Brewers Schedule

Brew Crew tastes first victory. Down Tigers on Opening Day, 2-1

The 2018 MSBL season got off to a delayed start in part to some of Mother Nature's shenanigans on Tuesday, but it was a beautiful day for some baseball on the south side of Livonia on Thursday night. The Brewers came out looking like fresh as can be with some new threads and put the Pirates of old in the rear view mirror. 

The Tigers came out roaring with one in the first to dot up that ERA for 'The Big L, Larry, Gary, Jerry' Basile, but after settling down in the first Basile went on to strike out the side. The gem only progressed from there...Gary went 5.2 strong, shutting down the Tigers offense and giving the Crew the chance to shake off the rust and get going. HIs 7 strikeouts kept the opposition off the basepaths and earned him 'Co-Ice Cold Brew' (player of the game). 

Offensively, the Brewers sputtered out of the gate but came through when needed. MSBL-rookie Evan Morin started his path to heaven with a two out double in the gap and gray beard Brian Conner came through with one of his own, stroking a double to the right field wall to knot up the scoring at one. Morin would go on to lead the Brewers with 2 hits on the day and earn a 'Co-Ice Cold Brew' with some stellar defense in the outfield. Chipping in offensively were Troy Bogen-schultz(?), Kyle Andrews notching his first hit in a Brewers/Pirates uniform, and top of the order Joe Vavro and Mike Evans with singles. 

One would not be enough on the day however, but in the 7th the 'just put the ball in play' addage looked more evident than ever when Morin singled, then turned on the jets for 270 feet scoring on an error and giving the Brewers the lead for good. All that was needed at that point was to shut the door. Zak Dunaway came in and struck out 2 over 1.1 to shut down the Tigers and wade his way through some bootskis, duck farts, and questionable calls in the bottom of the 7th, and with the bases loaded and one out rookie Evan Morin made his presence known again, launching a laser beam, rocket from centerfield nailing the final out at the plate on a game tying sac fly attempt. The Brew Crew notched the first victory of the 2018 campaign and look to turn that one in W column in to a crooked number on Monday against the Dodgers in the much anticipated 'Blue Out' in HP.

CO-ICE COLD BREWS

Gary Basile(1) and Evan Morin(1)

Brewers bring the wood. Take game 15-1.

Not much to say here. Victory tastes best ice cold.

Crew Stimies Cubs, fight through late inning blunders. Win 13-6

Hot and humid described the nights weather in addition to the hot start from the boys in Blue and Gold. Coming screaming out of the gates and giving the most run support Larry has seen in his MSBL career, opening up an early 7-0 in the first by way of 5 hits and drawing the BBs. Leading the way in the first were Luke Dibussolo driving in a pair and with a frozen rope down the right field line was Troy Boy Bogenschutz for an extra base hit. 

Larry was his usual self dealing his way to another 7 K performance over 4 innings and not  giving up an ER in the process. The Pirates of old reared the ugly head in the early going and especially in the late innings giving runs away at an alarming rate, but credit the arms, and making his much anticipated return to the mound Brian Conner shut down the Cubs bats and waded his way through his classic free passes, striking out 4 over an inning and 2/3 of error laden ball. 

Brian would not be slowed down at the plate tonight launching a laser in the right center field...volley ball courts (?) for the clubs first bomb on the year. Like a nice chianti and some fava beans, Conner also paired the solo shot with a two run single in the first giving the Brewers an insurmountable margin and also earing him the Ice Cold Brew of the Game.

The Brew Crew looks to keep stacking victories and avoiding rain drops on Thursday night vs the G-Men.

Season total Ice Cold Brews of the Game

Larry (1)

Morin (1)

B.C. (1)

Blue Jays too much in back and forth game. Take game 9-6.

Early games are a thing of beauty, especially in the conditions played Monday night in Hazeltucky. Suns out, guns out and not scolding hot like it was over the weekend, it was time to play some ball. It was a see-saw affair for most of the night with both squads trading runs in the 2nd. Dustin settled in after giving up an early 4 spot and managed to go 5.2 innings while keeping the Brew Crew in the game all the way through. 

