Tennessee Tornado 2010

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Aggies, rain wash out Tornado finale

July 18, 2010 (Johnson City, Tenn.)

Losing Game 1 at Morganton 4-3 and not playing Game 2 due to rain, the Tennessee Tornado wrap up 2010 at 21-16, taking the No. 2 seed into tomorrow’s divisional playoff.

In the East Division, Lake Norman is the No. 1 seed, hosting the No. 4 Carolina Stingers tomorrow, while the No. 2 Statesville Owls take on No. 3 Morganton in Statesville, N.C.  The Aggies, however, have the best overall winning percentage, so they would retain home-field advantage in the league championship if they become the East Division champs.

West Division playoffs happen here and in Spartanburg, as the No. 1 Blue Eagles face the No. 4 Carolina Chaos and the No. 2 Tornado take on the No. 3 Asheville Redbirds, who ended their divisional season at 8-10 after sweeping the Carolina Chaos yesterday in the only full doubleheader that made it through the rain.

Tennessee is 4-2 against the Redbirds this season, and despite having lost the last two meetings, they’re 3-0 at home against them.  Tomorrow night’s venue is to be decided, possibly Joe O’Brien Field in Elizabethton, Tenn., or Milligan College’s Anglin Field, as Cardinal Park hosts the Johnson City Cardinals and Kingsport Mets.  Tomorrow’s first pitch happens at 7 p.m.

Chaos stun Tornado to split, spoil division title

July 17, 2010

Despite a decisive 10-0 win in Game 1, the Tennessee Tornado fell to the Carolina Chaos last night in Game 2, 6-1, finishing the season 12-6 in the West Division and one game behind the division champions, the Spartanburg Blue Eagles.

Game 1 started out with a bang as Matt Seese (Belleview, Fla.) singled, stole a base and scored a quick run on a sacrifice fly by Sam Munson (Fond du Lac, Wis.) to take a 1-0 lead after one inning.  In the second, they’d send eight batters up against Matt Whiteman and capitalize on two Chaos errors to plate five, ending with another Munson sac fly.  Finally, they’d add three more in the third after Shawn Ferguson (South Bend, Ind.), Kyle Kolat (South Bend, Ind.) and Dustin Huff (West Chester, Ohio) singled consecutively, Jerry Skeens (Bristol) hit a sac fly and two more runs came around on Carolina’s third error.  One more Tornado run crossed the plate in the sixth inning as Munson drove in Seese with a single.

Seese was 3-4 with an RBI, scoring all three times on base.  Munson finished 1-2 with three RBIs.  Kolat went 2-3 with two runs scored, while Huff was 2-2 with a walk and two runs.  Skeens ended up 1-2 with a double in addition to his earlier RBI.

On the mound, Lee Stoppelman (Pleasant Hill, Mo.) worked four scoreless innings, scattering four hits and striking out four.  He left, however, for Josh Blocker (Birmingham, Ala.), who lasted two innings scoreless allowing three hits and recording a strikeout.  Eddie Smith II (West Blocton, Ala.) closed the game out with a perfect seventh and was awarded the win to improve to 2-1.

For the Chaos, Luke Danielewicz and Brooks Reames recorded 2-3 days at the plate.  Despite a solid performance in the teams’ last meeting in Tennessee, Whiteman gave up six total runs (four earned) on five hits with two walks in his two innings, falling to 1-4 with the loss.  Alex McMahan allowed an additional three runs (one earned) on three hits with a walk in two innings, and Mark Roberts worked the final two, giving up a run on four hits.

Compounding their frustration at the Game 1 outcome, the Chaos came out with guns blazing in Game 2, jumping on Shane Grimm (Paintsville, Ky.) for five first-inning runs on six hits with the help of a Grimm error.  William Henderson and Cody Maas doubled, while Matt Discon, Danielewicz and Kyle Bowers all picked up RBIs.  Reames stole home on one of two disastrous pickoff plays.

After the Tornado got on the board in the fourth, Carolina answered with another insurance run in the fifth without even recording an at-bat.  Henderson walked, advanced on the second botched pickoff, made it to third on a sacrifice bunt and came home on a Discon sac fly.  Discon finished 2-3 with two RBIs, while Cameron Allmendinger contributed to both runs with a pair of sac bunts.

Jordan Watkins pitched a gem for the Chaos, allowing a run on four hits with six strikeouts in 5 2-3 innings.  Colton Rudd only needed one pitch to finish the sixth inning for Watkins, working the final 1 1-3 inning scoreless with a hit, walk and strikeout.  He improved to 2-0 with the victory.

