by Pete

The Beat Loses Spring Opener 11-8 to Ronin Ronin holds off late Beat challenge; Clutch hits in short supply for The Beat until the 7th, but spirited 5-run rally stalls.

In its first title defense of 2003, The Beat fell behind early against a hard-hitting Ronin team that took advantage of 3 Beat errors with 2 outs in the top of the 3rd inning to build a formidable 8-2 lead. The Beatniks proved adept at getting men on base throughout the game, but left 13 stranded base runners in their wake. Despite the fact that Ronin pitcher JJ Tang seemed to have little movement on his pitches, he managed to keep Beat batters off-balance by getting them to swing at balls out of the strike zone to short circuit threats.

The Beat bats finally awakened in the bottom of the 7th, but it was too little, too late. In tantalizing The Beat faithful, the boys in gray closed to within 3 runs and brought the tying run to the plate with the bases loaded and none out. However, Tang got the final 3 batters to ground into fielders’ choices to escape with an 11-8 victory.

Despite the loss, The Beat’s 17-hit performance and Austin’s strong pitching gave the team room for optimism. “It's hard to lose the opener,” said Kev of the defeat that broke the team’s 10-game regular season winning streak dating back to last spring, “but we can't expect to go undefeated forever. I think it was a good wake-up call, which we started to answer in the 7th but just ran out of time. We were 1 or 2 defensive plays and a couple clutch hits away from a very different game.”

Early momentum for Ronin.
The one-bad-inning syndrome that has bedeviled The Beat throughout their history took hold on opening day 2003 as the defense inexplicably fell apart in the 3rd inning. It was a classic case of changed momentum following a promising Beat threat that fizzled in the home half of the second when The Beat stranded runners at 1st and 2nd after a 1-out uprising. Had the boys in gray succeeded in expanding their 2-1 lead at that time, the home team might have taken control and the trauma of the defensive breakdown would not have mattered so much. But others argued that the missed opportunities on offense in the bottom of the 2nd forced the Beatniks back on their heels.

Leadoff hitter Mike Van Sychle (4 for 4 with a walk) singled to start the 3rd and moved to 3rd on Lorman’s double. A sacrifice fly by Erik Weiss and RBI-single by the legendary Joe Tang put Ronin into the lead for good at 3-2. Brady Muir popped out to 3rd baseman Mark (MSG) St. Georges for the second out before the pitcher JJ Tang’s triple split the gap in deep right centerfield. Tang and Tang both came all the way around to score when the wild relay throw skipped past 3rd base to make it 5-2 Ronin. Then the wheels came off the cart as 2 consecutive infield errors set up RBI singles by Harlan Watkins and Van Sychle. When the dust cleared, the Beatniks were in a 6-run hole.

Clearly pressing, The Beat began a pattern of stranding 2 runners per inning in each of the next 5 frames. However, Special K settled down after the 3rd to keep the boys in gray in the game.

Down 11-3 in the home half of the 7th, the Beat bats suddenly came alive when Pete Wenner led off the 7th with a pinch single into short left center. Six consecutive hits by Jacq the Rock, Mike (Butts) Buttafuso, MSG, Donnell (Big Daddy) Moody, Jim Colletto, and Jacque brought the tying run to the plate before the offensive outage ensued.

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