Boston starts the 2018 season 4-0 in Rochester

Boston starts the 2018 season 4-0 in Rochester with three wins in 2018 Beast of the East play and another win in a game vs the Rochester Pioneers.  On a weekend where the New Jersey Lightning pulled out of the tournament with less than a month’s notice it left a field of just five teams heading to Rochester.  Any team set to play the Lightning would now have a win by forfeit.   To help Philly and the Titans save money, they only played two games.  To help Rochester, the host, Boston played an additional game to give the hosts three games.

Beast of the East standings after 1 leg

After one leg of the Beast of the East the standings would look like this

Rank	Team	Record	Runs allowed	Defensive innings	Runs/Inning
1	Boston	3-0	11	18	.61
2	NJ Titans	3-0 (1 forfeit win)	10	12	.83
3	Long Island	1-2	22	15	1.47
4	Philly	1-2 (1 forfeit win)	22	11	2.0
5	Rochester	1-2 (1 forfeit win)	23	10	2.3
6	NJ Lightning	0-3 (3 forfeits)	n/a	n/a	n/a

1. Boston 3-0
2. NJ Titans 3-0
3. Long Island 1-2
4. Philly 1-2
5. Rochester 1-2
6. NJ Lightning 3 forfeits

 

The tie breakers we have in place for the tournament look at the following:

1. Winner = best record of the 6 games
2. Tie breaker #1 head to head
3. Tie breaker #2 Lowest defensive runs allowed per inning in head to head
4. Tie breaker #3 head to head in previous season including World Series (voided if players who play in this game are not on the Team’s home grown roster examples: Dan Kelly, Steve Guerra, Frank Fazio)
5. Tie breaker #4 Lowest defensive runs allowed in per inning entire beast of east
6. If three way tie….its the best record amongst games played in that three teams…then use the same tie breakers as above

 

Renegades open the season with a fresh lineup and beat Rochester 10-1

To open the 2018 season, the Renegades played its first ever evening game.  This contest was supposed to be an exhibition game but with rain in the forecast, we switched this to an official Beast of the East match.  Most of the team arrived about 2 hours before game time and it was a rushed pace to get ready for opening pitch.

Rochester’s, Leah Werner led off the season and hit a looper to the 40 foot arc.  Rob Dias struggled a bit to find the ball but retired her for the only action of the top half of the inning.  In the bottom of the first, Peter Connolly toed the rubber and his first two pitches were drilled.  Rob Dias slugged a shot into deep left for the first run.  Rookie David Sanchez then became the first player to score on the first pitch thrown to him and only the 2nd Renegade in team history to score in his first at bat.  After a Luis Soto strike out and a missed base by Aqil Sajjad, Hot Tub Thayer scored on a grounder to the right side to give Boston a 3-0 lead.  Moving to the second, Guy Zuccarello corralled a ball off the bat of O’Brien for the only defensive stop of the frame.  Rob Dias led off the 2nd with another hard hit ball that went by the defense as he ran by the base, fell on his rear and still recovered to score.  Aqil Sajjad would plate a run on a line drive up the middle of the field to make it 5-0, Boston.  With one down in the 3rd inning, Kyrstin Smith hit a hard grounder up the middle of the field that eluded Zuccarello and Dias.  Melissa Hoyt came up from her spot at midfield and made her 2nd defensive stop of her career to the cheers of her teammates.  In the bottom of the third, Joe Yee hit a laser that looked like it would hit Smith in the head at her spot at Right Shortie…but it thankfully did not brain her, but instead hit her in the arm.  She felt that stinger but did not give up on the ball, but Yee beat her on a bang-bang play to the base.  The next batter, Luis Soto then hit a dribbler to Smith on the right side, but Soto was too quick and Boston lead 7-0.  Some action in the top of the 4th almost lead to Rochester’s first run when Zach Kolbuc hit a hard grounder to the left side that got by Proctor and Thayer.  Kolbuc took a bad line out of the box and his bench stopped the play before injury.  by default, Rob Thayer earned his second career stop on defense. In the bottom of the 4th, Rochester made some noise when their DF, Nikita Bell  made her first career stop off the bat of Rob Thayer.  Fast forward to the bottom of the 5th Aqil Sajjad re-entered the game after leaving due to a blindfold problem and scored on a ball hit up the middle.  Luis Soto then hit a high fly up the middle for his 2nd run of the contest.  The real fun was to come.  Melissa Hoyt came to the plate and hit a grounder to the left side that got by Leah Werner.  Werner had no backside protection and as she crawled backwards looking for the ball, Hoyt raced to first and on a bang-bang play, she scored her first ever career run.  Melissa became the first female Renegade to score a run in a game since 200!  Rookie, Daisy Russell also hit a ball to the left side that Werner struggled to hear.  Knowing that Werner was struggling, Smith slid across the field and while Russell was giving it her all down the bases.  It was fun for all to see, but Rochester won that battle.

