It was a long, and cold night. Oh did I also mention it was windy too. The wind was blowing straight in from centerfield at around 25 mph. It was so bad the light poles were shaking in the wind, they were swaying back and forth.
Oh by the way did I also mention that there was a baseball game played today too. The Cougars won 8-6, behind a combination of Vince Mazzaro and Jeff Sellers.
Mazzaro made his first professional appearance in the start tonight. He pitched well, going five innings, and giving up two runs on four hits. He got the win, which of course was his first professional. Mazzaro was able to keep the ball on the ground and get through five innings. He walked one and struck out two.
The Cougars would fall behind in the top of the first. With one out, Casey Rowlett doubled down the right field line. He would get to third on a wild pitch. Colby Rasmus then grounded one to first, to allow Rowlett to score.
After that, the Cougars offense started to take over. As they would score three runs in the bottom of the inning, and not trail the rest of the game. Mike Massaro led off the Cougars half of the inning with a single to second. Nick Blasi then bunted one towards third base. The thirdbaseman got the ball and the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag, so everyone was safe. Raul Padron then grounded one to first base. The first baseman Adam Rogers then threw to the shortstop Daniel Nelson. Rogers throw was a little high, but should've been caught by Nelson. It went off of Nelson's glove and into left center field. Rogers was charged with the error. Massaro scored on the play and Blasi went to third. Jeff Baisley then hit a fly to left, which allowed Blasi to tag up and score. Jose Pineda hit the first pitch he saw up in the air behind home plate. Catcher Brandon Yarbrough, misplayed the wind and droped the foul ball. A few pitches later Pineda doubled down the left field line to score Padron. Swing pitcher Phillip Andersen then was able to get Jeff Bieker to ground out and Frank Martinez to fly out to get out of the inning.
Mazzaro had to get out of a jam in the third inning. After getting two ground outs to start the inning. Nelson hit one into the right centerfield gap. Centerfielder Massaro dove and almost caught the ball. Nelson would get a double. Casey Rowlett then walked. Mazzaro was then able to get Rasmus to strike out looking to end the inning.
Quad City did score a run off of Mazzaro in the fourth inning. Adam Rodgers led off by hitting a double off the wall in left. Randy Roth grounded out to short, but Rodgers moved up to third. A.J. Van Slyke then hit a sacrifice fly to center to allow Rodgers to score.
After that the Cougars would explode for five runs in the fifth inning. Blasi led it off with a double to right center. Padron singled to right. The throw from right fielder Rowlett was strong but towards the outfield side of third and would get past the third baseman Roth. Which allowed Padron to move up to second. One out later, Jose Pineda was intentionally walked. Bieker came up and blooped a single to right center to score Blasi. The Swing then made a pitching change, taking out Andersen and bringin in Matt Trent. Frank Martinez would ground one to first for the second out. On the play Padron scored. Steve Kleen then got his first Cougar hit, a double to left to score both Pineda and Bieker. Justin Sellers then singled to center. The throw from centerfielder Rasmus was one of them 20 hoppers. Kleen scored easily.
A walk and an error would allow the Swing to score a run in the sixth. Area native, Joe Piekarz then came on to make his Cougar debut. Rasmus hit his third pitch back at him. Piekarz had it go off of his glove for an error. Rodgers then walked. Roth lined to center, Rasmus tagged up and went to third. Van Slyke hit a fly to center, Rasmus would tag up and scroe on the sacrifice.
with a 8-3 lead the Cougars would bring in Brad Kilby. Van Slyke greeted Kilby with a bloop single to left. Yarbrough then was hit by a pitch. One out later, Calvin Hayes walked to load the bases. Nelson then hit a grounder to short, Sellers couldn't handle it for an error. On the play both Van Slyke and Yarbrough would score. Rowlett hit into a fielder's choice, with Nelson being out at second. Rasmus then walked. Steven Sharpe was then brought in to stop the bleeding, and hopefully get the save. He walked Adam Rodgers with the bases loaded to bring home Hayes. Sharpe then got Roth to ground out to end the game.
Swing
| Name |
POS |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
| Daniel Nelson |
SS |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Casey Rowlett |
RF |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Colby Rasmus |
CF |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Adam Rodgers |
1B |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Randy Roth |
3B |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| A.J. Van Slyke |
DH |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Brandon Yarbrough |
C |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Wes Swackhammer |
LF |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Yonathan Sivira |
PH/LF |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Calvin Hayes |
2B |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Cougars
| Name |
POS |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
| Mike Massaro |
CF |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Nick Blasi |
LF |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
| Raul Padron |
C |
5 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
| Jeff Baisley |
3B |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Jose Pineda |
RF |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
| Jeff Bieker |
DH |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
| Frank Martinez |
2B |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Steve Kleen |
1B |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Justin Sellers |
SS |
4 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
E-Rowlett, Rodgers, Yarbrough, Sellers, LOB, QC-8, KC-9, RLISP, QC-4, KC-3, 2B-Nelson, Rowlett, Rodgers, Pineda, Martinez, Kleen, SACF-Van Slyke 2, Baisley, DP-Rowlett (6-4-3)(Piekarz)
| Quad City |
|
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
|
6 |
7 |
3 |
| Kane County |
|
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
5 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
X |
|
|
8 |
13 |
2 |
Swing
| Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Decison |
WP |
BK |
HB |
AB |
BF |
GB |
FB |
NP |
S |
| Phillip Andersen |
4.1+2 |
9 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
L (0-1) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
24 |
3 |
9 |
80 |
51 |
| Matt Trent |
0.2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
16 |
8 |
| Trey Hearne |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
19 |
11 |
| Jason Cairns |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
17 |
13 |
| Scott Vander Weg |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
9 |
7 |
Cougars
| Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Decison |
WP |
BK |
HB |
AB |
BF |
GB |
FB |
NP |
S |
| Vince Mazzaro |
5 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
W (1-0) |
1 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
20 |
9 |
4 |
79 |
46 |
| Joe Piekarz |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
9 |
2 |
2 |
27 |
16 |
E |
| John Herrera |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
10 |
6 |
| Brad Kilby |
0.2+1 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
33 |
16 |
| Steve Sharpe |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
SV (2) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
12 |
8 |
PB-Padron, HB-Kilby (Yarbrough), Blasi (Cairns), SO-Nelson, Yarbrough, Pineda, Martinez, Kleen, Kc-Rasmus, Roth, Baisley, Pineda, BB-Rowlett, Rasmus, Hayes, Massaro, IBB-Pinda (Andersen)
Notes-It was freezing cold outside, somewhere near 30 degrees. With a 25 mile per hour wind. The light poles swaying back and forth where one thing. The weird part was seeing a vendor selling snow cones through the stands. He only had three made. I will say this for the vendor, I was watching and believe it or not he sold one to a little girl behind home plate.
Thanks
David Malamut