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Boston Renegades Archives

2008 Archives 8 is Enough - Renegades Take 8th Place and finish 2008 with 8 wins The Boston Renegades wrapped up the 2008 season by taking 8th place at the 2008 World Series in Houston Texas.  This was a banner year for the Renegades as it marked the best finish ever at a World Series and their second consecutive winning season as they finished with 8 wins and 6 losses.   Boston would play the 4th toughest schedules at the World Series and had highlite wins against the North Carolina Pride and the Indianapolis Thunder.  In a year when 4 starters from the previous years team were not on the active World Series roster, Boston would rely on the depth of their program.  Below are the player stats for the World Series.  For more information on the games see the Results and Line Scores for 2008 Player Avg AB PO Player Avg AB PO Haile .433 30 3 Zucarello .250 4 15 Vasile .387 31 15 Silver .241 29 6 Inkiala .375 24 10 Houston .154 13 0 Quintanilla .333 30 8 Genikos .000 7 0 Flinn .278 18 0 O'Neill .000 2 0 Avg= Batting Average, AB= At-Bats, PO= Put-outs on Defense Photo taken by John Lykowski Jr Guy Zucarello Holds up the final out against the Indianapolis Thunder as the Renegades won in extra innings.  The team celebrates around him (from Left to Right Justin Manjourides, Joe Quintanilla, Bryan Grillo, Dino Vasile, Zucarello, Tony Flinn, JJ Ward, Rob Weissman and Chris Genikos) Photo taken by John Lykowski Jr Finish Team Starting Seed Record Strength of Schedule 1 West Coast 2 8-0 1 2 Kansas 1 6-2 2 3 Bayou City 4 6-2 6 4 Austin 6 6-3 3 5 Chicago 3 5-2 5 6 Colorado 5 5-4 10 7 Long Island 11 4-3 Tied 8 8 Boston 10 2-5 4 9 Indianapolis 8 4-3 11 10 North Carolina 14 3-6 7 11 Cleveland 9 1-5 12 12 Pennsylvania 7 2-5 13 13 Tyler 12 1-5 14 14 Stockton 13 0-7 Tied 8 Renegades Split in Philly The Boston Renegades participated in the 2nd annual Philly Hall of Fame Classic in Haddonfield, NJ on July 11th.  Looking to extend their 6 game winning streak they faced the Pennsylvania Wolfpack for the 4th time in the 2008 season.  The Wolfpack ate up the Renegades and defeated them 4-3 in another tight contest that could have gone either way.  Boston also played the Cleveland Scrappers, a team they had never beaten in 5 tries.  That would all change as the Boston bats dropped bombs all over the Scrappers.  Boston defeated Cleveland by a score of 13-2.  Greg Gontaryk of the Wolfpack would be named defensive MVP with 11 defensive stops.  Boston's Joey Buizon would hit .556 (5 for 9) and be named the offensive MVP.  This was Buizon's first ever offensive MVP award.  Pennsylvania would win the three team tournament by defeating both Boston 4-3 and Cleveland 4-3.  Their win vs Cleveland came in walk-off fashion as they scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th to win the trophy  Boston finished second (1-1) and Cleveland third (0-2).  For more details on Boston's games, click here SWEEP!  Renegades Tame Wolfpack With Gloves & Bats! The Pennsylvania Wolfpack traveled to Boston to play a doubleheader on Saturday, June 28 in Watertown, Mass.  Boston won the first game by a score of 3-0.  Dino Vasile scored twice while Joey Buizon scored once to pace the offense for the Renegades.  This was the third shut-out that the Boston defense has earned in its team history.  Vasile was the star of this game with 2 runs and 2 defensive stops.  Evan Silver and Guy Zuccarello also had 2 defensive stops for Boston.  For the WolfPack they were led by Kevin Burton who made a game high 6 defensive stops.  In game two, the teams put on a great show for the fans.  Boston scored twice in the 2nd inning to take a 2-0 lead on runs by Joey Buizon and Sengil Inikiala.  The Wolfpack would roar back and would take a 3-2 lead in the 5th inning as Sherlock Washington plated runs in the 3rd and 5th innings.  Sengil Inkiala plated a run in the 5th to tie it.  The Boston Defense played stellar defense in the 6th and won it in walk-off fashion with a base hit by Joe Quintanilla to sweep the series for the day.  Dino Vasile and Darren Black each had 4 defensive stops for Boston and Greg Gontaryk led the game with 6 for Pennsylvania. The amazing 6th inning was captured on Renegade coaching films.  If you would like to see and hear this amazing 6th inning, please click this link to view the video. Renegades Are in the News The Boston Renegades have been in the news recently.  In early June, the team appeared on Chronicle (A local favorite news show with a focus on New England).  This show had a theme of volunteerism and focused on the hard work the Renegade volunteers do.  Click this link to see a video of this three minute clip The Holbrook Sun (a local newspaper) wrote an article on Rob Weissman and his work with the Association of Blind Citizens.  This article was page 2 news on June 13th.  