Pirates Schedule

On a hot May night at Ford Field in Livonia the Pirates visited the A's to open the 30th season of the Detroit MSBL!

Intrigue, excitement, questions abound for the 18+ Bucs: will they tighten up the defense from last year, who will have a breakthough season, will Conner Welby match his monster campaign from last year (35 hits, 0.633 OBP)?

Nick Spillane, former Pirate himself, took the pill for the A's facing off against fellow workhorse Dustin Swarthout for the crew.

The Bucs got off to a promising start in the 1st, loading the bases with no outs, but a combination of infield hits combined for an out at home and two at first, leaving the inning without a run. An ominous sign that perpetuated throughout the game.

Dustin cleaned up nicely through the first 2 innings without yielding a single hit and only one baserunner. But the Bucs flailed away, and couldn't muster a run in the first two and a half innings without a firmly struck ball.

The A's then broke the seal and manufactured a run on a double from Pat Spillane that rolled to the wall in left, followed by a FC from Weiss that led to a wild pitch. 0-1 after 3.

DiBussolo gets credit for the first hit of the 2017 Pirates campaign on a hot smash through 3B in the top of the 4th; however, the rest of the O sputters through the 5th as Nick Spillane continues to sling. No better offense for the A's as Dustin matches Spillane hurling a blank 4th and 5th. 0-1 after 5, tension rising.

Determined, Vavro led the 6th for the Bucs with a screaming howitzer to center which surely would have been a triple (let's face it, that's what Joe does) had it not been for an absolutely amazing catch by Almany, the A's center fielder, that stunned everyone. ARGHHHH. But, true to form, Ciccone gets on with a walk and promptly steals second setting up an RBI single by Welby. 1-1, tension still rising.

The A's answered quickly, a triple that snuck into right field by Weiss and a walk and wild pitch followed by a single from Till and a walk from Preston scored 2, leaving the Bucs in a 1-3 hole after 6.

Spillane still on the mound, Rob Rice leads off with a crushing double to left, perfect timing. After a seemingly 37 pitch at bat, Moroz singles through the hole at short. Stealing 2nd and drawing the throw leads to Rice scoring, 2-3, Moroz moves to third. With 2 chances to score the tying run, Spillane shuts down both Evans and Patterson of the Bucs. The A's exhale a sigh of relief and the Pirates catch their breath: so close.

An outstanding defensive game, a good showing by both pitchers. Perhaps no errors in the entire game. A good (but not great) way to start the 2017 campaign.

Standout performances by Brian Parme at 2B who shot multiple throws home with bases loaded to get outs and save runs, Conner Welby (1-2, BB RBI), Swarthout (5IP L 4H 2ER) and Lucey (1 IP 2K).

Mets outlast Bucs at Hazel Park Carnival

No clowns were present, but towers of carnival rides and rows of freight trucks were onhand to witness a hard-fought, close game between the Mets and Pirates.  In the end, the Mets managed to avenge a couple of upsets from last year, outlasting the Pirates despite a brilliant outing from Bucs rookie Larry "Big L" Basile (6.1 IP, 4H, 5BB, 10K, 5R, 3ER).

Basile gave a yeoman's effort (124 pitches), holding to 4 hits a team that has no "weak part of the order."  The Mets managed a few more hits and insurance runs in the seventh to ice the game, enough support for their excellent hurler Alex Kracht (CG, 7IP, 4K), who gave up no earned runs.

Pirate hits came from Joe Vavro, Troy Bogenschutz, Rob Rice, and a double from Dustin Swarthout.  Alex Kracht of the Mets had the only two-hit performance in this well-pitched and mostly well-defended game.

A's Best Pirates Yet Again By 1 Run

The Big L, Larry Basile, throws another late night gem for the Pirates, yielding only 1 hit and 5 total baserunners over a complete 7 innings. Still, the Pirates, whose bats were not as silent as they have been over the season, failed to score more than 1 on 6 hits. A series of hard hit balls directly at A's all game long led to a frustrated crew, leading to a 2-1 loss.

