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Issue date: May 24, 2000

29"

New Menlo Park Babe Ruth league racks up victories

Menlo Park Babe Ruth baseball league completed its first-ever week of play with 4 wins over Belmont squads, 3 wins and 3 losses to Palo Alto teams and its first league game.

Saturday's well-attended contest at Flood Park pitted league teams Star Maker Sports, managed by Bob Budelli and Ed Mitchell, against the Mathews Carlsen Bodyworks squad, skippered by Terry Spraker. The teams entered the match with identical 2-1 records.

Star Maker jumped out to a 2-run lead in the 1st inning when Fabriano Angelo singled home Eddie Browne, who had walked. Angelo stole 2nd and was singled home by Matt LaPolla.

In the 3rd, Star Maker opened the lead to 3-0 when Peter Hogue singled and, after advancing to 3rd on two straight fielder's-choice outs, scored. The run came when Mathews Carlsen catcher Kyle Spraker threw to 2nd in time to get Browne stealing only to have the ball come out of the glove of 2nd baseman Andrew Stevens on the hard slide.

Nick Neely took over the mound duties for Mathews Carlsen starting-lefty Brendan Lyall in the 4th. Lyall had given up 3 runs on 3 hits, striking out 2 and walking 1 in a fine pitching performance.

Meanwhile, for Star Maker, Browne cruised through 4 innings giving up 2 hits, with 3 strikeouts and no walks. Hogue came on to pitch the 5th and seemed in similar command. David Klein greeted Hogue in the 6th, however, with a double in the right-center gap, which was followed by a deep single off the bat of Nathan Ford, who advanced to 2nd on the throw home.

Spraker tattooed a single to left to score Ford. Matt Gebhart scored Spraker, who had stolen 2nd, with the 4th hit of the inning as Mathews Carlsen tied the game at 3.

Star Maker batters made no headway against Neely in his 3 innings of relief.

He gave way to lefthander Andy Suiter in the 7th, having given up no hits and only 1 walk while striking out 2.

Suiter retired the first 3 batters in the top of the 7th and then again in the 8th as the game went into extra innings.

T.C. Ostrander had come on for Star Maker in the 6th in relief of Hogue. In the bottom of the 8th, he hit batter Ford with a pitch. Ford took 2nd on a wild pitch. Zach Gianos then singled past the shortstop scoring Ford as the late throw skipped by 1st for the game's only error, ending the contest in a 4-3 Mathews Carlsen victory.

Despite the heat that day, the crowd had not dwindled. The drama of the game, the sportsmanship displayed and the quality of play drew an ovation from the stands. League play does not resume until June 7, with 8 league games at Flood Park in the ensuing 3 weeks. Many attending the game said they were glad to have a breather before any more games of this intensity.

Inter-league play continues starting Memorial Day with 6 games against Palo Alto teams during the week and a 6-game weekend series in Belmont.

The end of the first week of play left Star Maker Sports a game back in the league standings at 2 wins and 2 losses. Mathews Carlsen joined the third team in the Menlo Park Babe Ruth League, Anderson Honda, in the lead at 3 and 1.

Anderson Honda

Anderson Honda kicked off the season on Friday, May 12th, with a 7-2 victory over the Indians of Belmont in a night game at the Belmont Sports Complex. Anderson Honda jumped out to a 4-run lead early when Kevin Meehan doubled to deep right field with two on. Lefthander Macy Abbey pitched a complete game, giving up 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the 7th.

Nick Deming followed with a 12-4 complete-game victory over the Belmont Pirates on Monday. Wednesday saw Anderson Honda go down to a tough 3-0 loss to the Palo Alto Cougars despite 3-hit pitching from Joe Duhring. But they bounced back against Palo Alto's Tigers with a 13-8 victory behind Abbey and Zack Tips on the mound. That game featured 8 hits, 9 runs and 5 RBIs by the Anderson Honda leadoff trio of Matt Bowersox, Michael Jorgenson and Joe Duhring.

On Saturday, May 13 at Flood Park, Star Maker Sports hosted the Belmont Red Sox and dealt them a 10-1 loss as their trio of pitchers, Ostrander, Chris Budelli and Hogue, yielded only a single hit to the Red Sox while Star Maker batters pounded out 15 hits of their own.

Mathews Carlsen Bodyworks took on the Belmont White Sox in the afternoon game and quickly found themselves having to battle back from a 3-1 deficit. Behind pitching from Lyall and reliever Matt Gebhart, Mathews Carlsen held the White Sox to a single additional run, while the Mathews Carlsen hitters, led by Alex Bedrosian, Matt Saal and Klein, pumped out 6 more runs to take the game by a score of 7 to 4.

Mathews Carlsen Bodyworks took on the Palo Alto Gators in a Tuesday night game at the Baylands and came away with a 13-6 win for starter Saal and reliever Gebhart. Spraker and Suiter handled the pitching chores the next evening as Mathews Carlsen went down to a stubborn Palo Alto Tigers defense, 2-0, in a game at Palo Alto High School.

The kick-off contest between Menlo Park and Palo Alto was staged Monday evening in Baylands Park as Star Maker Sports took on a tough Badgers unit. Star Maker prevailed 2-1 behind pitching from Hogue, Budelli and Browne. The next game, however, resulted in a heart-breaking 11-10 loss in the bottom of the 7th inning against the host Palo Alto Cougars on Thursday, Hogue, Budelli and Ostrander pitching.