The tie here is that Weissman was awarded a grant for his efforts with ABC by the Patriots and ABC is headquartered in Holbrook.  Click this link to read the story Weissman Honored By New England Patriots The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation selected Rob Weissman as one of 21 people for the New England Patriots Community MVP.  Weissman was nominated for this award by the Association of Blind Citizens and ABC was awarded $1,500 by the Patriots.  The award was given to people who have made outstanding contributions to the community.  The Patriots Press release read:  "Since 2002, Rob Weissman has served as the head coach of the Association of Blind Citizens beep baseball team, the Boston Renegades. Rob coaches these players utilizing creative practice drills, coordinates volunteer coverage for each practice station and transports players when needed.  In addition to coaching the team through practices and games, Rob also books travel arrangements, acts as a sighted guide through crowded airports, coordinates fundraisers and recruits volunteers for the league.  The Boston Renegades are the only beep baseball team in New England and would not be possible without Rob".  Weissman accepted this award on behalf of the organization and all of the dedicated volunteers the program has had over the years.  The volunteers of the Renegades are truly an amazing group of people who have made an impact on many people's lives. Weissman is pictured here holding the Patriots community MVP Award with Bob & Myra Kraft and NFL Hall Of Fame Line backer Andre Tippet Renegades Win Long Island Classic in Style! For the first time Boston opened a season in New York.  For the first time ever, Boston beat New York in their house. For the first time ever, Boston won a tournament.  It took six years of hard work but in the 7th season, Boston earned its first piece of hardware taking the title away from the two-time defending champion host team. In game one, Boston faced played the Pennsylvania Wolf pack after dropping the past two games to them in 2007. The two teams scrapped in a defensive battle but in the end Boston had more fire in their bats as the Renegades won 4-2.  In game two, Boston faced the Long Island Bombers.  With confidence from their 2007 win, the bats came out booming and the defense stopped almost everything.  Boston built up a 3-0 lead after two innings and then exploded for four consecutive runs in the 5th inning to win the game 7-2.  Game three with Chicago would be delayed by an hour long rain delay  Chicago had a chance to win the tournament if they defeated Boston but they would need help due to a tie breaker situation.  Boston just needed to win.  Chicago came out booming as Boston looked sluggish from the long break.  Heading into the bottom of the 4th inning Chicago was up 6-0 and Boston looked tired.  Evan Silver and Larry Haile lit a fire with back-to-back runs in the 4th.  Silver scored again in the 5th and the score was 7-3 going into the bottom of the 6th inning.  Boston coaches put rally caps on, and the team vowed to wake up and put the tired swings away.  Boston scored three times with its first five batters.  With two outs Sengil Inkiala and Luis Marquez scored the tying and go ahead wins in walk-off fashion.  Boston celebrated by mauling Marquez at the bottom of a pig pile on the first base line.  Boston has won 4 straight games which is its longest winning streak in team history. First Place: Boston Renegades 3-0 2nd Place: Long Island Bombers 2-1 3rd Place: Chicago Comets B team 2-1 4th Place: Pennsylvania Wolf Pack 0-3 Round 1: Boston defeats Pennslvania 4-2 Long Island defeats Chicago 4-2 Round 2: Boston defeats Long Island 7-2 Chicago defeats Pennsylvania 4-3 Round 3: Boston defeats Chicago 8-7 Long Island defeats Pennsylvania 2-0 The 2008 Long Island Classic Champions From left to Right: Row 1 sitting: Rob Weissman. Row 2 Kneeling: Joe Quintanilla, Sengil Inkiala, Joe O'Neill, Melissa Hoyt, Dan Cotter. Row 3 standing: Bryan Grillo, Kristen Kirk, Dino Vasile, Jackie Jones, Evan Silver, Luis Marquez. Row 4 standing Larry Haile, Rick Myers, Tony Flinn, Ron Cochran, JJ Ward, Darren Black, Justin Manjourides Boston Collects More Hardware Boston outscored all opponents in the Long Island Classic by plating 19 runs in three games (Chicago had 13, Long Island 8 and Pennsylvania 5).  The defense was a total team effort as seven different players made defensive stops.  But this weekend the offense helped them to their first ever tournament victory. Both Luis Marquez and Evan Silver each scored five runs to pace the tournament.  In fact these two players combined out scored Long Island and Pennsylvania's total offensive output!  Evan Silver was the surprise of the tournament. For the first time in his career he found himself as the Designated Hitter and he found his stroke hitting .500 (5 for 10) in his three games. These 5 runs equaled his entire output in all of 2007 and he is on pace to have his best season ever at the plate.  