Brew Jays Fly High

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 to cross the plate.  A few bright spots on the evening were Stapes going 4-4 with a homerun and 5 RBI's, Jack batting 3-4 with 2 runs scored, and Pratl tacking on 2 hits.  No other MB hitter was able to string more than one hit together.  The loss now brings MB record to 3-3 where they try to break their losing streak next week at 9:30PM against the Storm Riders.

Noteables:

No Home - Below is what the 3rd base side looks when packed with fans.  For the second week in a row, MB could not only not beat their opponents on the field, they couldn't beat them to the field.

Freebies - Ken on an early Jake overthrow to cause a run to score; "Stop giving shit away!"

Heating Up - MB is not the only thing that Cap'n Jack keeps tight control over.  Apparently the setting on the thermostat at home is in the tropical range.  Come on Jack!  You work hard, splurge and keep your girl cool during the day.

Highlight - Apparently, nobody thought to yell "Stretch!!!" to urge this one over the fence for Stapes.

Prime Day - When informed by a Gazette reporter that egomaniac Jeff Bezos is going to be his own first customer on Blue Origin flight to space on July 20th, MB outfielder, Koz, deadpanned; "Good I hope it explodes".    Gazette didn't clarify whether Koz meant Bezos or the rocket.

Bend Like Beckham - Gary had a fine night with a couple of nice plays to thwart Brew Jay base hits.  His best move was with his back to the plate, Gary flipped a homerun ball being returned to the infield between his leg for a strike over home plate.  Uncle Gary commented to Stapes, who saw the feat, "That's as far as I can bend".

Arctic Chill - A follow up to the Cap'n and his thermostat habits.  Apparently, the Cap'n keeps the thermostat on 50 degrees when staying at a hotel.  

Caught Napping - Stapes made a nice play moving toward 2nd base on a ground ball and had no choice but to throw to 2nd to nab the runner who half-assed it to the base.  The runner was shaking his head heading back to the dugout in disagreement with the call.  The rest of the players were shaking their heads in distain at the runner's lack of effort.

Wizzo The Wizard - Jeff made quite a few stellar plays at shortstop tonight.  Not easy without the Stone of Zanzibar.

Alfred Hitchcock - MB outfielder Jake Koz did not have the best of nights tonight, until he came up big at the end of the game to save a bird that fell from the dugout nest.  Koz gathered up the startled baby bird and returned it to the nest seen in this dugout exclusive photo below.  NO, the bird was not a Blue nor Brew Jay.

Player Profile

Mike Pratl

Mike Pratl has played periodically with the Master batters since 2015 before becoming a full-time member in the Spring of 2020.  Mike started the 2021 Spring season 19^th on the all-time hit list and 12^th in home runs.  Mike is a graduate of Lincoln-Way West where he starred in baseball and football.   Pratl attended University of Wisconsin-Platteville where he walked on as a kicker for the Pioneers and made 128 of 134 lifetime PAT’s for a 96% success rate with a career long 40 yard field goal in 2017. We sat down this week in the executive lounge to talk to the two sport stalwart.

Gazette: You’ve filled in at times since 2015 and became a full-time member last season.  What is your connection to the team? 

Pratl:  My  connection to this team goes back to 10u travel baseball when I first met Jeff. From there Ken was my coach and naturally met Jack. My family and their family have been very close since then.

Gazette:  How were you asked to play for MB?

Pratl:  I got asked to play back in 2015 but being at school in Wisconsin I couldn’t commit full time until I graduated last spring. Luckily Jack had an opening so I had to take it.

Gazette:  Going forward are you planning on being a full-time roster member?

Pratl:  Planning on staying full time for a while. Have no reason to leave, and it keeps me busy on Tuesdays.

Gazette:  You hit three home runs last fall, is that something you plan on doing more or is it a natural result of good contact?

Pratl:  Last year I tried to homerun hunt a few times if given the chance since I had zero to my career until then. Now it’s more natural if I get a good swing on it, we’ll see if I can match the 3 from last season.

Gazette:  Do you have any personal goals with MB?

Pratl:  Personal goal for me has always been at least 2 hits a game.  Figure that would give the team a good chance to score.

Gazette:  What is your favorite thing about being a member of MB?

Pratl:  Favorite thing has always been the people on the team. Great group of guys who enjoy playing and being around each other.

Gazette:  You were a kicker in high school and college, did you ever kick a game winning field goal?

Pratl:  Think in high school I had a kick to give us the lead with 1/2 a quarter to go.

Gazette:  What was that like?

Pratl:  Being able to put your team in a place to win is always a great feeling.

Gazette:  How did your teammates react?

Pratl:  The whole team was ecstatic.

Gazette:  Did you ever attempt a game winning field goal and miss? 

Pratl:  Luckily never missed a game winner. Missed my fair share of kicks which bothered me naturally. My teammates knew they needed to score touchdowns to win so wasn’t a big deal really.

Gazette:  Your career long in college during a game was 40 yards.  What is the longest field goal you’ve made at any point practicing or goofing around?

Pratl:  Warming up before practice I’ve gotten to 60 yards a few times. The wind can definitely help and make it easier, that’s for sure.

Gazette:  You went to UW-Platteville.  The Chicago Bears famously held camp there from 1984 to 2001.  Did it cross your mind that you were playing on the same field that the great 80’s, early 90’s and 1985 Super Bowl winning Bears practiced on?

Pratl:  It’s something you do think about every now and then. Knowing the greats like Payton, McMahon, Hampton, and all those guys is really cool. They actually have a computer lab to honor the Bears on campus. I know that bothered some packer fans.

Gazette:  I understand that you created an invention.  Something that involved fishing baseballs out of the water at Ron Rob field.  Can you elaborate on that invention?

Pratl:   Yeah our big problem at Ron Rob was losing baseballs in the small stream/river in left field….. so I took an extending pole, a butterfly net, and some zip ties to create a way for us to get those baseballs. You could say that was the start of my engineering career.

Gazette:  You mentioned playing travel ball for Coach Ken, any funny memories from that period?

Pratl:  Funniest Ken memory is probably a collective one; you never knew the verbiage he was gonna use.  He described multiple infields as “quagmires” and tossed the word “bamboozle” into use a time or two.