GAME 1 VS Cubs

Posted on August 26, 2015 by BMilinkovich

The Battalion limped into the playoffs, going 1-6-1 in the final 8 games of the regular season and finishing 7th. They have the Cubs in Round 1, who bolstered a 13-9-2 record in the regular season, good enough for 2nd place in the NCBL.

The Battalion were going to be in tough against the Cubs, especially with perennial Pitcher of the Year candidate, Bobby Brooks on the mound. The Battalion answered with their own ace in Josh Soffer, who came in half way during the season but owned a 0.88ERA over 24.0IP down the stretch.

The game started well for the Battalion as Kyle Craig took the first pitch of the game for a hard single to left. Craig then stole second before Steve Renaud advanced him to 3rd with a single. Matt MacIntyre was able to get both runs home on a throwing error by the Cubs shortstop. After 1 it was 2-0 Battalion.

The game stayed that way until the top of the 5th where once again Craig started the inning off with a single and once again stole second. Renaud then cashed him on an RBI double that hit off the first base bag. Renaud then advanced to third on a wild pitch before Alex Baldock hit a sac-fly to score him. Battalion led 4-0 after 5.

Josh Soffer was dealing the entire game and still had not given up a hit. His lone blemish was a 2nd inning walk to Rob Lay.

The Battalion put it out of reach in the 6th. With Sam McIntosh on 3rd and Musashi Takara on 1st with 2 outs, Kyle Craig hit a single up the middle to score McIntosh. That was followed with another 2 out RBI single by Evan Hammond to make the score 6-0.

All that was left was to see if Soffer could finish off the no-no.

It was not to be, as Chad Keohane broke up the no-hit bid with no out in the 7th. The Cubs managed to have runners at 1st and 3rd with no outs before Soffer got Rob Lay to fly out to rightfield, and the induced a perfect 6-4-3 double play to end it. Soffer’s final line was 7.0IP, 8K, 1H, 1BB, 0R.

The first playoff win in Battalion franchise history gives them a 1-0 lead in the series with game 2 slated for Thursday night.

WP: Soffer (1-0)
LP: Brooks (0-1)

May 31st VS Cubs

Posted on June 1, 2015 by BMilinkovich

The Battalion got off to a rocky start before the game even started, as 2 separate starting pitchers were not able to start. Evan Hammond stepped up in the emergency start, 4 minutes before first pitch. Being the home team, Hammond had no time to warm up and was thrust straight into the action.

He once again didnt have great defensive help behind him and allowed 3 runs, on 2 hits. Brent Daviault was able to get ready in a hurry and came in for the second. He kept the Battalion in the game with an outstanding effort. His final line was 5IP, 2H, 2K, 0BB, 0R. Joey Moskwa came in for the final inning and got out of a bases loaded, one out jam on a slick double play turned by Kyle Craig and Steve Renaud.

The offence was kept at bay by NCBL veteran Bobby Brooks who threw 6 strong innings. The Battalion were only able to muster 3 hits all game. They were able to make a game of it as Ryan Dillon hit a 2 out, 2 run single to cut the lead to 3-2. Kevin Brunet came on for the save and got the Battalion to go 1-2-3.

Overall a well pitched and strong defensive game for the Battalion. Just cant seem to have the bats show up on the same day as the gloves.

They are back at it on Tuesday against the Panthers.

WP: Brooks (1-1)
LP: Hammond (0-2)

May 29th VS Panthers

Posted on May 30, 2015 by BMilinkovich

The Battalion did the impossible and had a scoreless first inning. It broke a stretch of 5 games where they allowed 14 runs in the first inning. The Battalion carried this through the rest of the game, having their first overall clean game of the season, winning 4-3.

Tier 1 Rookie, Braden McGinnis, had a very strong start going 5.1 innings, allowing 0 earned runs. McGinnis now has a 1.36 ERA on the season. McGinnis got into a little bit of trouble in the 5th, allowing back to back singles, and then a double to start the inning. Luckliy Evan Hammond was able to throw out Tim Gautam trying to stretch a single into a double to lead off the inning. Matt MacIntyre came out of the bullpen with runners on 2nd and 3rd and only 1 out. He got the first batter he faced to ground out to 2nd, scoring a run. He then hit a batter but got the next one to weakly ground out to Steve Renaud to end the inning. Eitan Maoz came in the 7th and had a 1-2-3 inning to earn the save.

The Battalion offense was quiet most of the night. Drew McCormick had an RBI double in the 2nd, followed up by a 2 RBI single by Kyle Craig. The biggest hit of the game came in the bottom of the 6th where Wil McIntyre broke the tie, hitting a solo shot off a first pitch curveball from Jason Oviedo. It was McIntyre’s first of the year, and 2nd on his career.

