Where The Smithfield Aztecs Play?

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Jackson Giants Fall to AA Aztecs Despite Strong Showing From Keegan JACKSON, Wy. (JHYB) By, Chris Moulder Giants Line-up1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Charlie Wild Charlie Keegan Grant Smith Sky Garnick Colter Huhn Bryn Windle Patrick Renz Robbie Caesar Cameron O’Donahue

Catcher Pitcher 1st Base Center Field 3rd Base Left Field Shortstop Right Field 2nd Base

SubstitutesIan Chapman Carlos Toledo Bryan Weber

Lucas Moulder Ethan Moulder Starting pitcher Charlie Keegan unloads on a fastball during the showdown against Smithfield

Our Hometown Hero Jackson Giants took the field for the first of two for a 5:30pm game at Giants Field in Jackson, Wyoming this chilly late afternoon to face a solid AA ball club from Smithfield, Utah. Returning from a much celebrated high school baseball season pitching and playing shortstop for the Westminster School Martlets, Charlie Keegan took the mound for the Giants to start the game. Keegan got right down to business in his debut outing for the Jackson squad sitting down the lead-off hitter and 1st baseman Kaden Barr on 3 straight pitches. The hard hitting Aztecs came back swinging with Trevor Gardner singling and Danny Nevling hitting a double. Tyson Thompson reached base on a fielder’s choice as he hit a weak ground ball to the 3rd sacker Colter Huhn who scooped the ball up and threw home to Charlie Wild to tag out the advancing Gardner at the plate. Smithfield 3rd baseman Jordan Hansen followed with a routine grounder to 2nd baseman, Cameron O’Donahue who threw out Hansen at 1st to end the visitor half of the first inning.

The Giants lead-off batter, Charlie Wild had no intention of letting the Aztec fireballer, Tyson Thompson get ahead in the count as Wild tee’d on a first pitch groover past the shortstop for a lead-off single. Charlie Keegan followed with a textbook sacrifice bunt to advance Wild to second. #3 batsman, Grant Smith advanced Wild to third while grounding out to short and it seemed sure that Wild would score off of a laser shot toward shortstop, but Danny Nevling made a spectacular grab to end the inning for the Giants. Keegan took the mound in nd the 2 and although he walked the lead-off batter and hit the 3rd in the order, the Jackson infield relieved Keegan of 2 outs and Charlie settled down and struck out the top of the order during the Aztec offensive. The home half of the 2nd started off flat as Colter Huhn was fooled on a 2 strike count looking at a breaking ball, Bryn Windle was hit by a pitch and despite having a runner on base, the Giants couldn’t Keegan keep an eye on the Aztec base runner move him as Patrick Renz hit a fly ball to center, and Robbie Caesar fresh off of the Jackson Bronc track team, grounded out to short in his first at bat of the season. The top of the 3rd started with a hard hit ground ball to 1st baseman Grant Smith who in typical fashion, fielded it cleanly and got the unassisted out. After delivering an outside pitch to Danny Nevling, Charlie Keegan threw a fastball over the plate where Nevling took him deep for a solo homerun. Colter Huhn let the pitcher Tyson Thompson on base with an error but was nailed at second on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Jordan Hansen. Justin Crosbie was then whiffed by Keegan on a 2 and 2 count. The Giants couldn’t seem to get their acts together despite some opportunities with 2 base on ball allowances as Cameron O’Donahue was standing on 3rd due to being advance by Charlie Wild’s sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch from Tyson Thompson. Charlie Cam O'Donahue digs for 3rd Keegan who walked to 1st, was caught napping as he

Cameron O'Donahue ( on 3rd) and Charlie Keegan (on 1st) apply pressure to the Aztec pitcher Tyson Thompson

