March 24: Mudcats at Riverdogs

Well it was finally here, the first game! And out of the third base dugout, the Mudcat bats came out on fire. Leyton led off with one of eight hits in the inning and Adam collected his first double of the season. In the bottom of the inning the Riverdogs started off with a double and tried to go back to back, when a great throw by Ben and a great tag by Jacob made sure that did not happen. The Riverdogs did score a few runs and Jacob ended the inning with a nice play to Sticks at third. After 1 the score was 5-3.

Ben led off the 2nd by smashing a single into left center and eventually scoring the only Mudcat run of the inning. On defense Zack showed some solid play at third base recording two of the three outs holding the Riverdogs to just one run. After 2 the score was 6-4.

A couple of singles by Adam and Jacob, was all the team could muster, as only four batted in the top of the 3rd. In the bottom it was time for the Ben and Jacob show again, where from the right field fence another Riverdog was gunned out going for two. Luke showed some heads up baseball on a grounder up the middle by throwing out the advancing runner from his left center position. After 3 the score was 6-7.

No runs scored in the top of the 4th on a couple of infield singles by Zack and Christopher. The bottom of the inning things began to come apart for the Mudcats allowing several runs to score. Tyler almost made the play of the season at second base diving for a really hard line drive but the ball got away from him this time. Jacob ended the inning catching a line drive of his own but not until after the Riverdogs scored 7. After 4 the score was 6-14.

Leyton collected his third single of the evening and eventually scored giving the Mudcats some life witch carried over the the bottom of the 5th. Where the Mudcats defense held to only four batters and no runs. The inning was ended when Jacob knocked a line drive down with a man on first and fired a throw over to second. Christopher was alertly there for the throw. After 5 the score was 7-14.

Sticks led off the 6th with a nice line drive to left center. It was not enough to overcome the 7 run lead, and the Mudcats fall 7-14 for their first loss of the season.

After the game coach Andrew spoke to the team. "Who had fun today?" Reminding the players that it is not only about winning but also enjoying the game. Coach let them know that the team came out and hit the ball hard early, then seemed to loose focus as the game went on. Stickers were awarded to everyone on the team for working so hard to get ready for this game. Four special stickers were awarded to three players. Ben received two for his two amazing throws from right field. Christopher received one for his heads up play covering second to give Jacob a chance to make an out. Sticks got a sticker but should have gotten a courage badge for taking a grounder off the face. The ball took a bad hop at third and got him. Tough as nails, he did not even shed a tear and got ready for the next pitch.

Great job to all the Mudcat players! See you on opening day.

On three MUDCATS!

Write-up by Frank
Pictures by Tonya

March 20th: Scrimmage

It was great to see the Mudcats take the field for the first time in this spring. Even though this was a scrimmage you could see that both teams were playing to win. The Mudcats started out the game in the field after coach Andrew won the coin toss.

After giving up 4 in the top of the inning it was time to hit. You can see why they call him "Lead Off Leyton" as he started off everything with a double to left field. After batting nine the score was tied up at 4-4.

The second inning showed some impressive defense with Adam making a great stretch at first base and the defense going three up and three down. Some impressive hitting in the bottom of the second with Ben clobbering the ball for a single and T-Rex hitting a triple to the fence scoring 5 in the inning. Score after 2 was 4-9.

The third inning coach Andrew changed up the defense. In the bottom of the inning it was uneventful with the Mudcats not scoring and only batting four. Score after 3 was 7-9.

In the fourth the Mudcats only batted three and after they gave up 7 in the top the score was 14-9.

The defense came to life in the fifth shutting them down and that stirred the bats to life in the bottom. Leyton, T-Rex, Adam, Gabe, and Sticks all singled in a row to score 3 runs closing the gap in the score to 14-12.

In the sixth the Mudcats could not muster enough of a comeback and the final score was 15-12.

After the game coach Andrew has some encouraging words for the team. The team needs to focus on every play and always be baseball ready. A big hand for Leyton being tough. He was hit by a foul tip that caught him square on the wrist. He shook it off and got right back in there. Everyone needs to work on running hard and through first base and never to give up.

