's grand slam, the first of his two home runs on the day.  Unfortunately we dug ourselves too deep a hole and the closest we could get to Erie was six runs.  The team must have something against tigers.  We were swept by Sterling and now get beat handley by Erie.  Hopefully we can break our three game losing streak and get back on the winning side Wednesday at home against these same Erie Tigers.

Highlights:  Jared Bohm 2-for-3, 2 home runs, 5 RBI, 2 BBs & 2 runs scored; River Barton 1-for-2, single & a run scored; Wes Anderson 2-for-5, double, single, & a run scored; James Blackstun 1-for-1, single & 2 runs scored; Tony Zwetig 0-for-1, 3 BBs, & 2 runs scored; Sergio Baquera 0-for-1, 3 BBs, RBI, stolen base, & a run scored.  Jared Bohm moved from second to short and had a great defensive day, as well as his two home runs and 5 RBI offensive day.  Charlie Rodriguez made a couple of nice stops at third for the team today and Tony Zwetzig came in to pitch in the second inning and finished up the game in relief walking zero, striking out three, giving up five hits (of which two probably should have been caught), two runs of which only one was earned.

Coach Summary:  "Baseball is ninety percent mental.  The other half is physical."  If ya do not come ready to play no matter what league you are in you will get it handed to you.  Today Erie let us have it with both barrels.  I give credit to Erie they came ready to play today and hit the ball very well to a tune of 24 singles and one double.  They did not try to do too much with the ball just putting it in play. Their pitcher also was very good only allowing one walk and three hits on the day.  In fact all but two innings the Erie pitcher set us down in order.  Our defense also helped them out committing six errors on the day.  We now have been swept in the last two series by both Sterling and Erie.  It has gotta to be a tiger problem.  It only gets tougher from here with games against two of the conferences better teams, usually speaking (Roosevelt and Northridge).

Highlights:  Jared Bohm (0-2) picked up the loss pitching 5 innings due to the mercy rule.  However, Jared still amazes me with his ability to throw strikes.  Jared threw 85 pitches only walking one batter on the day.  Today Erie did a good job of putting the ball in play to a tune of 25 hits, which plated 18 runs of which 15 were earned, while striking out 6 times.  I would much rather see a team beat us by hitting the ball like today then giving up walk after walk.  The three singles we could muster today came from Chris Valdez, Tony Zwetzig and Charlie Rodriguez.

Coach Summary: Weather wise it was a wonderful day for baseball, very few clouds, warm temperature and a slight breeze.  As for the baseball being played by Fort Morgan, not very wonderful.  On the positive side Charlie Rodriguez had the opportunity to pitch for the first time in his career and forgetting the outcome said he had fun.  And in the grand scheme of things having fun is the reason most kids play the game in the first place.  The team has now lost six straight and seems to be looking to survive the end of the season which will come this weekend.

Highlights:  Not many to be found for this game.  Emilio Castaneda took the lose and no player for the Mustangs earned a hit on the afternoon.  The Roosevelt pitcher threw 66 pitches and only faced 16 batters on the day.  The Roosevelt pitcher was one error away from a perfect game.  Hopefully we can muster a hit at Roosevelt on Wednesday.

Coach Summary:  Well we did muster a few more hits on the day (9) and actually scored some runs today (7).  In fact we were in the game and things were looking good until the bottom of the 6th when the wheels fell off and things went south.  We had battled Roosevelt back and forth for 5 innings and the score was knotted at 7 going into the bottom of the 6th when four errors did us in and Roosevelt scored 8 unearned runs to win the game going away.  The kids must not like Jared Bohm or else he has rotten luck, because once again he threw a great game, but some how came out with another loss.  Jared threw 83 pitches on the day completing 5 2/3 innings, walking five which is more than he has walked in all his other starts combined.  Jared struck out 3, gave up 10 hits and 13 runs of which only 5 were earned.  Out of the 15 runs Roosevelt scored only those 5 were earned.  I am a huge beleiver in good pitching beating good hitting but when the defense commits 7 errors sometimes the best pitching in the world will not get ya a win.  When a team gives their opponents 7 extra outs and 10 runs to start with it makes it very difficult to win too many games and this year our defense has put us in too many holes.  I am never pleased with a lose, but after our performance the last few weeks I feel a little better about our play going into the last two games this weekend.  It is amazing how a little more want to and caring makes for a better game.

Highlights: Jared Bohm 2-for-4, single & triple; Tony Zwetzig 2-for-3, single, triple, & 3 runs scored; Reyes Rodriguez 1-for-4, single & 2 RBI; River Barton 1-for-3, single, walk & a run scored; Charlie Rodriguez 1-for-3, single; Chris Valdez 1-for-3, single, 2 RBI, & a run scored; Jared Henderson 1-for-4, single, RBI, & a run scored.  Bottom third of the line-up went 4-for-10 and accounted for 5 of our 7 runs.  I thought the left side of our defense and our catcher did a pretty good job today committing no errors on the day.