by Pete

The Beat ends Spring on Up Note Briscoe and Rosenquist pace offense as bats finally come alive in 18-12 win over Loose Cannons; defense solid; team finishes disappointing spring at 3-5

A perplexing season of what ifs came to a close with a bang as The Beat offensive attack reawakened and put on a clinic in what might have been. Entering the game at 2-5 and coming off demoralizing losses to the Nine Inch Snails (15-6) and Loose Cannons (9-5) in which the slump-ridden Beatniks could never get a rally together, the boys in gray broke out with 7 runs in the bottom of the 2^nd inning and scored in every inning thereafter.  The defense, led by Mark St. Georges at second base, came together behind Kevin Austin to shut down potential game-breaking Cannons rallies in the early innings.  MSG made sparkling inning-ending snares of sinking line drives up the middle with the bases loaded in the 1^st and 2 runners on in the 2^nd to keep the game in check while the Beat fought back and took over.

Now 10-1 in games over the past two years in which it scored 10 runs or more, The Beat showed flashes of the kind of game control that characterized last summer’s 5-2-1 season.  Unlike its other two Spring wins against the 7-1 division champion Joey Js (16-8) and the last place Renegades (18-8), which were characterized by big 1-inning outbursts, the Beat scored in every inning against the Loose Cannons following the 2^nd inning explosion and made it easy for the pitching and defense to relax behind it.

The May 18 game was a makeup of the opening day rainout against the same Loose Cannons team that on May 11 had held Beat hitters to a mere 5 runs on only 6 hits.  The game was rescheduled on the bandbox Jackson #2 after all 7 previous games had been played on the hated Jackson #1 with its howling wind blowing in to make long fly balls routine outs.  As The Beat blew its lead out to 12-5 in the 3^rd, one disbelieving Cannons player was overheard to remark “This doesn’t look like the same team from last week.”  Indeed, the double meaning was obvious enough as the most recognizable Beatnik, power hitting Donnell Moody, was off in Disneyland, but the Beat team on the field seemed to have undergone an overnight transformation.   

Third baseman Mark Briscoe paced the offense with a 2 for 3, 3 rbi day with a double and home run standing out in the boxscore.  Catcher Gunnar Rosenquist went 3 for 4 with 2 rbis and shared game balls with Briscoe.  Defensive hero MSG was 2 for 4 with a triple and 2 ribbies. 

With the Loose Cannons up 3-0 in the top of the 2^nd and 1 on, none out in the 2^nd, Briscoe hammered a prodigious 2-run blast into the jet stream to deep left field.  After Jacque Wilson’s (2 for 2) single, Steve Hinkebein and Greg Lukoski patiently waited out a wild Cannons starting pitcher to load the bases.  A walk to Austin forced in the tying run before fielders choice grounders by Brian Arcuri and Jacq Wilson (batting leadoff) made it 5-3 Beat. 

That set up what was arguably the most exciting play of the Beat spring.  Gunnar and Jacq ran with abandon on the basepaths to “steal” a run after Gunnar’s RBI single plated Arcuri.  As the pitcher took the cutoff throw and fired to 2^nd to get Gunnar trying to stretch a single into a double, Jacq surprised the Cannons defense by dashing home from third and just beat the accurate throw from second baseman Dyer.  Trying for more, the Splendid Stump was gunned out at third on the ensuing catcher’s throw.  But when the dust cleared, The Beat was out in front 7-3 and understandably fired up.

The Cannons clawed back to make it 7-5 in the bottom of the 2^nd on an rbi triple by Dyer and single by Luong.  Based on earlier spring disappointments, Beat fans must have wondered if their heroes had spent their offensive wads.  But the boys in gray answered all doubts by striking back quickly. 

MSG led off with a triple down the right field line and the Thrill plated him with a single before scooting down to 2^nd on the throw.  Briscoe then drove in Colletto with a double to center.  Still with none out, Steve Hinkebein and Greg Lukoski drove in single runs before BJ Bateman reached on the second baseman’s error to make it 12-5 Beat.