The Battalion even their record at 3-3 and move up to a tie for 3rd in the standings.

They are right back at it on Sunday against the Cubs.

WP: MacIntyre (1-0)
LP: Oviedo (0-1)
SV: Maoz (1)

HR: McIntyre (1)

May 21st VS Ponies

Posted on May 21, 2015 by BMilinkovich

The Bytown Battalion came into the game with a all time record of 0-2-1 against the Ponies. Things did not start off great for the Battalion, as their first inning woes continued, as they allowed another 4 in the first, pushing their yearly total up to 11 runs in the first 3 games. However, the bats bailed out the slow start, outscoring Kingston 16-2 over the final 6 innings on a cold and rainy night.

Braden McGinnis got his first career Tier 1 start on the mound, allowing 6 runs (2 earned), over 3IP, only allowing 1 hit. Joey Moskwa made his NCBL debut in the top of the 4th. Moskwa pitched 2 scoreless innings before walking the first 3 of the 6th inning. Moskwa finished his 2IP with 3Ks and 0 hits allowed. Eitan Maoz came in with the bases loaded and 0 out and struck out the 2nd hitter he faced before getting a double play ball up the middle to limit the damage to 1 run.

Heading into the bottom of the 6th the Battalion were down 7-6. At the end of the 6th they were ahead 16-7. A massive 10 run inning was led off by an infield single by Battalion newcomer, Sam McIntosh. McIntosh went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs in his Battalion debut. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Evan Hammond who came up clutch, dumping a single into rightfield, scoring the tying run. Defending MVP Steve Renaud came up next and promptly scored 2 more on a line drive single.

Veteran Ryan Dillon got his 10th career NCBL home run in the bottom of the 4th, sparking a 4 run rally.

The Battalion and Ponies combined to use 33 players and 8 pitchers.

The Battalion are right back at it Friday night as they take on the newcomers in the RiverHawks.

WP: Maoz (1-0)
LP: Burch (0-1)

HR: Dillon (1)

May 12th VS Panthers

Posted on May 14, 2015 by BMilinkovich

Yet again the Battalion found themselves trailing by a large margin after the second inning. They were down 6-0 after the 2nd before starter Wil McIntyre found his groove, shutting down the Panthers for the next 3 innings. This allowed the Battalion to claw back and take a much needed 9-6 victory, in a shortened 5 inning game.

McIntyre ended the night allowing 6 runs (4 earned) on 4 hits and 9 walks while striking out 5. With the Panthers leading 6-4 in the 4th, Kevin Miller hit a leadoff double, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. McIntyre induced back to back comebackers before getting Justin Carpenter to strike out to escape the jam.

Defending MVP, Steve Renaud led the way offensively, going 2-for-3 with 3RBIs. Kyle Craig also had a strong game with 2 hits. The Battalion as a whole were able to draw 13 walks, including 5 in the 3rd inning.

The Battalion have 9 days off before they face the Ponies.

WP: McIntyre (1-0)
LP: Bradley (0-1)

June 20th vs Athletics

Posted on June 21, 2014 by BMilinkovich

This was not your typical NCBL matchup. Forget about the fact the Battalion were on an 8 game win streak, or that the A’s were coming off a win from last night and just let the fact the Jose Canseco (yes, THE Jose Canseco) was making his NCBL debut last night. In the end, the Battalion did prevail 11-0, but the spectacle was Jose.

It was an NCBL record crowd with almost no room to sit at Hamilton Yards. Jose came up in the top of the first inning with no one on and 2 out. He fell behind 0-2 before lacing a ball right at centerfielder, Eitan Maoz. He then took the bump and threw a scoreless inning. The next inning was not so good for Jose. The Battalion knocked him around, scoring 7 runs, 6 earned, including a 2 run home run from Steve Renaud. Ryan Meek also added a 2 RBI single in the 2nd inning. Sam Brown continued his torrid start to the season, going 2-for-2 and adding an RBI, all while improving his team leading batting average to .524.

After the bad inning on the mound, Jose tried to redeem himself at the plate but was called out on a called 3rd strike in his second plate appearance, popped out to the pitcher in his third, and in his fourth and final at bat he flew out to center.

Lost in the circus was a one-hit, complete game shutout by Matt Wing. From start to finish he was able to shut down the A’s offense including their two big hitters in Canseco and Felix Septimo. Wing also struck out 8, while improving his record to 3-0

W: Wing (3-0)
L: Canseco (0-1)