Only Tito Mendoza (Miramar, Fla.) and Brett Maddox (Lake Butler, Fla.) were able to collaborate for a run, as they both doubled in respective order in the fourth, the latter driving in the former.  While each of the first three hitters had a hit, the bottom half of the Tornado order was just 1-11.

Grimm, though he settled down to finish four innings — the last three scoreless with one hit and four strikeouts — suffered sufficient damage for a total of five runs (four earned) on seven hits, falling to 2-3 with the loss.  Adam Clark (Norwood, Ohio) allowed an unearned run in two innings with a hit, walk and a pair of strikeouts.  Tyler Walker (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) allowed a walk and struck out one in a scoreless seventh.

Needing a sweep to finish tied with Spartanburg in the West and even have a chance at home-field advantage throughout the postseason, the split knocks Tennessee into the No. 2 seed for Monday’s divisional playoff, where they’ll host Asheville and a venue to be decided, since Cardinal Park hosts an Appalachian League game.  Spartanburg takes on the Chaos at home Monday.

Like the Tornado, the Blue Eagles are 5-1 against the Chaos at home, but split the only two games they played at Russell C. King Field this summer.  Tennessee is 4-2 against Asheville, 3-0 at home.  Implications abound in Round 1, as a Chaos upset and a Tornado win could pit these two teams against each other again for the West Division title on Tuesday.  Such a scenario is the only way Tennessee would get home-field advantage in Round 2.

As of press time, Lake Norman secured the No. 1 seed in the East Division to face the No. 4 Carolina Stingers on Monday.

Tennessee goes to Morganton tomorrow for the season finale doubleheader at 5 p.m. with a chance to spoil the Aggies’ bid for the No. 2 seed in the East.  Tennessee is 2-2 against Morganton but 0-1 at Shuey Field.

Game 1

Tennessee: 10 runs, 12 hits, 1 error, 4 left on base

• Winning Pitcher: Eddie Smith II (2-1), 1 IP, 0 H
• Top Hitter: Matt Seese, 3-4, 3 R, RBI, SB

Carolina Chaos: 0 runs, 7 hits, 3 errors, 10 left on base

• Losing Pitcher: Matt Whiteman (1-4), 2 IP, 6 R (4 ER), 5 H, 2 BB
• Top Hitter: Brooks Reames, 2-3

Game 2

Carolina Chaos: 6 runs, 8 hits, 2 errors, 6 left on base

• Winning Pitcher: Jordan Watkins (2-0), 5.2 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 6 K
• Top Hitter: Matt Discon, 2-3, SACF, 2 RBI, R

Tennessee: 1 run, 5 hits, 3 errors, 5 left on base

• Losing Pitcher: Shane Grimm (2-3), 4 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 7 H, 5 K
• Top Hitter: Brett Maddox, 1-2, 2B, RBI, BB

Chaos doubleheader moved to 4 p.m., rain-outs officially canceled

July 16, 2010

Today’s doubleheader between the Tennessee Tornado and Carolina Chaos has been moved up to 4 p.m., weather permitting, at Cardinal Park.

Tennessee is 11-5 in West Division play, one game behind Spartanburg, who ended their divisional season with a doubleheader sweep at the Chaos to finish 13-5.  A sweep today would bring the Tornado into a tie for the division lead, and would put them at 22-14 in overall play, a half-game ahead of the Blue Eagles.  Tennessee wraps up the season at Morganton tomorrow in a doubleheader.  They’re 2-2 against the Aggies this season and lost the only meeting at Shuey Field.

A 24-15 record is the best Tennessee can finish, as they will not make up the four games rained out in the past week, two against Statesville and two against the Carolina Stingers, leaving it up to the league to decide tournament seedings in the event they finish ahead of Spartanburg overall.  The Blue Eagles host Statesville tonight in a doubleheader.

Lake Norman, also 21-15, has wrapped up the East Division No. 1 seed at 12-4, and also has a chance at the overall No. 1 seed throughout the postseason, which would allow them home-field advantage for the league championship, if they win the division title.  In their season finale, they take on Spartanburg at Hopewell High School, presenting a quandary for Tennessee.

A simple best-case scenario for the Tornado, all things considered, starts with the simplest but easier-said-than-done solution: They must win all four weekend games to end the year on a four-game high note.  They haven’t played a league game since losing 8-4 at Lake Norman last Saturday.

