Cleveland Blues
Cleveland Blues
League Park
May 15, 2010
Bay City v. Cleveland
Bay City 3, Cleveland 4
It was a beautiful day for base ball, but when the Bay City carriages arrived in the city of Cleveland they found a young man driving golf balls in the garden that would be the field of play. After some conversation with the young lad he was convinced to ply his European skills elsewhere. Shortly thereafter the Cleveland Blues contingent arrived to greet the Bay City lads, and after much conversation about the historic grounds the first of two matches commenced.
Both clubs slapped on a coat of whitewash in the first innings, and the Blues even laid on a second coat for the Bay Citys in the second. The scoring in the defensive tussle would commence when the Blues ballist “Buckwheat” drove a howitzer to the long field that split the Bay City long fielders. Buckwheat easily made his third on the blow, and the next striker “Barley Pop” nearly matched Buckwheat’s blast, making his second and driving home the first ace of the match. That would end the scoring for the Clevelanders in the second, and the match stood at Blues 1 and Bay City 0 after two innings.
The Bay Citys would continue to be skunked by the Clevelanders right through the fifth innings, while the Blues would add 2 more tallies to their total in the fourth innings of play. Heading into the Bay Citys portion of the sixth innings the tally now stood Cleveland 3, Bay City 0.
In the sixth innings Dean “Sawmill” Koch would lead things off for the Independents and drove a daisy-cutter into the long field for a safety. Koch would make his second when newcomer Britt “Bigfoot” Venchura, an Ohio native himself, would follow Sawmill’s lead and place a neat drive into the Clevelanders garden. Venchura would be erased from the bases on a neat defensive play at second sack by the Blues, but when the fieldsmen from Cleveland tried to kill two hands in one blow the overthrow to first allowed the striker, Larry “Chuckwagon” Doan to make his third and brought home the first Bay City run of the season. The next striker in the Bay City order, the Bay City Captain, Jayme Johnson, would drive a ball to the long field that would be swallowed up on the bound constituting the second out of the innings and driving in Doan for the second run of the innings. Another blast to the long field by Ray “The Banker” Banister would allow him to make his second, but would be wasted as the Cleveland defense gobbled up another bound out to end the Bay City scoring. The Blues would add another tally in their portion of the sixth innings, and the score now stood at Cleveland 4, Bay City 2 heading into the last innings of play for the first match.
The seventh and final innings would see the top of the lineup for the Bay City nine come to the forefront, and they didn’t fail to excite. Sean “Tanner” LeRoux placed a neat single into the left field and he easily made his second. Tanner’s sibling Thomas “Tomcat” LeRoux followed him in the order, and nearly in making his first, but a neat play by the Cleveland left fieldsman caught his ball on the bound for the first out of the innings. The strike by the latter LeRoux did allow the former to move on to the second sack though. This brought up Alan “The Kid” Garcia, who had made his first on two previous attempts and with eyes on a third visit to first sack Kid tried to put the ball into the opposite field. It was an excellent effort, but a fine play in foul territory by the Blues first sacker killed the attempt. It appeared as though Tanner’s opening innings heroics might be for naught, but Jason “Buttons” McInerney stepped to plate, and like the Olympians of old he crushed the orb near to Mt. Olympus. Likewise with the wings of Mercury on his heels he deftly rounded the bags and found himself standing on the third sack ready to deliver the tying run, after his blow tallied the Tanner. But it was not to be, as the last out of the innings was again bound to find itself in the hands of the leftfielder. The final tally would stand at Cleveland 4 and Bay City 3.
The second match would be followed with more fine defensive plays on both sides, but was derived of the drama of the first, as the Bay Citys, with refreshment on their minds after the long journey, would bow again to the Blues 7-3. After the matches the Bay Citys posed for tin types with the Clevelanders and some relatives of a local ball playing family, the Bushongs. The Cleveland boys then treated the Independents to some refreshments at the local watering hole, The Clevelander Bar and Grill. The hospitality shown by the Blues was by far the greatest, and most gracious that the Bay Citys have yet to see in all their travels in base ball. A bully showing for the Blues!! Bay City cannot wait to see the Cleveland boys bound for Bay City next season.
