Surrey Indians 7 @ Newton Rockies 4

Indians Roll over the Rockies

We had nearly a full squad on hand for a mother’s day match up against the winless Rockies. After losing many of their talented players in the off-season, the Rockies haven’t been nearly as competitive as last year. That is, until May 11th. The Indians had the task of facing some quality pitching and a fairly good offense. After being out-hit 14-8 and having struck out more than double our opposition, we still, somehow, managed to pull out the victory.

The Indians didn’t waste any time getting on the board. With one out in the top of the first, J. Karls singled and later went to third on a failed pick off attempt at first base. C. Ratelle then struck out on a wild pitch that sailed all the way to back stop, on the catcher’s throw to first base, Karls took off for home and beat the return throw by inches.

The tribe added to their lead in the top of the third. T. Jones reached on an infield single and moved to second on the errant throw by the second baseman. C. Ren pushed Jones across with a screaming line drive double down the left field line. With two outs, Ren tried to steal third base but was patiently out-waited by the Rockies hurler; Myette, stepped off the mound and had Ren’s head served on a silver platter, luckily for Ren and the tribe, Myette’s throw was nowhere near the bag and Ren ended up scoring the Indian’s third run.

O. Matsubara made his first start on the hill and went five strong innings allowing four unearned runs, with three Ks and two walks. The Rockies got on the board in the bottom of the third as J. Peever singled and scored when B. Kennedy’s single to right managed to get past the Indian’s right fielder. The Rockies continued to apply pressure by loading the bases on consecutive free passes but Matsubara ended the threat by striking out W. Shortall.

The momentum kept going the Indians’ way in the top of the fourth. C. Ratelle and K. Neidert reached on consecutive singles and S. Sibley received a free pass to load the bases. G. Nolan then collected the Indians’ third single of the frame to score Ratelle. R. Edger followed with yet another single before K. Grace pushed two across with; you guessed it, the Indians’ fifth single in the inning. The Indians would not record another base hit in the remainder of the game.

The bottom of the fourth didn’t start too well for the Indians. Reminiscent of the days at Tamanawis Park, a grounder to short took a devilish hop over the head of A. McBoyle. Myette followed with a double and both runners would later score on J. Popov’s single. Popov moved up to second on the throw to home plate. With two outs, J. Peever grounded to second but reached base on the error. As Peever wheeled his way to second, another errant throw sailed into left field where Karls picked up the baseball and threw a rocket to home plate. Peever was DOA... for real.

K. Neidert jumped on the hill in the top of the sixth and once again gave a dominant pitching performance. Although he would allow seven hits, they were all singles and came at inopportune times for the Rockies. He would allow no runs while walking one and striking out one in four innings of relief.

The Indians thank all the Moms who came out on Sunday to watch a pretty good ball game. The Indians will enjoy their off week and get ready for a date with the always powerful Delta Tigers on May 25th.

Last week's player of the game voting saw a share of the lead between C. Ren and K. Neidert. Way to go boys. Here are this week's player of the game nominations in alphabetical order:

Chris Ren 1 for 2, 1B, 1RS, 1RBI
Kelly Grace 1 for 4, 1B, 2RBI
Kris Neidert 1 for 4, 1B, 1RS * 4IP, 0R, 7H, 1BB, 1K
Orien Matsubara 0 for 1 * 5IP, 4R 0ER, 7H, 3BB, 3K

Surrey Indians 3 @ MapleRidge Jerks 13

Indians Jerked Around in Big Loss

Rumor has it there was a Rob Aubertin and Rod Wingrove sighting at Central park... The Indians thank these two gentlemen for coming out.. sorry you had to see that.

So do you want the good news first or the bad news? Doesn’t really matter, I’m writing the piece now, and I ain’t waiting for your response. Besides, you've already read the good news... see above.

Central park in Burnaby was the setting for the Indians’ worst defeat of the season. The tribe dropped the contest by a score of 13-3 behind poor relief pitching and poor hitting, The game remained very tight for the first five innings as K. Neidert had a strong outing on the mound allowing only two runs (one earned) on four scattered hits. But it was not E. Roblero’s day as he gave up eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits, including a bomb to left field.

The Jerks opened up the bottom of the second with a double to left centre. They took a 1-0 lead when the next batter blooped a single in the same direction. J. Karls made sure it was only a single by gunning down the Jerky baserunner as he tried to stretch his blooper into a double.

The Indians bats would have no answer against a dominant Jerks right hander who had a big sweeping slider sliding out of harm’s way. It wasn’t until the top of the third, when with one out and obviously no body on base, B. Tonogai broke up the no-no with a single up the middle. The only hit the Indians recorded in the first six innings.

The Jerks scored their second run in the bottom of the third. P. Francis singled to left and stole second. He would score on an errant throw by the third baseman trying to record the third out at first. In this same inning, C. Ren made two outrageous diving stops at third base. Both outs were recorded by Ren diving to his right, getting up, and gunning down the runner at first on bang-bang plays. Both truly amazing plays…

Neidert gave way to Roblero in the bottom of the sixth with the score 2-0 in favor of the Jerks. Roblero quickly found himself in trouble by walking the first batter he faced. Five straight singles followed. Each just out of the reach of Indian leather. The Jerky boys would go on to score the six run max and added two more on a two run shot to left field in the bottom of the seventh.

The top of the seventh looked promising for the tribe for just a few seconds…. C. Ratelle led off the inning with a gapper to right centre. He was gunned down on his way to second base. With two outs, Roblero drew a walk and went to third on R. Edger’s single to left. T. Jones followed with a run scoring double. With Indians on second and third, J. Ubeda grounded out to end the inning.

In the top of the eighth, Tonogai took one for the team right in the middleback. Karls then drilled a 1-1 offering over the wall in left field bringing the score to 10-3. The blast by Karls keeps the Indians’ streak of homers in every game by an Indian alive.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Jerks responded with three runs of their own. T. Jones finished the game on the hill for the Indians allowing three runs (all unearned) two hits and a strike out.

The Indians recorded a total of six hits in this contest... and that just ain't gonna getter done. The tribe will look to bounce back and take their frustrations out on the Newton Rockies next Sunday at Unwin park. Game time is 4pm… be there or else…

Here are your player of the game nominations in alphabetical order:
Chris Ren 1 for 2 (1B, 2 amazing defensive gems)
Josh Karls 1 for 4, 2RBI (1HR, 1RS)
Kris Neidert 0 for 3 * 5IP, 2R 1ER, 4H, 1BB, 1K
Tyler Jones 1 for 4, 1RBI (2B)