If they win all four games this weekend, they need both Spartanburg and Lake Norman to finish no better than 2-2, meaning they could split both doubleheaders, or if they lose both games tonight, it wouldn’t matter if they split on Saturday, or if one team or the other sweeps.  If Tennessee goes 3-1, neither Lake Norman nor Spartanburg can win both games tonight, or else there is no way Tennessee will win the overall No. 1 seed outright.  If they finished tied with Lake Norman overall, they may hold a tiebreaker as per league discretion, since they’ve played better against the Copperheads than any other team to this point, finishing 5-1 against them, though they’ll try to finish a perfect 6-0 against the Chaos with a sweep tonight.

All the speculation begins today at 4 p.m. with a season finale of epic proportions, that could carry the hopes for a third league title in the balance.  In their past two championship seasons within the old playoff structure, the Tornado have never played from a lower seed, and have never lost a tournament game, always playing a night game on a day’s rest.  While they are always assured no more than one game per day under the new structure, travel becomes a new factor in 2010.

Odds favor a trip to Spartanburg, where they’re 0-3 this season, in the divisional championship game, and a possible trip to Lake Norman, where they’re 2-1, for Games 1 and 3 of a championship series between them.  Tennessee can take control of those odds with a strong finish starting today.

East topples West in SCBL All-Star Game, 4-2

July 15, 2010 (Spartanburg, S.C.)

In a close contest reminiscent of the recent Major League version, the Southern Collegiate Baseball League saw the East Division defeat the West Division in their All-Star Game, 4-2, last night at Wofford College here.

After professional tryouts early in the afternoon, the league’s 16 top sluggers competed in the Home Run Derby, with two representatives from each division’s four teams.

In Round 1, three of the eight East competitors advanced: Andrew Rash of the Statesville Owls, Tyler Horan of the Lake Norman Copperheads and the Morganton Aggies’ Keith Whitman.  For the West, Spartanburg Blue Eagles Jesse Dunn  and Zac McCarthy moved into the finals on their home field alongside the Carolina Chaos’ Kyle Bowers, who hit two to take the lead after one round.

Bowers, however, lost his groove in Round 2, eliminated without another homer.  McCarthy, Dunn and Whitman bowed out with one each and Horan belted two, while Rash knocked three out of the park for the come-from-behind win.  Rash has three regular-season home runs, eight doubles and a league-best 26 RBIs.

East and West clashed again in the main event, starting at 7:15 p.m., with Lake Norman’s Adam Curtis taking the hill for the East against Spartanburg’s Ryan Traylor for the West.

East touched up Traylor for three earned runs on five hits in just 1-3 inning, jumping to a lead they’d never relinquish.  Lake Norman’s Ryan Stetson, who came in with 25 RBIs and 16 extra-base hits including a league-best five home runs, drove in the first run on a fielder’s choice in the first.  Rash then came back to haunt the West again as he doubled home Stetson and scored on an RBI single by Whitman, who finished 2-3 with a double.

Statesville’s Justin Roland went 2-4 with a walk and two runs in East’s lead-off spot, scoring again in the seventh on a wild pitch by Tennessee reliever Riley Bevill (Boise, Idaho), who gave up a hit and a walk with a strikeout.

Two other Tornado pitchers, alternate Shane Grimm (Paintsville, Ky.) and Brent Gay (Jackson, Miss.), also made appearances.  Grimm worked 1-3 inning and Gay pitched a perfect ninth.

Only one West representative mustered a multiple-hit day, Spartanburg’s Josh Pless, who drove in Tennessee’s Carlos Santana (Santo Domingo, D.R.) in the fifth off Carolina Stinger Jeff Howell.  Santana was 1-3 with a walk and scored both West runs, coming around on a single by Asheville’s Chris Allen in the seventh against the Owls’ Brennan Daniels.  Only Santana hit safely representing the Tornado.

Curtis got the win for East while Traylor shouldered the loss for West.  Just as one Copperhead started the game, another finished it for East, as Brantley Hattrich picked up the save with a perfect ninth, recording two strikeouts.

Regular season games wrap up this weekend, with the Tornado hosting the Carolina Chaos tomorrow night at 5 p.m. at Cardinal Park, then traveling to Morganton to face the Aggies on Saturday in the scheduled season finale.  However, the Tornado still have four make-up games pending, two each against Statesville and the Carolina Stingers.

