Sunday, April 14 (WEEK 1)
BATS DROP OPENER TO LIGHTNING, 7-4, AS DiBLASI COLLECTS HISTORIC HIT
GRAYSLAKE — The Bats dropped an Opening Day decision, 7-4, to the Lightning after squandering a 4-0 fourth-inning lead in a morning game at Behm Park. The Bats outhit the Lightning, 12-11, but left 10 runners on base, including 7 runners in scoring position. The game was highlighted by Tony DiBlasi’s one-out RBI single to right field in the fourth inning establishing him as the oldest Bats player to hit safely in a game at 73 years—123 days.
Both teams went scoreless in the first two innings before the visiting Bats took the lead with 1 run in the third inning. Paul Abbinanti drove home Tom Klauba from second with a 2-out single to center to make it 1-0.
On the mound Bats starter John Eisenmenger once again held the Lightning scoreless in the third while surrendering just his second hit in 3 innings. Eisenmenger was aided with some fine fielding by his outfield which recorded 5 of the first 9 putouts, including all 3 outs in the second inning.
The Bats then jumped on the Lightning’s second hurler of the game for 3 runs in the fourth to jump ahead 4-0. The fourth-inning rally started with Eisenmenger’s single and Bryan Albers second hit of the game leaving runners at the corners. Earl Blankenship then hit a groundout roller to second that chased home Eisenmenger to make it 2-0 with Albers stopping at second. Manager Tom Paul followed that with a groundball to third which was thrown wildly to first allowing Albers to advance to third while Paul raced to second. This set the stage for DiBlasi — a veteran of 27 seasons in the NIMBL.
In DiBlasi’s first plate appearance of the season, the ageless wonder wasted little time making history as he lofted an 0-1 pitch to right field for a run-scoring single plating Albers and moving Paul over to third. His single made it 3-0 and also moved him past Denny Prosperi as the oldest Bats player ever to hit safely in a game. Prosperi got his final hit with the Bats on August 25, 2019 at the age of 73 years—17 days. The Bats then increased their lead to 4-0 following a walk to Joe Nebel to load the bases, a pop out, and a 2-out single by Klauba to drive home Paul from third.
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Tony DiBlasi holds the batted baseball that gave him the top
spot in the Bats Senior Citizen Hit Club at 73 yrs - 123 days.
(Photo courtesy of Lilah DiBlasi)
In the bottom of the fourth the Lightning followed Hall of Famer Wee Willie Keeler’s old adage of “hit ‘em where they ain’t” as they scored 4 runs on 6 hits that seemed to find all the gaps in the outfield to knot the score at 4-4.
The Bats offense then went dormant in the last three frames producing no runs with only 3 hits and 5 strikeouts after garnering 9 hits and 4 runs in the first four innings. The Lightning, however, touched reliever Greg Kaczmarek for 3 runs (1 earned) in the sixth inning on only 1 hit to go ahead 7-4. The Bats went scoreless in the top of the seventh, but had two runners on base with the tying run up at the plate to end the game.
Four players — Klauba, Kacmarek, Eisenmenger and Albers — had 2 hits apiece to pace the Bats offense.
The Bats (0-1) next game will be at 10:00 AM on Sunday, April 28 against the Lightning (1-0) at Emricson Park in Woodstock, Ill.
BATS DROPPINGS
Since 2004 the Bats are 5-14-1 in Opening Day games, but are 3-4 since 2017 …. The Bats have now lost 3 games in a row to the Lightning and are 8-24 all-time versus the Lightning since they entered the league in 2013 …. Bats newcomers Bryan Albers and Joe Nebel became the first left-handed hitters on the club since Don Gragnani and John Moulchin last played in 2017. Albers went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Nebel went 1-for-2 with a walk in their Bats debut. Welcome to the team guys! .… The Bats 10 strikeouts against the Lightning marked the first time the Bats had struck out 10 or more times in a game since May 5, 2013 when they racked up 12 Ks in an 8-2 loss, also to the Lightning at Behm Park …. Tony DiBlasi’s fourth-inning single was his 7th base hit after the age of 70. The Bats have now had 51 hits by septuagenarians led by Bill Quoss (33), Denny Prosperi (11) and Tony DiBlasi (7) …. Sunday’s game moved Earl Blankenship’s consecutive games played streak to 99 games which began in 2017. His next game will make him only the second Bats player to play in 100 consecutive games. The other is Don Gragnani who set the standard with 113 straight games played between 2011-17. … Next in line behind Earl is Tom Paul whose own consecutive games streak now stands at 68. That includes playing a few weekends with a hole in his buttocks other than the one God gave him.