The bats of the Brewers were fiesty as well, arising to the occasion and knotting the game up at 4 as the bottom of the order took over after a string of base knocks by Rice, AJ, Franky, and Zak (who never wants to hit). The inning finished off with a much needed SAC fly by Joe Vavro as well. It would not be enough however, as the Brewers went to the bullpen and the power bats of the Jays scored 5 more times in the final two innings of the game to ice it. 

The boys in (Royal) Blue fought hard all the way through managing to scrape out 2 runs and bring the tying run in the on deck circle, but the night ended in defeat. Leading the way offensively were the rookie pairing of Evan Morin and AJ Stevenson each with 2 base hits. Joining them in the multi-hit night were DiBussolo and Rob Rice.

The loss brought the Brewers record to 3-2 and looking to get back on the winning path in a highly anticipated matchup against the A's.

Brewers falter late, lose 5-3 in extras

The Brew Crew tried to complete the season sweep of the Cubbies at Ford Field on Wednesday night. Both teams got on the field by way of classic a classic Giants forfeit and the game was under way. Quickly shaping up to be a pitchers duel both teams got stellar performances from the guys on the hill. Godley was his usual self stiffling the bats of the Brewers for 8 CG innings scattering 3 runs. Not to be outdone on the hill was Zak Dunaway. Who showed his clutch genes getting out of jams with runners in scoring position in 2 innings, amassing 6.2 innings of 2 hit baseball. Walks and plunks were the culprit of the Cubbies scoring on the night with Brewers pitching issuing 7 walks and 3 hit batsmen, but Zak and Conner struck out a combined 11 baby bears along the way as well. 

Offense was a premium on both sides of the ball but coming through with 2 big early RBIs was Joe Vavro, putting the ball in play and driving in the first two runs of the game for the Crew. To go along with that 5 other Brewers registered hits on the night and Tom Ciccone led the the power innings with 2 doubles keying the scoring efforts for the good guys. 

Never ceasing to fail, a key error by yours truly in the bottom of the 7th put an additional strain on Zak's effort to get the W and finish what he started. It was a heartbreaker for the Brewers on this night, but the guys walked out in to the parking lot with the knowledge that many things could have gone differently to win the game but at the same time holding the belief that as a team we have stuck in games and fought all the way through the 2018 MSBL campaign.

After splitting the season series with the Cubs, the Brewers look to open up a can at Fraser against the Mets in an early afternoon Saturday start, hoping to get back to .500 stay within eye shot of the top teams in the league.

Brewers earn season split, stimy Phils, win 5-2.

After the diamond dried for a couple days the Brewers got back to business in a big way on Wednesday night. Continuing his hot hitting and earning (after campaigning for) the 3 slot, Brian Conner lead the way with 2 hits, while accounting for 2 runs (driving one in and scoring one) in the top of the first, before the Phils Ace Homant could get settled in.

The Brewers had an ace of their own on the bump this night as Larry, Gary, Jerry Basile was back in form shutting down the tough Phils offense throughout his 7 innings of work, scattering 4 hits and 2 runs along the way. Basile also tallied 4 strikeouts along the way to earn his 3rd victory of the year drawing him even with Zak Dunaway for the team lead.

Also, tallying two hits on the night was a gimpy Troy Bogenschutz, luckily for him he hit first and turned right for the courtesy runner both times, and threw in a some would say needed conversation with the home plate umpire over some borderline pitches in the zone, but thats another conversation for another day. All but 3 Brewers notched hits on the night, totaling 11 in an impressive all around game from start to finish, only committing one error to back Basile's strong night on the hill.

The Brew Crew stayed loose tonight and kept the jukebox rocking, to keep their playoff chances alive with 4 more games in 6 days to earn the last playoff spot on the year. A matchup against the Dodgers on Friday night awaits with their playoff chances hanging in the balance.