Silver Streaks Baseball Classic
East Aurora vs. Springfield Southeast
Galesburg vs. East Aurora
(5/21/10)
Living on the edge, making last minute decisions....that's something that keeps me going! I enjoy the fact that I can just take off and drive to a game, and put no thought into it. I did just that tonight.
I had spoken with Galesburg baseball coach Arnie Gonzalez on Thursday about this weekend's Silver Streak Classic. It was originally scheduled to be a tournament, but after a couple of rescheduling issues, it will be played out as a round-robin. The Streaks original Senior Night was to be played on Thursday, but it was washed out against Moline. Galesburg would push it back to Friday, and their originally scheduled game against Sterling at 5:00.
Unfortunately, I forgot I had a live broadcast appearance at Willits School in Monmouth, broadcasting their final school carnival (school is closing with a reorganization in the district). This broadcast would last until 7:00.
With the rains continuing to fall throughout Friday morning, the schedule was adjusted a second time on Friday morning, pushing the entire day back to a two-game schedule, starting at 6:00. The Streaks would play Springfield Southeast at 8:00, and host senior night. Shortly before 2:00, another schedule change took place, because East Field, where half of the games were to be played, was in poor condition with the wet weather. This forced the tournament to be played out in a round-robin format. Galesburg still had the 8:00 game Friday night, but would play East Aurora instead.
After packing up all of the broadcast equipment and dropping it off at the station, I trekked over to Galesburg and pulled up to Jim Sundberg Field around 7:45. East Aurora was playing Springfield Southeast, and the game was just beginning the top of the 7th inning when I walked in.
Joaquin Ruiz hit a double, and would score the eventual game-winning run to give the Tomcats a, 5-4 lead. Southeast went down, 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 7th inning to fall in the first game of the Classic.
Fernando Salinas was the winning pitcher for East Aurora. Between games, I headed back to my car to put on a jacket. The lights were on, and nightfall was settling in. I had on only a radio station polo, and it started to get a bit chilly. This was also an opportunity to grab my bag of seeds (ranch).
When I got back to my post behind home plate, in front of the bleachers at GHS, I scanned over the rosters for the seven-team field. I thought this would give me ample time to pick out my All-Name Tournament Team. It's been awhile since I've done such a thing, and it's something I have always enjoyed, in picking out the coolest names. So here is my lineup, a starting nine, since we're talking baseball....
1. Idan Ghazanfari (Dunlap Jr. Infielder)
2. B.J. Buzick (Galesburg Sr. Pitcher/Outfielder)
3. Tanner Schofield (East Peoria So. Catcher/Pitcher) -- it reminds me of the MLB Schofield's
4. Mike Ringer (Springfield Southeast Fr. Infielder/Pitcher)
5. Axel Sanchez (East Aurora So. SS) -- everytime I head the name, I thought
Beverly Hills Cop....
6. ...Eddie Murphy (East Aurora Fr.) --- I can't make this stuff up!!!
7. Bruno Visione (Peoria Notre Dame Jr. OF)
8. Kota Suzuki (Dunlap Sr. IF)
9. Tie. Bo Merritt (Galesburg -- I love the first name!) & Matt Schwindenhammer (Peoria Notre Dame -- because it has to be written in tiny print).
I shot video of the Galesburg Senior Night, with seven seniors graduating in the Class of 2010 for coach Gonzalez.
The game began with East Aurora plating a first inning run when Axel Sanchez walked, then scored on Noel Rivera's RBI single. The Streaks would tie the game in the bottom of the inning, when Nate Olin ripped a triple into rightfield. He scored when Zach McCrery was caught in a rundown. McCrery was the second out of the inning, but did what he was supposed to do, and that was Olin crossing the plate to tie the game, 1-1.
Both pitchers seemed to be working by the hour, as the first inning to a total of 33 minutes to complete. This included East Aurora's Erik Rios, who probably fouled back 5-6 pitches off of Jake Taylor, Galesburg's starter. In that same at-bat, Taylor threw back to first to keep Sanchez honest, at least 3-4 times.
After a marathon first inning, both teams went down in succession, 1-2-3, in the 2nd inning. Galesburg scored three runs in the 3rd inning. B.J. Buzick reached on a fielder's choice and Mark Zhorne reached on a really bad throwing error by the pitcher on a liner back to the mound. Noel Rivera threw to 2nd and went about 5 feet over the second baseman's head into centerfield. Buzick and Zhorne scored on a 2-run single by Nate Olin. He scored on a Dalton Davis RBI double. After that half inning, I headed for the exits with the Streaks up 4-1. I still had blogs to write, and a full day ahead of me on Saturday.
Stay tuned....a busy day filled with more Silver Streaks Classic baseball on Saturday, the United/Abingdon Softball Regional championship, and try to sneak in a bit of time at the Galesburg Tennis Sectional. Then, a graduation party and wedding reception all in the same day. Caffeine must be a savior tomorrow!
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