Silver was shocked by the award and claimed it was the first trophy he has ever won in his life.  Plans are on the way for a trophy case in the Silver household!   Luis Marquez is no stranger to offensive MVP's as this marked his third award in the past two seasons.  Luis hit .357 (5 for 14).  Luis also played an amazing Mid-Field and Third base as he totaled 10 put-outs which trailed only Dino Vasile on the team for stops on the day.  Marquez scored twice in the 5 run 6th inning to come back against Chicago and was the fortunate player to hit the walk-off hit.  It was the second time he has had a walk-of victory in his career, both against the Chicago Comet B team. Renegade Coach Graduates Harvard! After coming to the Boston Renegade/Long Island Bomber home game in 2005, he wanted to get involved.  Dave Fardo joined the Boston Renegades as a hitting instructor in 2006 and made an instant impact on the team.  Fardo was introduced to the sport from a classmate of his (Justin Manjourides) while working on his doctorate in Bio Statistics at Harvard University.  He was an instant hit with the team from the first practice.  Fardo dove right in and embraced the team from day #1.  He quickly gained the respect of the players with his knowledge of hitting, his way of teaching, his sense of humor and his fantastic outlook on things.  Dave has become Mr. Fix it at practice.  A player gets into a hitting slump and he is off to work with Fardo.  Dave has helped many of Renegades over his two and a half years find their potential at the plate.  A tweak to the location of a players hands, a change in a choice of a bat, removing a hitch in the swing.  Fardo always has a solution.  The hitting coaches love to joke about his black magic ways with the players.  Dave closes the chapter on his life in the Boston area as he returns to Kentucky to start the next chapter in his life.  One thing is for sure, he hit a home run with the Renegades and he will be dearly missed.  Best of luck Dave Fardo and don't forget the Renegades! A Boston Icon Retires in 2008 One of the Original Boston Renegades decided to hang up her spikes in 2008 after playing ball for the Renegades in their first six years of competitive play.   Number 11, Kae Rausch was an important part of the Renegades for years and her presence will be missed.  Kae was a pioneer for Boston as she was the first woman to travel and play for Boston.   On the field, Kae retires 11th all-time in games played for the team as she played in 25 games over her career.  Her offensive high lite came on a run scoring hit against Long Island in front of her home crowd in 2005.  Defensively, she was a platoon starter at Third base in the 2003 season where she recorded two defensive stops.  Her role on the team went way beyond her stats.  She earned the respect of the entire team as she was the first ever person nominated and elected captain of the team as she joined Darren Black as co-captains in the 2004 season.  Kae was a part-time coach in 2005 and was considered a mentor too many on the team.  She not only helped recruit many of the team's players but she also was instrumental in educating all of the volunteers about how to work with the visual impaired.  She was always well spoken, respected and was the  face of the team in front of the press.  Though Kae will be hanging up her knee pads and spikes in 2008, her hard work and determination will live on in Renegade lore for many years 2007 Archives Boston All-Stars in 2007 For the first time in team history, Boston had three different players earn All-star awards in the 2007 season.  Luis Marquez was named to two offensive all-star teams for his first awards of his career.  He placed 2nd in Chicago by hitting .600 (12-20) and then hit .600 in the World Series (18-30) to tie for 4th in the entire World Series.  Luis is considered by many in the league as one of the up and coming stars of the sport.   Darren Black was named a defensive all-star in the Bolingbrook tournament by placing 6th in the tournament with 12 defensive stops in only 4 games.  This was Darren's fourth defensive all-star award in this tournament and his 7th award of his career making him the most "trophied" Renegade in team history. Joe Quintanilla earned the Offensive MVP of the 2007 Long Island Classic by leading all players with a .600 Average (9-15)  in this four team tournament.  He came into this tournament with this goal in mind and dedicated his performance to his father who was fighting cancer.    Renegades Take 2nd In Long Island Classic Boston continued their success with a 2nd place finish in the Long Island Classic at the end of June.  Boston won two out of three games and now stands at 4-3.  This is the first time Boston has ever been playing above .500 ball this late into the season.  In fact, the 4 wins match their season high previously established in the 2006 season.  