Sunday, August 13 (WEEK 15)
BATS CLINCH SECOND PLACE WITH 8-5 WIN OVER LIGHTNING
GENOA CITY — The Bats ended the regular season with an 8-5 come-from-behind victory over the Lightning on Sunday morning at Torstenson Field thanks to some sixth-inning offensive heroics and 4 double plays on defense. The win broke a second-place tie in the 48+ division between the Bats and Lightning as the Bats finished at 7-5 and the Lightning fell to 6-6. The two teams will meet again in the opening round of the division playoffs in a best-of-3 series beginning on August 20.
The Lightning’s Jimmy Romano started the game off with a bunt single down the third base line but was erased with the Bats first double play on a pop up to pitcher Greg Kaczmarek who threw to first baseman Tom Paul to double up Romano who was stealing on the play. Karl Falkstrom then reached on an error and later scored all the way from first on an errant pickoff attempt to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.
The Bats failed to score in their first two innings, but took a 2-1 lead in the third on Earl Blankenship’s 2-run double to left field scoring Rob Matassa and Kaczmarek. Prior to that, Kaczmarek shut the Lightning down in the second and third innings while inducing 3 pop outs and starting the Bats second double play on a line drive back up the middle.
Kaczmarek worked around 2 walks in the top of the fourth to hold the 2-1 lead while the Bats tacked on 2 more runs in their half of the inning to take a 4-1 lead. Jeff McClellan started the rally with a one-out single and advanced to third on a two-out double by Tom Klauba. Paul Abbinanti followed Klauba’s blast with a two-bagger of his own to score McClellan and Klauba.
The walks continued to plague Kaczmarek in the fifth as he issued 3 straight one-out walks to load the bases for Frank Hanneman who stroked a 2-run single to close the gap to 4-3. The Bats infield ended the threat, however, with the team’s third DP of the game on a groundball to shortstop Klauba who began a 6-4-3 twin killing to end the inning.
In the sixth the Lightning took advantage of two more walks to start the inning as Tom Behringer and Falkstrom then worked a double steal to put runners on second and third with no outs. After the next batter struck out, Chad Schmidt stroked a single down the left field line to plate 2 runs to give the Lightning a 5-4 sixth-inning lead and the apparent momentum. That momentum was short lived, however, as Blankenship made a highlight-reel diving catch on a sinking line drive to left-center to rob Bill Arnold of a hit and prevent further damage. The next batter ended the inning with a flyout to centerfield.
Paul led off the Bats half of the sixth with a single, and advanced to second on a one-out single by the ageless Tony DiBlasi. Klauba, pulling a page from DiBlasi’s personal playbook, followed with a hit by pitch to load the bases for Abbinanti who came through with his third hit of the game, an RBI single to knot the score at 5-5. After DiBlasi was forced out at home on an infield grounder, Kaczmarek helped his own cause with a bases clearing two-out double to left center to give the Bats an 8-5 lead.
In the seventh Kaczmarek surrendered a one-out single, but fielded a comebacker on the mound from the following batter and fired to Matassa at second who relayed to Paul at first for a game ending double play, the Bats fourth DP of the game.
The Bats (7-5) next game will be at 10:00 AM on Sunday, August 20 against the third-place Lightning (6-6) at Krisk Park- Stan Torstenson Field in Genoa City, Wisc. This will be the fifth meeting of the season for these two clubs as they begin their Best-of-3 Semi-Final series of the 48s Playoffs. The Bats took the regular season series 3 games to 1 after finishing 1-5 against the Lightning in 2022, including a 2-game sweep in the opening round of the playoffs.
STARS OF THE GAME
1st Star — Greg Kaczmarek – 2-for-4; 1 run and 3 RBI. Drove home the winning runs in the bottom of the sixth with a 2-out bases loaded double. Pitched around 4 hits and 9 walks to hold the Lightning to only 5 runs and started 3 double plays from the mound.
2nd Star — Earl Blankenship – 2-for-4; 2 RBI. Drove home the Bats first 2 runs of the game with a double in in the third to give them a 2-1 lead. Made a clutch diving catch of a sinking line drive in the sixth inning to prevent a 2-run inning from getting even more out of hand.
3rd Star — Paul Abbinanti – 3-for-4; 1 run and 3 RBI. Had a 2-run double in the fourth and a game-tying RBI single in the sixth.
Honorable Mentions — Bats Defense – Turned 4 double plays including 3 inning ending DPs. Tom Paul — Went 2-for-3 with his second hit starting the sixth-inning 4-run rally. Tony DiBlasi — Went 1-for-3 with a key hit in the sixth inning, his third hit of the season and his sixth career hit after the age of 70. Rob Matassa — His first-inning single extended his hitting streak to 6 games. Also collected 4 putouts and 4 assists at second base while participating in two double plays.
BATS DROPPINGS
The Bats 7-5 record in the 2023 season matches the 7-5 start in 2004 and 2021 as their best record ever after 12 games …. Although the Bats record shows 302 games, the game on Sunday was the 300th game they have actually played (since joining the older division in 2004), with two other games ending in forfeits (1 win and 1 loss) …. The Bats have won 27 games in the past three seasons (2021-23) with a record of 27- 21. Prior to those three seasons the Bats also won 27 games between 2010-2019, with a ten-year record of 27-135-2 …. The Bats .342 team batting average is their highest since 2005 when they batted .346. Their record batting average is .387 during the 2004 season … The 8 runs by the Bats in Sunday’s game were the most runs they have scored since Game 3 of the season when they defeated the Marauders, 9-3 … The back-to-back doubles by Tom Klauba and Paul Abbinanti were the first back-to-back extra-base hits by the Bats this season …. Tony DiBlasi’s single in the sixth inning came at the age of 72 years – 243 days and ranks as the 4th oldest hit in Bats history. Tony’s hit was the 50th hit made by a Bats player at the age of 70 or older, with the oldest coming off the bat of Denny Prosperi (73 yrs. – 17 days) on August 25, 2019 …. Earl Blankenship extended his consecutive games played streak to 96 games on Sunday, the second longest such streak in Bats history, trailing only Don Gragnani’s streak of 113 games from 2011-17. Next in line behind Earl is Tom Paul who extended his streak to 64 straight games on Sunday.