Standout performances go to Larry, of course, who threw one of the best games I've ever seen in the 18+ MSBL: 7 IP L 1H 2ER 7K 4BB CG. Joe Vavro and Conner Welby tossed in two strong hits each and look to be coming into mid-season form. A string of fine striking and smart baserunning by Jeffe Boats (bunt for a single), Colbert Lucey (fly to right to move Jeffe), and an RBI single by Eric Dawson led to the solo run.

Pirates Continue to Win with Nailbiter Over Twins

The Pirates, coming off of their first win this past week against the Nationals, looked to continue the pace against the Twins at Cranbrook on a sunny morning. Troy Bogenshutz took the mound for the Bucs and pitched an absolutely dominating performance. Suffice it to say, starting pitching is not a problem for the Pirates this year. Troy pitched the third straight game by a starter for the Pirates that went 7 innings without giving up more than 3 hits!!!! Still, through a series of well-placed shots, the twins managed to go up 3-0 on the Bucs by the middle of the 4th inning. In quick response, Cole Welby banged a signle up the middle, Conner Welby a sharp liner for a 1 bagger, Rob Rice follows with a double, and Tom Ciccone and Troy deliver hot smashes to tie the game at 3 after 4.

Troy continued to shut down the Twins, but the Bucs failed to score in the 5-7th even with Nick Moroz clubbing a double to left and being stranded at 3B with 1 out. Finally, Troy's arm gave out and Brian Conner, recently called up from assignment, dealt swiftly to get the hold in the top of the 8th. Through an RE, an intentional walk to Conner Welby, and a HBP for Tom Ciccone, Luke DiBussolo struck out with 2 outs, but the catcher dropped the ball and Luke made it to first on a weird and wild walkoff strikeout.

Pirates 4-3

Star performances go to Troy Bogenshutz (7IP 2H 3K 4BB 3ER), Tom Ciccone (3-3 HBP R) and Frank Patterson who cleaned up at least 5 flies to right at key points in the match.

The Big L Gets His First Big W

BREAKING: The Pirates pitching over the past 3 games: starters averaging 7 innings/game with a WHIP of 0.81, bullpen WHIP is 0. 

WOW

The Pirates send "Larry" Basile to the bump against the formidable Blue Jays in an effort to win their third in a row. Long story short, he delivered. In a tensley played game with good defense from the Jays outfield and the Pirates infield, The Big L dished 9 strikeouts and only a single walk and 4 hits in a complete game shutout. For those paying attention, Larry's now averaging 7 IP per start, quite the arm.

The Pirates bats weren't the best this match, but they managed to put significant pressure on the Jays with runners reaching 2B and 3B in each of the first 3 innings, but without scoring a run. Finally, the Bucs broke the seal in the 4th when Conner Welby danced between second and first to send Tom Ciccone home, and getting back to first safely, leaving the Jays dazed. A trio of walks, sent DiBussolo scoring, 2-0 Pirates. 

That lead was enough, as the defense was up to the task and Larry slung it like a pro. 3 wins in a row. 

2-0 Pirates over Jays

Star Performances: The Big L: (7IP W 9K 1BB 4H 0ER), Tom Ciccone (2-3 2SB R)

Phillies End Pirate Ship Streak 5-2

At Bishop Foley this Saturday the Bucs took on the division leading and undefeated Phillies. With a three-game win streak on the line the Pirates sent Zak Dunaway to the mound for his first MSBL start, and he availed himself well.

The Bucs struck first with a single from Tom Ciccone, a FC from Joe Vavro and an RBI double from Conner Welby, Bucs 1-0.

With solid accuracy Zak diced through the Phillies lineup inducing a series of ground balls and only a pair of hard hit shots. Unfortunately, in the first inning two of these soft rollers led to men on base from infield errors. A seeing-eye single through short led to a Phillies run and a 1-1  lead after 1.

Zak dealt quickly through the second and third innings, matched by Mike Homant of the Phillies. 1-1 after 3. 

In the fourth the Pirates couldn't muster any offense, but the Phillies finally got a few hard hit balls on Zak, combined with another infield error, that led to two runs, 4-2 Phillies.