Boston had wins over the Chicago Comet B team (15-13) and the Pennsylvania Wolfpack (5-2) and lost to the Long Island Bombers (10-7).  Long Island won the tournament (3-0), Boston finished 2nd (2-1), Pennslyvania (1-2) took 3rd and Chicago Comet B team finished 4th (0-3).  Boston continue to gather medals.  Joe Quintanilla batted .600 (9-15) leading all players in runs scored and batting average.  He was the Offensive MVP of the tournament.  This was Joe's first ever offensive award and the Renegades second in its franchise history.  Click here for Game Results Renegades Take 3rd in Bolingbrook The Boston Renegades started off their season with a bang in Boling brook with a 3rd place finish out of six teams.  This was Boston's best finish ever in the five years it has attended the tournament.  Boston got the party started by beating the Chicago Comet B team 11-4.  They then lost to Chicago's other half, the A team by the score of 12-5.  The Renegades then faced the Indianapolis Thunder, a team it had never defeated in five tries.  the Thunder had also placed 6th in the 2006 World Series.  This Time Boston brought the thunder as they rolled over Indy by the score of 13-7.  Boston finished the tournament by almost capping off an amzazing come from behind victory agsinst the Cleveland Scrappers.  Boston is a team that never quits and after falling behind 9-2 after three innings the home town club caught fire to take a 12-9 lead into the 6th inning.  Unfortunately, Boston was unable to hold the lead and dropped a heart breaker 13-12. This was the first time ever that Boston placed two players in a tournament all-star role.  Darren Black made his 4th defensive all-star team in Bolingbrook as he placed 6th in the tournament making 12 put-outs.  Luis Marquez made his first all-star team as he placed second in the tournament with a .600 batting average (12-20) off his pitcher, Ron Cochran.  These two players are pictured with their medals to the right Click here for Game Results 2006 Archives Boston Renegades Invade Fenway Park The Renegades were invited by the Red Sox to take part in pre game ceremonies at Fenway on August 16th, 2006 as part of disability awareness night.   The night included a tour of the green monster, lining up on the first base line for the national anthem and tickets to the game against the Detroit Tigers From left to Right: Row 1 sitting: Rob Weissman Row 2 Kneeling: Rick Myers, Steve Kasha, Bryan Grillo, Kae Rausch, Tom Walsh, Guy Zucarello, Kristen Kirk, Dino Vasile, Matt Nippins, Dan Cotter Row 3: Justin Manjourides Row 4 standing: Nick Bebas, Joe Quintanilla, Emily Snow, Joe O'Neill, Larry Haile, Sengil Inkiala, John Oliveira, Joey Buizon, Ron Cochran, Dave Fardo, Jason Lenicheck Boston's Garbage Man takes home the prize in every tournament in 2006 Darren Black made it a clean sweep in the World Series as he was named to the defensive all-star team in Chicago, New York and Cleveland in 2006.  In Chicago, Black made the all-star team for the 3rd consecutive year with 20 stops in 4 games.  This placed him fourth in the tournament.  His best game was against the Comet B where he made 9 put-outs.  In New York, there was no defensive all-star team...they simply named a defensive MVP.  Black won that honor setting the pace with 18 stops in 3 games.  Black haunted the Comet B team again with 8 put-outs as his best game of the tournament.  In the World Series, Black earned 5th on the defensive all-star team with 25 stops in 7 games.  His best perfromance was a 10 stop effort against the Pennsylvania Wolfpack.  Black is one of the hardest working defensive players in the game.  He relies heavily on his spotters and teammates.  Bryan Grillo and Justin Manjourides were the spotter tandem for every inning of play in 2006 and their hard work helped Black add three more all-star awards to bring his career total to six. 2006 World Series (Played August 2nd -5th) A new format in the World Series seeded all of the 15 teams.  Boston entered the tournament as the 12 seed with a goal of improving their seed for 2007.  After playing seven games in some very tough conditions, Boston finished in 10th place, its best finish ever.  Below is a list of the teams which competed in the World Series.  The first column shows their seed and the second column shows their finish.  Teams with a * next to them played the Renegades in the 2006 World Series. (please see our box scores) 2006 Beep Ball World Series Teams, seeds and finish Team Name 2006 Seed 2006 Finish Taiwan Home Run 1 1 West Coast Dawgs* 4 2 Bayou City Heat* 8 3 Cleveland Scrappers* 5 4 Chicago Comets 3 5 Indianapolis Thunder* 7 6 Colorado Storm 15 7 Kansas All-Stars 2 8 Austin Blackhawks* 6 9 Boston Renegades 12 10 Columbus Vipers* 9 11 Long Island Bombers 10 12 Pennsylvania Wolfpack* 14 13 Tyler Tigers 11 14 Stockton Stingrays 13 15   This site in The Blind and Visually Impaired Ring is owned by John Oliveira. Previous Next List Sites