Renegades take 9th place against Tyler Tigers
David Sanchez plated three runs and made 1 stop on defense while Joe McCormick also plated three runs with three stops on defense
The Renegades would play on Friday for 9th place against the Tyler Tigers. Tyler won two of their three games in pool play defeating Oklahoma 11-5 and the Sirens 1-0. They lost to the Thunder 18-5. In double elimination, they lost to New Jersey 11-6. They then squeezed by BCS 2-1 and were eliminated by Chicago 9-3. In the placement bracket they beat Oklahoma again 12-2. That is a lot common opponents in the 2024 season. Boston was 3-0 against these common opponents that Tyler was 3-1 against. These two teams got into the league in the same year back in 2002. This would be Tyler’s 5th trip to a top 10 spot and Boston’s 16th trip. The Renegades came into the game with a 9-1 record vs Tyler with an 8 game winning streak. The last time they played was in 2019 when Boston won 15-11 in a 2 inning 12 run victory.
Boston lost the coin toss as they lost it 5 of the 8 times during the series. For Boston, Peter Connolly would be calling the defense on the left side and Gina Devenish calling on the right side. Ron Cochran and Peter Connolly would split the pitching duties for Boston. Ron would start the game with the 1-2-3 hitters and Peter would have the 4-5-6 hitters. The Renegades were without Bryan Grillo and Guy Zuccarello who were both struck ill by COVID and not feeling well. Shawn Devenish was ruled out with a rib injury and Tyler Mireault was available in emergency with a leg injury suffered against Austin. Thaxton was cleared to play with an injured ankle. The last day of the series had taken a toll on the Renegades roster.
First Inning
Christian Thaxton got things started with a high fly ball to the left side of the field for a run. Joe McCormick was next but would be delayed in his at bat for air traffic. This would be a common issue as we counted near 30 planes that would cause stoppage thru this entire game. McCormick eventually struck out in an at bat that would be close to 4 minutes long with the delays. Rob Dias was next and hit a grounder down the first base line. The Tyler defense struggled to find it and Dias was safe. Shayne Cantan was next, with Connolly coming to the bump. Shayne struck out for the second out of the inning after hitting a bomb that was just foul down the third base line. Joe Yee got the start and on the 6th pitch, hit a grounder up the middle that Tim Chappell would make with ease. The Tyler Tigers defensive lineup has one short man playing up the middle which many teams call the “point” defense. This at bat marked Peter Connolly’s 500th batter faced in his career, ranking him 3rd in team history. Seems fitting that it was against his cousin!
As the Renegades went into the field, Elana Regan would sub in for Rob Thayer in the six spot of the lineup and go to first base. Without Zuccarello in this game, McCormick moved up to the right shorty spot and Shayne Cantan would be at the mid field spot with Devenish on the bench. Luis Rodriguez would get the start as the DF and would pay in the third layer. Ron Jordan would lead off for Tyler. Arguably, the biggest bat in Tyler history. Ron Jordan lofted a fly ball over Rob Dias and on the second bounce dropped into Joe Yee’s body for a quick out. This would be Yee’s first stop of the 2024 season. Tim Chappell was next and he had not played in a few years but when he did play, he was an impact player for Tyler. He would eventually lead Tyler in runs scored and be second on their defense. Chappell hit a weak flare to the right side that hit the ground and spun to the line. McCormick raced in to the line and made the play with plenty of time for the second out. Darnell Williams was the three hitter and he had been playing the sport since 1985. Williams has played with Chicago and Bayou City during his time in the league against the Renegades. He hit a ball to the left side. Rob Dias laid out and was a few feet short of it, but he was able to scoot up and over and pick it up for the third out of the inning. Boston held a 2-0 lead after one frame.
Second inning
David Sanchez would sub in for Elana Regan and hit in the six hole. He hit the first pitch in the air into left field and score with ease. Thaxton would see four pitches and wave at all of them as he and Cochran continued their struggles. McCormick then hit the third pitch on the fly to the left side. Carlos Black would come in on it and Chappell had to come from the center of the field, but McCormick would beat it out running to first base. Rob Dias hit the third pitch of the at bat off Cochran on a line drive. Somehow, Ron was able to turn and not catch it square. Dias eventually hit a bouncing grounder to the right side. Chappell gave chase and it got by him and Alex Barrera picked up the ball for the out as Rob Dias missed third base to his right. Shayne went down on swings for the last out of the inning. Boston had a 4-0 lead.
Roy Hutchins led off for the Tigers. Hutchins played two games against the Renegades in 2023 as a member of the Houston Hurricanes. This would be his third Texas beepball team in the past few years (he also played for BCS). Hutchins hit a grounder to the left side. Dias took a few shuffles to his left and laid out with his feet going to the left and stopped the ball with his arms. Alex Barrera of the Long Island Bombers struck out. His home town team had many players at the series- but not enough to fill out a team (in fact, they had two pitchers and four players at the series). Greg Roberts, hitting in the six spot ended the inning by hitting a room service grounder a few steps to Rob’s right. Rob dove head first to the line and stopped the ball cleanly. Boston held a 4-0 lead.
Third inning
Joe Yee hit a hard line drive into right field. Alex Barrera made a nice stop in the second layer to record the stop. Sanchez then hit a weak grounder to the left side forcing Carlos Black to race forward. Sanchez would win this race for a run. Thaxton and Cochran would continue their struggles as Thaxton struck out for the second time. McCormick then hit a fly ball down the left field line and would score his second run of the contest. Rob Dias ended the inning with a grounder up the middle to Tim Chappell. Boston increased the lead to 6-0 with a small crooked number each inning.
