BATS SILENCED IN 4-0 LOSS TO WHITE SOXX IN REGULAR SEASON FINALE
WOODSTOCK — The Bats ended their regular season with a whimper and a 4-0 loss to the White Soxx on Sunday morning at Emricson Field. The loss dropped them to 9-6 and out of contention for second place in the NIMBL 50s Division. The third-place Bats head into the first round of the playoffs with their best record since moving up to the league’s older division in 2004.
John Eisenmenger (2-3) pitched well enough to win for the Bats scattering 9 hits while allowing only 4 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings on the mound. On the other side of the field, however, the White Soxx hurler, Mike Cavalier, threw a phenomenal complete game shutout allowing just 3 hits in 7 innings with 5 strikeouts. Only one Bats runner managed to reach third base, and they had two runners on base only once, in the third inning, when Cavalier walked two batters.
The Bats had their share of hard-hit balls, but the White Soxx defense was up to the challenge when they had to be. Tom Klauba had a double to the left-center gap in the first inning and Matt Weiss and Greg Kaczmarek each singled to account for the only Bats offense.
Eisenmenger was aided in the first inning by the Bats 15th double play of the season, a 4-6-3 inning-ending beauty from Weiss to Klauba to Harry Mielke. The second inning could have followed suit with another inning ending DP, but the relay throw skipped past first base allowing the White Soxx to score their first run. The Soxx made it 2-0 in the third on a single, double and sacrifice fly. They finished up their scoring in the sixth thanks to an error, a walk and two singles that scored 2 more runs for a 4-0 lead.
The closest the Bats came to scoring was in the second inning when Mielke stole second and third after reaching on a fielder’s choice. Cavalier put an end to that threat with a couple of strikeouts to end the inning.
The Bats next game is scheduled for the weekend of August 20-22 against the sixth-place team (either the Angels or Flyer’s). Date, time, location and opponent will be determined later.
BATS DROPPINGS
Sunday’s loss to the White Soxx was the Bats 200th loss in the NIMBL older division. The franchise record since 2004 is 67-200-2 (25-48 as the Diamondbacks and 42-152-2 as the Bats) … The Bats are 4-25 versus the White Sox since 2004 … The Angels hold a 5-1 edge over the Bats in post-season play. The Flyer’s are a new entry and have never faced the Bats in the post-season … Earl Blankenship played in his 63rd consecutive game to pass Ron Skrabacz (62) for the second longest streak in Bats history. Don Gragnani holds the record with 113 consecutive games played … Mike Steffy (38) and Tom Paul (31) have the next longest active playing streaks on the team … Tom Klauba’s double in the first inning was his 24th hit of the season tying Randy Harris (in 2004) for the most hits in a season by a Bats player. The two-base hit also gave Tom 35 Total Bases this season to establish a new team record in that category … Matt Weiss picked up his 12th walk of the season to tie the team record set by Barry Rindner in 2004 … The Bats ended the season with a scoreless streak of 9 straight innings over Games 14 and 15. Prior to this streak their longest scoring drought was 6 innings over Games 5 and 6.