Boston would eventually win this game 10-1.  It was a fun contest to see so many player contribute to a victory and to see 2nd year pitcher, Peter Connolly perform so well as the team hit .400 against him.  This would mark the 19th time in Renegade history Boston would hold it’s opponents under one run.  It would also mark the first time Rochester had scored against the Renegades defense.

 

Boston puts out the fire 9-3

On a morning that rained during warm-ups, all the teams wondered if the games would be played to completion.  With rain in the forecast, coach Rob put on his bright yellow rain pants and the games would start on-time as the rain stopped about 15 minutes before first pitch.  Ron Cochran would make his season debut in this game toeing the mound.  Philly is looking to get to their first World Series since 2008 and had a revamped line up with three rookies in it.

John Margist and Mike Coughlin (who played on the Colorado team which beat Boston in the  2017 World Series) struck out to start the game.  Rookie Justin Rhines in his duct taped goggles, bright green cleats and shorts launched a fly ball up the middle of the field to test the Boston defense.   Joe McCormick was there to steal this rookie’s first hit of Beast of the East play.  The Boston bats would get hot out of the gate….but there was some rust to be found.  Christian Thaxton led off the game and on the 4th pitch he blasted it into left field.  Thaxton flew down the 3rd base line but missed the base.  By the time he could correct himself, Gina Natoli picked up the ball for the first out.  On the 6th pitch to  Joe McCormick, he lofted a fly into left for a run.  This run moved McCormick into 2nd place all time in Renegade history ahead of Joe Quintanilla. Rob Dias smacked his second pitch into left for the second run. Larry Haile hit a grounder that eluded the Fire’s defense and Guy Zuccarello also scored to give Boston a 4 run lead as Thaxton made two outs to end the inning.  Zucarello’s run was the 1,500th allowed by Ron Cochran in his career.  The strike out for Thaxton would mark Cochran’s 4,000th batter faced in his career. Fast forward to the third inning and lead off hitter, John Margist got on the board with a ball hit to the right side that Rob Dias could not pick up in time.  Boston answered with their lead off man, Thaxton scoring on a high fly ball up the middle to make the score 5-1.  Boston would keep a commanding lead in this game as only John Margist would score for Philly and his teammates would strike out 10 times in their 17 trips to the plate.  For Boston, Rob Dias would pace the offense with three runs and lead the defense with three stops.  Joe McCormick and Christian Thaxton would each have two runs and a stop on defense as well.  Thaxton’s second run of the game pushed him into 5th place all time in Gade history in runs scored with 124 as he passed Wrong Way Buizon.  Thaxton accomplished this in just about three seasons of play! With the rain pants on their coach, the Renegades would play a rain free game. Though Boston won, their bats were a bit rusty and the inconsistencies in the swings lead to 9 strikeouts.

 

Boston wins 15th straight vs Long Island

Since the inception of the Beast of the Eat, the top two teams have been Boston and Long Island.  These games are always some of the best games to test the Renegades defense.  After, the inconsistent swings in the philly game, it would be a test to see if the focus would improve for Boston.