Ron Jordan kicked things off for Tyler in the third. He would strike out. Chappell would hit a grounder to the left side that got under Rob Dias. Sanchez was moving to his left and the ball got by him as well. He got up and gave chase and picked it up before Chappell hit first because Chappell took a huge banana line to the base. Either way, It was David’s first stop of the 2024 season. Elzie Hackett, the pitcher for Tyler was able to get Darnell Williams to go back to Sanchez. This time, it was on the fly. Sanchez struggled and was able to get it up on a bang-bang play but Williams was called safe despite some bad base running. Hutchins then hit a grounder to the right side. McCormick laid out and it went of his fingers. He was able to get up and grab it for the final out of the inning. Boston led 6-1.
Fourth inning
Edgar Erickson subbed into the game for Greg Roberts and Larry Reed would sub in for Darnell Williams to start the inning. Shayne Cantan would get things started with a blast into left field that rolled into foul territory after it passed the base. Joe Yee hit a weak bouncing grounder up the middle right to Tim Chappell for the out. David Sanchez who saw two pitches total in his first two at bats crushed the second pitch of this at bat into left field for his third run of the game. Off the bench came Luis Soto to hit for Thaxton. Soto hit the first pitch on a line to the left side and was stopped by Roy Hutchins in the second layer. McCormick then hit a weak grounder to the left side and Carlos Black was called to chase it, he bobbled it and McCormick was safe as Black was shaken up on the play. He would stay in the game. Rob Dias hit another hard grounder up the middle, but with the Tyler point defense – that was right at Chappell. Boston had its biggest inning, scoring three runs and took a 9-1 lead.
Elan Regan would sub back into the game and head to third base replacing Sanchez. The Tyler offense started off the fourth with a pair of Long Island Bombers as Alex Barrera hit a dribbler over the forty foot arc. Dias came screaming in and slid on his knees and booted it, but he had a ton of time to recover and make the play. Edgar Erickson struck out. Jordan smoked a shot down the first base line. Yee raced to the line but his transition to the ground was to steep and violent and the ball squirted by him for a run. Yee was there in time but it was hit too hard and Yee struggled to get to the ground cleanly. Tim Chappell hit a line drive off Rob Dias’ legs and Dias recovered quickly to make the out. Tyler got one back and the Renegades led 9-2.
Fifth inning
Shayne Cantan had another epic at bat with a ball that rolled just foul on the first pitch. The second pitch was hit to Carlos Black, but the base was late and Shayne was awarded the late base call. After a swing and miss, he blasted a line drive into the third layer in left field for his second run of the game. hris Kimball then replaced Joe Yee in the lineup and went down on strikes. Elana Regan was next and despite fouling off three pitches, she also struck out. Elana struggled with her timing and was early the whole at bat. Luis Soto then drilled the first pitch he saw to the left side. Roy Hutchins stopped him again in the second layer of the defense.
Melissa Hoyt would enter the game as the DF for Luis Rodriguez and go to first base. Chris Kimball moved from first to rover. Larry Reed would lead things off from theft handed batter’s box. All eyes were on Reed who has the most unique hitting style in the league. It’s so unique, it needs to be described. Larry squats down so that his quads are parallel with the ground. His back is bent over as far as he can and his bat handle is just off his left knee. As he swings, he stands up. Weissman and Reed discussed this stance a few years ago during a practice session, but this was the first time Reed broke it out in a game against the Renegades. With three strikes he hit a line drive up the middle. Shayne Cantan made it with plenty of time in the second layer. Roy Hutchins then hit grounder down the third base line. Dias ran to the line and didn’t hear it, calling dead ball, but Elana Regan picked it clean. Hutchins called late base. He got the late base call and would eventually strike out, Alex Barrera hit a pop fly to the middle of the field with spin on it. McCormick struggled with the spin and Alex was safe. Edgar Erickson would end the inning with a slow grounder that Rob Dias laid out for and stopped. Boston led 10-3.
Sixth inning
Joe McCormick started the sixth with a grounder to the left side and Carlos Black would stop him for the out. Joe Yee re-entered the game to hit for Rob Dias. Yee hit a dribbler down the third base line and sprinted to third base to beat the defense for his first run of the game. Rob Thayer popped off the bench to hit for Shayne Cantan. Tub swung and missed on the first two deliveries from Cochran. He hit a dribbler up the middle and Chappell gobbled it up for the second out. Chris Kimball would go down on four swings to end the inning. Boston led 11-3.
Some defensive changes for the Renegades in the sixth as Thayer went to Rover, Kimball moved back to first base and Elana Regan moved to left shorty while Joe Yee moved to third base. Ron Jordan would kick things off with a high fly ball to the left side. It was right at Elana Regan and after one bounce, she picked it clean for the stop. Tim Chappell hit a grounder that scooted past Elana Regan. Yee didn’t get down in time and Chappell had his first run of the game. Rosie Reed came off the bench to pinch hit for her husband. She hit a weak grounder up the middle and took two steps to third before hearing first base buzz. McCormick and Regan converged on it but McCormick took charge and made the stop. Roy Hutchins would end the game with a slow roller to the left side right to Elana Regan for the final out of the game.
Wrap up
Boston finished strong and took 9th place in a game they led wire to wire. The Defense made 14 stops which was just the 21st time in team history it had made that many in a 6 inning game Joe McCormick and David Sanchez would be the players of the game as they each scored three times. Mac made 3 stops on defense up front and Sanchez made one in the second layer. Tim Chappell would be the player of the game for Tyler with a run and 5 stops on defense.