wound up in a pickle before getting tagged for the out. O’Donahue did not take the opportunity to score. Grant Smith hit a grounder to 2nd to end the inning leaving another man who was in scoring position on base. The top of the 4th was not easy on our Giants as Kohn Thedell singled and then Bobby King reached base on an error by 2nd baseman, Cam O’Donahue which allowed Thedell to score from 1st. Keegan struck out the top of the order batsman for the Aztecs, Kaden Barr for a third time in three at bats and forced another pop up out to end the visitors. The bottom half of the 4th had no love for the Giants as despite hard hits from Sky Garnick, Colter Huhn and Bryn Windle, the Smithfield infield was airtight, particularly at shortstop where Danny Nevling continued to prove he had a golden glove as he webbed a screamer from Huhn. The 5th and 6th innings was an absolute pitcher’s duel as Charlie Keegan dealt a fantastic mixed bag of fastballs and curves to keep the Aztec offense off balance forcing them to either ground ball into routine outs or get the ball in the air for a easy out in the 5th. The 6th was Keegan’s best inning as he sat down Justin Crosbie swinging on a beautiful inside fastball, and after forcing Darin “Tiny” Toone to ground out to shortstop Patrick Renz, Keegan got back at Thedell for scoring on the Giants earlier by faking him out of his shorts with a devastating letters to belt curveball. On the Aztec defensive side however, the Giants had no offense as our bottom of the order looked like babes in the woods as Thompson sat down Renz, Caesar and O’Donahue all looking. The 6th was only better by virtue of the fact that Wild who did get on base with a hit, was followed by Keegan who hit a pop up to Hansen at 3rd and although Smith hit the ball, it was just to a strong defensive infield wall who turned a made to order 5-4-3 double play.

The wheels fell off for Keegan and the Giants in the top of the 7th as the Aztecs #9 hitter Bobby King doubled into left, Kaden Barr finally hit one at 3rd to a befuddled Colter Huhn for the error, Trevor Gardner doubled off of Keegan, King scored on a throwing error by Renz, Nevling popped out to Renz at short, the pitcher Tyson Thompson doubled to right-center scoring Barr, Jordan Hansen singled, Crosbie was caught looking at 3 for his 3rd K of the game, before Darin Toone Grant Smith amost gets Jordan Hansen in a pick-off attempt from Keegan nd popped up to O’Donahue at 2 thereby stopping the merry-go-round. The bottom ended as sadly as the previous innings with Sky Garnick getting a lead-off single only to be the first out of a nicely executed 5-4-3 double play ball hit by Huhn. Bryn Windle manned up and took one for the team in a last ditch effort to get something going only to have Renz pop up to 1st. Box ScoresPlayer

AB

R

H

RBI

SO

BB

E

SB

B.AVG

Wild Keegan Smith Garnick Huhn Windle Renz Caesar O’Donahue

3 1 3 3 3 1 3 2 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

.666 .000 .000 .333 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

Team Batting Average-

Game Score-

.150

Jackson Giants (home) Smithfield Aztecs (visitors)

0 6

Pitcher StatisticsPitcher

W/L/S/T

IP

AB

R

H

SO

BB

HB

Keegan

L ( 0-1-0-0)

7

34

6

8

7

2

1

The View From the Cheap SeatsIt seems that the Giants are still need to work some bugs out of their infield as fielding and throwing errors still seem to be flagging our guys. Defensively, Charlie Keegan pitched well from the mound throwing 7 strong innings striking out 7 Aztecs and only walking 3 with one of those being a hit batsman. The hard hitting Smithfield club who plays in a AA regular season was only held to 8 hits and 6 runs by Keegan who along with Charlie Wilds’s pitch selection kept the Aztecs off balance. Offensively however, our lads could still use more time with a bat in their hands as they were not able to connect squarely with the ball. The Smithfield pitcher Tyson Thompson pitched a full game of only 2 hits against the Giants and in all fairness to the Jackson Squad, they had not seen pitching of that calibre yet this year. The only shining star from the plate for the Giants was Charlie Wild as he went 2 for 3 both hits being singles collecting 2 of the only 3 hits for the Giants in the match-up. Sky Garnick went 1 for 3 with a single in the 7th. Collectively the Giants hit a meager .150 from the plate. Bunting attempts in an effort to move men over once they reach first has not been working against these polished AA teams as the sacrifice doesn’t always work and you give up an out. Hitting is contagious but if your men can’t catch up with a fastball, other measures must be taken. “ You cannot hit a homerun by bunting. You have to step up there and take a cut at the ball. ever be more scared of the enemy than you think he is of you.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

And Let Us 6ot Forget Our Ground Crew-

Mike Keegan waters in vain as he tries to get grass to grow where it isn't supposed to

Tom Wild giving the foul line a final check

Todd Smith sprints down first laying chalk only to be blocked by an errant hose from Keegan

But in an act of true teamwork Dan Weber comes to his assistance in Smith reaching first safely

Here’s to those hard working men and women who make our home tournaments a success both on the field, in the concession stand and in the scorer’s booth.