First game is Wednesday.

On three MUDCATS!

Write-Up by Frank
Pictures by Scott and Tonya

Spring 2010 Concession Stand Schedule

Date and Time                      Player Families

Friday, March 26 4:45PM - 7:00PM:        Proctor and Hurand

Friday, March 26 7:00PM - 9:15PM:        Proctor and Bloebaum

Thursday, April 29 4:45PM - 7:00PM:     Mitchell and Gruskin

Thursday, April 29 7:00PM - 9:15PM:     Maciejewski and Barnacascel

Thursday, June 3 4:45PM - 7:00PM:      Trexler and Hegeman

Thursday, June 3 7:00PM - 9:15PM:      Lever and Alberghina

March 14th

Practice today is a go! We will be using the batting cages. Group 1 starts at 3:10: Jacob Mac, Adam, and Gabe. Group 2 starting at 3:30: Luke, Tyler, and Leyton. Group 3 starting at 3:50: Smiley, Charley, Ben, and Zach. Group 4 starting at 4:10: Andrew, Christopher, and Anthony.

March 9th: Practice

With the Mudcats gearing up for opening day, practices are starting to get a little more intense. Starting off in the cages where coach Andrew had the boys hitting, hitting, and hitting again. The bats are really starting to come alive in there. After a warm up lap and some stretching it was time to take the field.

The first infield consisted of Sticks, Anthony, Tyler, Leyton, and Luke. They were looking sharp running through the drills with what is starting to look like precision. While in the outfield there were big flies from the foul line to the 162 sign in center. Then it was time to switch with Zack, Christopher, Gabe, Charley, Ben, and Smiley taking the diamond.

After infield it was time for a one inning scrimmage between the two squads. Leyton led off the inning with a two hop double off the wall. The rest of the team hit well and went twice through the line up. In the bottom of the inning the hits continued. Christopher had a big one into the outfield and Ben had himself a couple of triples. Smiley was absolutely robbed buy his sister at first base on what would have defiantly been a double, not fair! We seen some hard running from Gabe showing the rest of the team what is expected of from all of them.

The relay race was a photo finish with the lead going back and forth between the two teams. Then coach Andrew had to race half the team around the bases, fortunately no hamstrings were pulled.

18 days until opening day.

On three MUDCATS!!!

March 6th: Practice

What a beautiful day for baseball with a slight chill in the air and blue sky's above. Almost all the players took batting practice with their jackets and sweatshirts on. Things got exciting for a moment when Sticks ripped one that found a hole in the netting. Tyler must have had some good aim for he was the next to bat and found the same hole. Overall everyone was looking good in the cages.
The Mudcats took the field and set up three different stations. With only 8 players they were really worked hard by the coaches. Ground ball after ground ball went flying across the infield. After skills work came a little 4 on 4 with some good situational fielding play.
The players really look like they are shaking off the rust from the long winter offseason, and it looks like Mudcats are going to have a solid spring team.

Mudcats Welcome Spring 2010 Players

This Spring West Raleigh Minor League will have a 13 man roster. With 6 returning players, the Mudcats drafted 7 new players to the team including brothers, Luke and Gabe Proctor, Zachary Hurand, Charley Hegeman, Christoper Gruskin, Anthony Alberghina, and Benjamin Lever.

The complete numbered roster for this Spring includes:

# 1 Adam Bloebaum
# 2 Jacob Maciejewski
# 3 Jacob Mitchell

# 4 Gabe Proctor

# 6 Charley Hegeman
# 7 Tyler Trexler

# 10 Benjamin Lever

# 11 Andrew DiMeo, Jr.

# 13 Christopher Gruskin
# 20 Luke Proctor

# 23 Leyton Barnacascel
# 28 Zachary Hurand

# 48 Anthony Alberghina

The team will practice together for the first time after their 5:30 team meeting on Tuesday, February 23rd.