Beat Sneaks by Il Pirata 7-6

Reigning City Champs Now 0-2;

2-0 Flor de Cana Manhandles Ronin 23-9

The Beat won a tough game it needed in the second game of the summer season. The boys in gray evened its record at 1-1 with a victory the team had to have if they stood a chance to win their 5th straight division title after losing game 1 to the SF Ballers 8-4. It was hardly an easy feat because Toto, we ain’t in Kansas anymore.

League champs Il Pirata had battled to its 2nd C-league title during the spring playoffs with an exciting 8-7 comeback win over the SF Expressions on June 24. They had knocked a flat Beat squad out of the postseason on June 14 with a 14-12 1st round victory that really wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.

The boys in gray got a small piece of payback for its loss to Il Pirata despite the fact it was smaller in the overall scheme of things and that playoff loss still stung. In a division that includes not 1 but 3 current and former C-league titleholders, 5-time division champion and 1-time league runner up The Beat, and upstart “newcomer” Flor de Cana (where have you gone, Vic Loggins?), who lead the league at 2-0, the boys will have their work cut out for them to win another trophy. The win on Saturday was critical.

The Beatniks now go on to face Ronin next week following their excruciating 23-9 loss to Flor de Cana. The record between the two teams is 2-2.

Calling the Beat offense. Where are you DiMarini Fat Boys? After 2 games, the Beat was only hitting .333 as a team.

Mad dog in the fog

The Beat had a full squad and batted 12 against Il Pirata on a typically overcast San Francisco Saturday morning in late July. They had a tough time scoring runs early against Dave Powell, the veteran left-handed knuckleballer and longtime manager who usually gives the team trouble on the mound. But 3 errors in the 3rd inning by the men in the black and yellow “Final Doom” shirts led to 6 Beat runs, which ended up being enough for a strong Beat defense and the pitching of Kevin (Special K) Austin to eke out the win.

Il Pirata got on the board first with a 2-0 lead against the home team Beatniks in the opening inning. Rookie sensation Mark Gong led off the game with a hard single to right center that took a wild hop past Jacq Wilson on the lunar surface of Jackson #2 for 3 bases. A fielder’s choice RBI by Austin nemesis Freddy Lazurus (0 for 3 on the day with a run scored) made it 1-0 and 2 batters later; Il Pirata got its 2nd run on an RBI-single by outfielder Todd Levine.

The Beat scratched back with a run on Donnell (Big Daddy) Moody’s single in the bottom of the 1st when Jacq (The Rock) Wilson stole home as the throw squirted away on the infield. Both teams were silent in the 2nd before big left handed 1st baseman Bryce Lynn foiled the Beatniks’ “Bonds shift” by lining a backspin laden home run onto the next diamond for a 3-1 lead in the 3rd.

Runs come in spurts

Undaunted, the slumping Beat bats suddenly awakened by taking advantage of a few defensive miscues which ultimately proved deadly for Il Pirata. Batting in the 10th spot, Terry Hempleman lined a hard shot down the left field line for a double that invigorated the Beat bench. Special K’s grounder ate up 2nd baseman Dan Iazetti to put runners on the corners. With 1 out, Jacq’s single made it 3-2. Prodigal Son Gunnar Rosenquist (Beat Hall of Fame 2002), home from law school and batting in the #2 hole, reached on another infield error to score Kevin with the tying run. MSG’s RBI single plated Jacq with the go ahead run but the errant relay throw from right center rolled slowly into the middle of the infield as Gunnar sped home to increase the Beat lead to 5-3. RBI singles by Big Daddy and Jim (The Thrill) Colletto stretched it out further to 7-3, but that was all on offense for the Beat on the last day of July.

Il Pirata came right back with 2 runs in the top of the 4th on a clutch 2-rbi hit by Powell into teeth of the shift to cut the Beat lead to 7-5. The beatniks put 2 runners on in the 4th but failed to score with 2 outs.

Il Pirata chipped back with another run in the 5th causing the manager to anxiously prowl the sidelines as the Beat went down quietly again in the 5th wasting a fluky looking double by the Cottonmouth King MSG just over the head of 1st baseman Dave (Keno) Keenan. That’s when Special K and the defense took over.

Austin got Doom to go down in order in the 6th and confidently took the mound in the 7th. Keno led off with a single but was forced at 2nd by MSG on the front end of what looked like a double play, but Powell was called safe at 1st. Phil Coats lined hard to Armando Lopez at short before the dangerous Gong hit a fly ball into the wind in right center that appeared at first to be over Jacq the Rock’s head. But Wilson hustled back and calmly one-handed the ball for the final out and the win.

The great race

An epic footrace between the Cottonmouth King (a former high school track letterman), Gunnar and Greg (Lucky Luki) Lukoski ensued as unexpected postgame entertainment. The Splendid Stump crossed the finish line by a length over the feisty MSG and a furlong over Luki.

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