And then the Phillies shut the door, the Bucs managing only a single baserunner on a walk by Troy Bogenshutz in the final 3 innings. The Phillies added a 5th run in the top of the 6th, and so it goes: 5-2 Phillies, a tough loss when 4 of the runs are unearned.

Star Performances by Zak Dunaway in his first start (L 4.2 IP 1ER 1BB) and Joe Vavro for finishing the final innings (2.1 IP 5K) and Luke DiBussolo who was solid behind the plate all day and threw out a runner going to 2B to end the 3rd inning with a runner on 3B.

Pirates Top Twins in Rematch

In a rematch of last Monday's game, the Pirates send Dustin Swarthout to the mound to face off against the Twins's Mancillas. In the previous game both pitchers threw well, each giving up only 1 earned run, but two unearned runs led to a complete game loss for Dustin 1-3. This time the bats came to help.

Dustin dished quickly a scoreless first and the Pirates O jumped on the board quickly. Cole Welby led with a walk that turned into a run from a single by Mike Evans and a ground out RBI by Luke DiBussolo. The Twins responded in the top of the second with a double by Miller, a wild pitch moving him to third, then a sac fly to deep center by Bloomgren. The Bucs were unable to respond in the second with men on second and third. The third inning featured a combined 4 strikeous by both teams, Mancillas striking out the side, with no runs. 1-1 after 3.

Dustin continued to pound the zone only giving up a walk in the 4th. The Buc bats took the lead with a walk by DiBussolo, a single by Troy Bogenshutz, a steal (???) by DiBussolo, and an infield RBI single by Zak Dunaway. 2-1 Pirates after 4.

Determined, Swarthout again gives up only a walk in a scoreless top half of the 6th for the Twinkies. This is when the Pirates decided it was time to wake up the bats. Nick Moroz led off with a sharp single through the hole in short and promptly stole 2nd. Cole then walked. Evans crushed a single (shoulda been a double, maybe) to right scoring Nick. Conner Welby then hit a single moving Cole to third. DiBussolo joined the hit parade with a seeing eye grounder up the middle to score Cole. A bases loaded walk by Colbert Lucey added another run and RBI. Troy just kept hitting and added another single to score Luke. 9-1 Pirates after 5, phew.

Jeffe Boats came in after a walk by Dustin (he'd done enough), and sliced through the rest of the Twins lineup without yielding a run. The Pirates bats, tired from the 5th apparently, ended the 6th scoreless with a double play. 

Boats took the mound for the 7th and ran into a bit of trouble. After 3 runs by various means, the Twins began to threatan and Brian Parme came in to relieve. Sending two more across the line, Parme finally finished the game with a solid win. 

9-6 Pirates

Star performances by Dustin Swarthout (5.1 IP 2H 1ER 3 BB 4K), Troy Bogenshutz (3-3 RBI SB), Mike Evans (2-4 RBI R 2K) and Luke DiBussolo (1-2 2R 2RBI SB).

Pirates Fall Apart Against Cubs

The Pirates hosted the Cubs on a pleasant evening at Hazel Park, and what started as a defensive struggle became a blowout. Zak pitched well through 5, getting out of two tough jams with bases loaded 1 out and no outs in the 3rd and 4th innings yielding only two runs. Colbert Lucey came in to relieve after a few walks by Zak, but Colbert failed to find the zone. Joe Vavro then took to the rubber, but in the 6th a ton of damage had been done, an 8 run inning by the Cubs. 2 more Cubs crossed the line in the top of the 7th for a total of 12 runs.

The Pirates O was snakebit all night. With only 1 strikeout in the entire game, the Pirates left a total of 79 men on base through the 7 innings, further, all were in scoring position. Lineout after lineout in the infield went for double plays with the bases loaded to stranding men at third. It was just one of those games. The Pirates managed to scratch 3 across the plate, but the combination of errors in the field and walks led to a 12-3 drubbing.

Star performances by: Cole Welby (2-3 SB) and Luke DiBussolo (2-3 RBI)