The Loose Cannons kept up the drama by coming back with 3 tallies in the 3^rd to make it 12-8.  The Beat answered with another run in the 4^th, but a 2-run homer by Fung with none out closed it to a nail-biting 13-10 in the home half. 

In the 5^th inning, the Beatniks pulled away.  Pete Wenner, pinch hitting for Jacque, who had to leave the game due to an aggravated achilles tendon, doubled down the left field line and came out for pinch runner Mark Briscoe.  With 2-on, Luki’s hard-hit grounder skipped through the shortstop’s legs for an error that cleared the bases and opened the floodgates for rbi singles by Arcuri, Rosenquist and MSG.  It was 18-10 heading into the top of the 5^th with 5 minutes to go.  The never-say-die Cannons scored 2 quick runs courtesy of a tricky line drive that bounced away from Luki and Hinke.  But Kevin got the top of the order Dyer, Wong and Luong to fly out to Steve, Luki and Steve again to end it.

The convincing 18-12 win brought a sense of optimism to The Beat clubhouse as it heads into the mid-season break and a summer tournament at Twin Creeks in Santa Clara.  The team again showed signs of coming out of a teamwide offensive slump that, except for brief big-scoring outbursts in games #1 and #5, stretched back over 10 games to last summer.  It put a crescendo on a disheartening spring that began with high hopes after a 16-8 rout of defending C-6 champs Joey Js.

Beat teammates refused to believe the extended offensive droughts of the spring would last.  “I guarantee myself, Jacq, and Steve will not hit in the .300s this summer, not to mention MSG.  Luki, Kevin, BJ and Brian won’t stay down.  They’ve all done it too many times before.” said Jacque Wilson as he sipped a beer in the right field party corner after the game. 

The lackluster spring was indeed marked by an offensive brownout that kept the team batting average under .400 for most of the season.  It took a 16-hit outburst in the season finale to raise the team batting average and on-base percentages to only .407 and .524, significantly below the .474 and .574 plateaus of last summer.   Additionally, the team struggled without Mike (Pizza Man) Weiss, who landed a Saturday job that kept him out of all but 2 spring games.   The boys in gray missed the enthusiasm of inveterate park rat and current Brass Beat holder Pizza Man, who had solidified the defense in the summer of 2001 with his stellar play at shortstop.  

To add to the woes, Kevin and Dennis (OB) O’Brien both had uncharacteristically rough springs on the mound.  Kevin saw his ERA nearly double from a sparkling 5.60 last summer to 10.50 in the spring.  His win/loss record dropped to 2-3, down from 5-1-1 in the championship season.  Suffering from a pulled hamstring and a variety of aches and pains, OB’s ERA ballooned from 6.00 in 2001 to 16.80 in 10 innings.  His record was 1-2.

The leaderboard had Big Daddy leading the way in average and on base percentage at .571 and .636, respectively.  Gunnar (.464 and .571) and Jim (.429 and .522) were second and third in both categories.  Donnell also led the team in slugging, rbis and extra base hits.  Gunnar took the hit and run titles.  Austin led the team in walks with 3.  Indicative of the teamwide offensive drought that colored the spring in which several accomplished hitters saw their averages mired under .400, Jacque and MSG rounded out the leaderboard in batting average at .380 and .350, respectively. 

Having spread their three wins out over the 1^st, 5^th and 8^th games, only time will tell if the Beat bats really have awakened, but “we have a team of proven hitters with explosive speed”, Gunnar said optimistically.  “Kevin has turned it around (on the mound) thanks to working fast and going with pitches like the backspin.  I’m looking forward to this team getting back to what it can do in the summer.  We're still darn good, we've just not been playing good.  That’ll turn around.”

To a man, The Beat cheered the closing of Jackson Playground to a much-needed renovation scheduled to begin in early June.  Since work will not be completed until August, Saturday C-league teams will play the first several games at historic Moscone Playground, once considered a home field to the boys in gray when they played Sunday pickup games there against the SF Brewing Co. way back in 1987.  Hope still springs eternal as we settle into a much-needed break and anxiously await the summer.

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On The BEAT News Archive

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