Lions Den Gazette II

  New Lenox, IL - Tonight's big winner is the rain.  After several weeks of playing on the dusty surface of the moon, the skies have opened up for several days straight leading up to tonight's postponement against Hammered.  Next week's opponent is The Scrappers, who won the meeting last month 21-6.  Game time on July 6th is 8:30PM. Noteables: Hey, that's us! - Catch last week's game  here .  Make sure to subscribe to the channel so that the Gazette can file for a vanity URL! Player Profile Arik Sorensen Arik started with the Master Batters in the Summer of 2019.    In just four seasons for MB since Cap’n Jack pulled him from the hockey ponds of Saskatoon, Arik has compiled 69 hits for 12 th on the all-time team hitlist. Arik is recovering from a back injury   and sitting out this summer and hopes to return to the lineup this fall.   Gazette sat down with Arik at Johnny’s Ice House to talk to the MB right fielder.   Gazett...

  New Lenox, IL - On a very pleasant evening at the Lions Den, the Master Batters squared off against The Green Team, whom they shut out in the season opener.  On this occasion, TGT put up a better fight by scoring double-digit runs.  Master Batters answered the bell by scoring 10 runs in the first inning and 6 more in the second to cruise to a time-shortened 21-13 victory.  The game was never in doubt as MB kept their foe at arm's distance.  Kerty, Stapes, and Koz all homered. Every member of MB got a hit and all but one recorded two hits so it was truly a team effort tonight.  MB pushes their record to 4-4 while The Green Team remains winless in their inaugural season in the Tuesday league.  Game time next week is at 6:30PM against Hammered, whom MB beat in their first match earlier this year. Notables: Where's the Old Man? - The question that was asked of me by young Tom Stapes.....referencing Ken. Round The Bags - The Green Team player resembling J...

  New Lenox, IL - Master Batters fell to the Storm Riders 19-13 in a game that was not as close as the score indicates.  MB started out with three runs in the first inning to take a brief lead.  Storm Riders came back with an offensive attack to take an 8 - 3 advantage.  MB tightened it up and were only one run down after two innings but could not sustain an offensive attack for the third week in a row before succumbing to the heavy fuel crew.  The bottom of the lineup, which had been holding its end of the bargain, went a combined 6 for 19 on the night to go out quietly against their opponent.  MB now fall to 5th place and look to right the ship next week at 8:30 PM against the winless The Green Team. Editors Note: Last week, the Gazette incorrectly described Stapes home run as a three-run shot.  The home run came with the bases full for the grand slam. Noteables : Bean Ball - As MB was on the field for the bottom half of the first inning and finishe...

New Lenox, IL - It was a hot and sunny early summer evening at the Lions Den tonight as the Master Batters tried to get back on the winning track.  The game started out promising as MB played sharp defense in the infield to hold the Brew Jays to two runs heading into the home half of the 2nd inning.  MB erupted for six runs with half of them fueled by Stapes three-run blast to center field.  After the Brew Jays put up two runs in their 3rd and one run in the 4th inning, MB came back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame on two more Stapes RBI's to take a 9-4 lead into the 5th inning.  That's when things went sideways for MB and they gave up eight in the 5th and six more runs in the 6th inning to fall by a score of 18-9.  The first key to the game was MB putting up runs in only two innings while being blanked in the other four of the time-shortened six inning game.  The second key to the game was defensive breakdowns that cost extra runs t...

  New Lenox, IL - On a pleasant summer evening at the Lions Den, the Master Batters came into the game riding the high of a walk-off victory last week only to come up empty against Beggars Pizza 11 - 6.  The game started out hopeful as Pratl launched a three run triple off of the left center field fence to put MB up 3-0 in the first inning.  The lead did not last long as Beggars came back in their half of the inning to take the lead and never relinquish.  MB was only able to score solo runs in the second, third, and sixth inning to end the evening with a 6 run output.  The top four MB batters in the lineup came into the game on fire but were only able to go a collective 4 for 12 on the night in a lackluster offensive performance.  Beggar pitcher, Joe Piedough, induced several MB batters to pop up for easy outs.  The timing may have been off for both teams batters facing into the strong sun for most of the game.  On a positive note, MB defense loo...