Ron Cochran would throw a total of 7 pitches in the first inning to four batters. Christian Thaxton would score on a line shot directly over the head of Megan Fink.  McCormick, Dias and Haile would then be stopped by Alex Barrera on the right side, Chris Dejesus on the right side and Megan Fink on the left side.  Long Island would tie the game at one when Alex Barerea hit a lazy pop fly to the right side where Joe Yee and Justen Proctor would have a miscommunication allowing the run to score.  In the second, Peter Connolly would step in to face his cousin, Joe Yee and on a 45 foot dribbler to the left side, Yee would leg out a tough run. Guy Zuccarello then hit a line drive to the right side for a run.  Thaxton scored on a pop fly off the end of his bat and McCormick would also score on a high fly ball to put Boston ahead 5-1.Aas the bottom of the second started, Long Island’s pitcher, James Sciortino questioned the distance of the line for the pitchers mound.  He found out for the first inning, he was throwing from 30 feet and from the wrong line.  Moving up ten feet made an immediate impact as every hitter in the lineup in the second inning would put the ball into play.  Pasquale Agnone  lined a shot off his pitchers hip that sent him sprawling to the ground.  Sciortino dusted himslef off and Pasquale hit a ball down the 3rd baseline for a run.  Fink would score on a ball hit up the middle where the Boston defense struggled with communication.  Chris Dejesus would plate the 4th run of the game before Joe McCormick and Justen Proctor would make stops to end the inning.  Boston would lead 5-4 heading into the third.  Cochran would get on a good run in the 3rd as Zuccarello, Thaxton and Haile would score.  Joe Yee would also score on a ball hit into no mans land up the middle of the Long Island defense.  Boston lead 9-4.  The bottom of the third was a goose egg for the Bombers as it was all Justen Proctor making all the defensive stops of the inning.  Boston was alive now and the swings were looking more polished.  The Renegades sent 10 hitters to the plate and plated 7 runs in the frame.  McCormick and Dias plated a pair in the inning.  Thaxton scored on a high fly ball while David Sanchez and Joe Quintanilla came off the bench for base hits.  If Boston could hold Long Island, the 12 run rule would be invoked in just the 4th inning. Joe McCormick made a nice play deep in the middle of the defense off the bat of Chris Dejesus on a ball that went under Zucarrello for the first out.  After an Alex Barrera strikeout, John Gilroy laced a grounder down the first base line.  Newly inserted, Shawn Devenish ranged to his left and made the stop.  That put the game into the 12 run rule.  Long Island would scratch a few runs off the board once the mercy rule came into play but Boston was too much on this afternoon, winning 16-7 with Boston only hitting for 4 innings.  A highlite in the 12 run rule was the evolvement of Shawn Devenish who would make another stop, giving him 2 for the game and 3 for his career.

 

Boston Prevails in an Exhibition match vs Rochester 6-0

The weather had held out and we had no rain, but the team was suffering looking at Coach Rob’s rain pants.  Those magical pants helped keep the fields dry for the day!  This game would not count against the Beast of the East standings as it was previously agreed to make the Friday night game the game of record as both teams thought this game was in jeopardy of not getting played.  The game would take after a short lunch break and Peter Connolly would get the call to start the game.  Rochester chose to be the visiting team with hopes of scoring first. In this game they would have their lead-off hitter, Brian Harrington in the line up.  Harrington would get things started with a grounder that Justen Proctor would eat up.  That would be the only ball out into play for the first 8 hitters of the game.  Rochester and Boston would strike out 7 straight times as both teams suffered the lunch break coma and struggled with the odd field that had home plate much lower than the pitcher’s mound.  As the media sat near the Renegades on-deck circle, Coach Weissman asked them to have patience and that it would get better.  That promise deleivered in the bottom of the second as Luis Soto would score on a fly ball to left center and Justen Proctor would hit a wrist rolling grounder to third base for a run.  The funny thing is both of those hits made the video from the news who was watching.  In the top of the 3rd inning, Christian Thaxton would record a defensive stop while playing right shorty, a Position he has been working on and learning.  In the bottom of the 3rd inning Aqil Sajjad, Luis Soto and Shawn Devenish plated runs which would give Boston a commanding 5-0 lead.  In the 4th we had a scare as Zach Kolbuc hit a high fly to the right side and raced off toward third base.  The Boston bench got nervous as his path was so far out of the base line and he was heading on to the pavement and toward the bathrooms.  A yell of stop killed the play.  After a talk about safety, the Rochester coaches agreed it was the best thing to have done and Aqil Sajjad was credited with a defensive stop.  Joe Quintanilla would score the only other run of this game as Boston would cruise to a 6-0 victory in a game that had 21 strike outs.  It would mark just the 7th time the Renegades would shut out an opponent in team history.

 

Scores of All games

Friday night
Rochester 1 at Boston 10

Leader Boards

Runs Scored

Rank	Player	Team	Runs	At Bats
1.	Dias, Rob	Boston	7	11
2.	Thaxton, Christian	Boston	6	9
3.	Margist, John	Philly	5	8
4.	McCormick, Joe	Boston	5	9
5.	Dejesus, Chris	Long Island	5	11
6.	Barerra, Alex	Long Island	4	7
7.	George, Randy	NJ Titans	4	8
7.	Hogwood, Scott	NJ Titans	4	8
8	Turner, Zak	NJ Titans	4	9

Defensive Stops

Rank	Player	Team	Stops	Games
1.	George, Randy	NJ Titans	8	2
2.	Proctor, Justen	Boston	8	3
3.	Smith, Kirstyn	Rochester	7	2
4.	Coughlin, Mike	Philly	6	2
5.	Dias, Rob	Boston	6	3
5.	Fink, Megan	Long Island	6	3
7.	Natoli, Gina	Philly	5	2
8.	Dejesus, Chris	Long Island	5	3
8.	Dejesus, Joe	Long Island	5	3