They need two wins tomorrow to draw even atop divisional standings with Spartanburg, which would also put them a game ahead in overall standings and improve a winning percentage that’s already a fraction better.  They’re 20-14 (.588) while the Blue Eagles are 21-15 (.583).

Tornado All-Star Profiles

Johnson City (July 13, 2010)

Under West Division Head Coach Phil Al-Mateen, eight Tennessee Tornado players made this year’s All-Stars, with one alternate.

This year’s West infield includes Tornado shortstop Carlos Santana (Santo Domingo, D.R.), third baseman and designated hitter Brett Maddox (Lake Butler, Fla.), and first basemen and DHs Kenny Stalls (Jacksonville, Fla.), Jerry Skeens (Bristol).

Santana leads Tennessee in RBIs (22), runs scored (18), slugging percentage (.554) and stolen bases (12-12).  He’s clubbed three home runs, which is tied for the team lead, along with six doubles and two triples.  Maddox, listed as a DH on the All-Star roster, has excelled as a back-up third baseman for Tennessee, hitting .312 with seven doubles, a home run and 16 RBIs, while going 5-5 on the basepaths.  Stalls, a late addition, came in swinging and carries a team-best .357 batting average with three doubles, two triples and 10 RBIs including the game-winning one last Wednesday against Statesville.  While Stalls staked a claim as the starting first baseman, Skeens has protected his original spot on the roster, as the local product platoons at first base and in the DH slot with Stalls, sporting a .302 average with three doubles, two homers and 12 RBIs.

On the outfield roster, Tennessee sends right-fielder and DH Sam Munson (Fond du Lac, Wis.) as well as left-fielder, catcher and DH Jordan Guida (Glendale, Ariz.).

Batting .303 so far, Munson has pulverized three home runs to tie for the team lead, while collecting seven doubles, a triple, 14 RBIs and a .539 slugging mark.  Guida’s team-best 11 doubles combined with one home run put him tops in extra-base hits, while his recent hot streak has peaked his average at .330.  He’s also scored 16 runs, driven in 10 including a walk-off double against Lake Norman earlier this year, and stolen eight bases.

Tennessee adds two to the West Division pitching staff, specifically the bullpen, as relievers Brent Gay (Jackson, Miss.) and Riley Bevill (Boise, Idaho) make the trip.

Gay has dominated league hitting so far, boasting a staggering 0.68 ERA in 11 appearances, gathering a 3-0 record as a fringe benefit of his five saves.  In 13 1-3 innings pitched, he’s struck out 13 batters, allowed just one run, and held hitters to just .170.  Bevill, whose primary jobs have been damage control or set-up work, has a 3.06 ERA after 14 appearances, second-most on the team, averaging just about a strikeout per inning (17 in 17 2-3) while scattering 14 hits and six earned runs but keeping hitters down at .215 against him.

Additionally, left-handed pitcher Shane Grimm (Paintsville, Ky.) goes to Spartanburg as an alternate.  Grimm began the year as a starter and didn’t walk a single batter through his first five appearances (including an exhibition start against the minor-league Johnson City Cardinals).  His ERA sits at 3.65 after 24 2-3 innings, in which he’s only walked three altogether while striking out 16 and maintaining a .248 opposing batting average.

For a complete roster and coaching staff, go to scbl.org and look for the All-Star news link, where you can also find the full schedule of events and directions to Russell C. King Field.

Both Stingers games rained out

Johnson City (July 13, 2010)

Last night’s and tonight’s games between the Tennessee Tornado and Carolina Stingers, the former scheduled in Fort Mill, S.C., and the latter here, were postponed due to rain.

Aside from their Sunday split at Lake Norman, the Tornado have been rained out of four total games since last week, with the All-Star Game happening tomorrow and the playoffs scheduled to begin next Monday.

Remaining on the schedule, the Carolina Chaos visit Friday to close out the all-important divisional slate, while the season finale was originally set for Saturday at Morganton.  The Aggies still need to make up a game with the Statesville Owls that was rained out June 16.

Highlights: July 7 vs. Statesville

Listen to a recap from the 6-2 loss at Statesville on Monday, plus the highlights from the 6-5 win over Statesville on Wednesday with postgame comments from Head Coach Phil Al-Mateen, first baseman Kenny Stalls and closer Brent Gay.

Tornado All-Star Preview

Listen to a recap of the 6-1 win and 8-4 loss at the Lake Norman Copperheads yesterday, plus a breakdown of the current playoff picture and a tribute to the 2010 Tornado All-Star selectees.

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