Kane County 6, Burlington 5 Kane County Cougars at Burlington Bees
Thursday, April 4th, 2002
Community Field, Burlington, Iowa

Fulchino Starts Out Year Right


Cougars Pitcher Jeff Fulchino started out the 2002 season with a bang. He pitched five good inning, and was dominant in his outing. Jeff gave up two runs, neither of those runs were earned. Since the deffense had it's moments of keystone cops. He walked two and struck out 10. Fulchino struck out four of the first six outs. Then in the third inning he struck out the side. Fulchino lead off the fourth, and closed the fourth with strikeouts. The one to close the inning would be his last of the night. His final inning the deffense started to give way, Two errors in the inning, alowed both of the runs to score.

Fulchino threw 74 pitches, 54 of them were for strikes. He went to three ball counts on only three of the 20 hitters he faced. Fulchino is in his second professional season, his first full season. Last year at Utica he went 3-8 with a 3.56 era. He spent the majority of the year last year finishing up his college season at the University of Conneticut. This is the first time as a pro that he has struck out more than five in a start.

Mike Stodolka started for the Bees, and the way this game was going I thought it was going to be a 1-0 game. The first hit wasn't untill the fourth inning off of Fulchino. Stodolka did not give up a hit in his sixth innings of work. Just like Fulchino, Stodolka threw good. He walked two and struck out eight. Stodolka threw 76 pitches, 46 were strikes. He struck out two in an inning in the fifth and the sixth innings, and three in the first.

Scott Hicks had two singles in four at-bats. He also scored two runs, and had a walk. Charles Frazier added two hits, both singles. He drove home one run and scored two.

The scoring leadoff with the Bees in the fifth inning when, John Draper lead off the inning by reaching on an error by shortstop Rex Rundgren. On the play Rex threw the ball two far in the dirt in front of Stokes at first base. Jonathan Guzman then bunted him to second. The only problem was that he beat the throw to first for a hit. Victor Rosario then put down a good sacrifice bunt to get the runners to second and third with only one out. James Shanks blooped one to right, the rightfielder Charles Frazier, I guess misjudged the ball in the lights or something. It hit off of his glove and droped for an error. On the play Draper would score and everyone else would move up a base. Brett Groves then hit into a fielder's choice at second. On the play Guzman would score to make the score 2-0 Bees.

In the sixth inning the Bees would send Galindo Gomez to the plate with one out, and he hit a liner over the billboards in left center to put the Bees up by three.

The Cougars did get some offense going, but it wasn't untill the second half of the game. In the seventh inning, Scott Hicks singled to center. Jason Stokes then walked. Reliever Ryan Douglass then threw a wild pitch that went between the catchers legs and hit against the back stop. Winton Zapay then lined out to leftfield. Charles Frazier singled to right to score Hicks. Michael Tucker then took Douglass deep over all of the billboards to left field for a three run homer. Douglass then came back and struck the next two Cougars out.

The Bees would counter the Cougars big inning by scoring one more run of their own. Guzman lead off the inning with a walk. Rosario sacrificed him over. Shanks then poped up to second. Groves drove home Guzman with a single to right.

Scott Hicks then in the eighth inning would help the Cougars put a run on the board when he singled to right. Jason Stokes then doubled to right to bring home Hicks to give the Cougars the lead.

In the ninth inning the Cougars would score some more runs when, Frazier lead off the inning with a single to center. Michael Tucker then tried to bunt him over, the pitcher got the ball but three it down the line. Kris Clute then walked. Rex Rundgren and Anthony Brewer both struck out. William Arroyo grounded one to short, for what looked like a sure out, the ball I guess ate him up and he booted it. On the play Frazier would score.

The Bees made the game interesting in the bottom of the ninth when Guzman lead of the inning with a walk. Rosario then got him to second on his groundout to short. Shanks then bunted back to the pitcher, Cave. Cave threw the ball into rightfield. With Groves up to bat, and the next pitch after Cougars pitching coach Gil Lopez came to the mound. Cave threw to first, the ball went up the line and Shanks moved on to third. Groves struck out. Chris Fallon then poped out to short to end the game. The pop up to short was made to be an adventure.

Cougars
Name POS AB R H RBI
Anthony Brewer CF 5 0 0 0
William Arroyo 2B 4 0 0 0
Scott Hicks LF 4 2 2 0
Jason Stokes 1B 3 1 1 1
Winton Zapay C 4 0 0 0
Charles Frazier RF 4 2 2 1
Michael Tucker 3B 4 1 1 3
Kris Clute DH 3 0 0 0
Rex Rundgren SS 3 0 0 0
Bees
Name POS AB R H RBI
James Shanks CF 5 0 1 0
Brett Groves SS 5 0 1 1
Chris Fallon 1B 4 0 1 0
Galindo Gomez 3B 4 1 1 1
J.D. Alleva DH 3 0 1 0
Ruben Gotay 2B 3 0 0 0
John Draper C 4 1 0 0
Jonathan Guzman RF 2 3 1 0
Victor Rosario LF 2 0 0 0
E-Rundgren, Frazier, Groves, Armitage, LOB-Cougars-5, Bees-7, RLISP-Cougars-2, Bees-3, 2B-Stokes, HR-Tucker (Stodolka), Gomez (Ungs), RBI-Stokes, Frazier, Tucker 2, Groves, Gomez, SACB-Rosario 2, CS-Arroyo, Groves
Kane County 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 6 6 2
Burlington 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 1 5 6 2
Cougars
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison WP BK HB AB BF GB FB NP S
Jeff Fulchino 5 2 2 0 2 10 ND 0 0 0 17 20 4 0 74 54
Nic Ungs 2 3 2 2 1 2 W (1-0) 0 1 1 8 11 1 3 28 17
Elvis DeJesus 1 0 0 0 0 1 ND 0 0 0 3 3 1 1 7 6
Kevin Cave 1 1 1 0 1 1 SV (1) 0 0 0 4 5 1 1 22 11
Bees
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison WP BK HB AB BF GB FB NP S
Mike Stodolka 5.2 0 0 0 2 8 ND 0 0 0 17 19 5 4 76 46
Ryan Douglass 1.1 3 4 4 1 3 L (0-1) 1 0 0 7 8 0 1 39 24
Paul Sanchez 1 2 1 1 1 1 ND 0 0 0 4 5 0 1 22 13
Barry Armitage 1 1 1 0 1 2 ND 0 0 0 6 7 0 1 22 12
BK-Ungs, HB-Alleva (Ungs), WP-Douglass, SO-Brewer 4, Arroyo 2, Stokes, Zapay, Frazier, Clute 2, Rundgren 3, Shanks, Groves 3, Fallon 2, Gomez 2, Gotay 2, Draper, Guzman, Rosario, BB-Arroyo, Hicks, Stokes, Clute, Rundgren, Fallon, Gotay, Guzman 2
T-3:15
A-502
H-(0), A-(502)(1), T-(502)(1)


Today's Birthdays
Jim Dedrick, P (91) 34
Bo Ortiz, OF (91) 32
Reece Borges, P (98) 26


Ok lets see what happend today, well I think Sue Warners tongue froze since she didn't talk most of the game. The temperature when the game was over was around 25 degress, the only good part was there was no wind. Ill see you all in Kane County on Sunday for the home opener. Remember Sedivey's head gets shaved since they won the title last year, the time he gets it at home plate. Im still going to be in Burlington for the next two days so the website will not be updated.


Thank You
David Malamut
email-dmalshere1@yahoo.com
website-members.core.com/~malshere