| THE BIG DANCE round one 6 SEED) HOOSIER DADDY (2004) -) THE SHORT BUS ALL-STARS (2004) LINEUPS: H. DADDY SHORT BUS 1- bryan frankovich 1- chris mclaughlin 2- dennis lackey 2- billy weisberg 3- mikey moroco 3- ted gilliland 4- brandon mckendry 4- lee nespor B- seth salcedo |
| HOOSIER DADDY 11 SHORT BUS 5 led by the hitting of brandon mckendry and defensive tandem of dennis lackey and bryan frankovich, hoosier daddy was able to pull off a relatively easy win against a fellow 2004 squad in the short bus all-stars. a best of 3, one-on-one scrum series to decide home field advantage provided some serious fireworks early. tmikey moroco had his way against ted gilliland in a battle of captains as the big man got barely 3 feet from the line before moroco had retrieved the ball, made himself a box of minute rice, and toted the pill across the finish line. billy weisberg evened the series at one all by blowing by brandon mckendry, and lee nespor topped dennis lackey in a hard-fought but ugly contest (that probably would have been better off as a psyche-out-off or something) to garner his all-stars last at-bats. hoosier daddy proceeded to set the tone for the game right out of the gate as frankovich and lackey each knocked singles before mckednry cleared the bases with his first homer. moroco missed a triple that was tapped back in by chris mclaughlin for a double play and frankovich's double went in-and-out to end the top of the first with the count 1-0. short bus was unable to answer as frankovich tipped in mclaughlin's first shot of the game for 2 and weisberg followed with an airball from the double line. the score remained the same until the fourth, when once again hoosier daddy struck with a mckendry homer, this time of the 2-run variety. not to be outdone, frankovich banked in a solo shot of his own, giving h.d. their second 3-run inning of the young contest and a comfortable 6-0 lead. short bus was finally able to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the 4th when teddy ballgame himself nailed a 2-out solo homer. however, lee nespor launched his homer attempt over the backboard in the very next at-bat, stifling any sort of rally. hoosier daddy was able to get the run back and then some in the fifth as seth salcedo came off the bench for mikey moroco and immediatly contributed with a leadoff triple. mckendry singled salcedo in, and was brought in by a dennis lackey 3-bagger 2 batters later. by the time the dust settled on the top of the fith, hoosier daddy had extended the score to 9-1. the young hoosier daddy defense locked down in the next 3 short bus at-bats, allowing only a 7th-inning chris mclaughlin solo shot to crack their armor. frankovich recorded double plays in all 3 innings, and dennis lackey nailed teddy ballgame with a psyche out in both the 6th and 8th. with a healthy 10-2 cushion, hoosier daddy cruised into the ninth with nothing to lose, and it showed in their shot selection as salcedo, frankovich and lackey all launching ill-advised solo homer attempts, with only lackey's finding it's way home. a weisberg double play on mckendry halted the hoosier daddy scoring and sent short bus to their last at-bats with a lot of ground to make up. the all-star bats finally came alive after a moving motivational speech from gilliland, albeit far too late in the contest to make any sort of difference. mclaughlin and weisberg hit back-to-back 2-baggers,, and when gilliland finally moved in past the homer stripe, he too found his shot, drilling a rbi triple. nespor brought in mr. ballgame with a single to make the final score a little more respectable at 11-5, but frankovich's 7th double play of the afternoon all but sealed the short bus fate, and lackey's final-out psyche-out on the veteran weisberg put the final nail in their coffin. for the victors, frankovich added 2 rbi to go with his 7 put-backs and lackey contributed a trifecta of psyche-outs and a double play of his own. mckendry nailed 2 homers and drove in 6 while going 8 for 11. salcedo came off he bench and collected 5 hits. weisberg and mclaughlin evenly divided 6 double plays, with chris collecting 5 hits and billy 4. lee nespor's 3rd inning psyche-out of moroco was the only one of the game for short bus. teddy ballgame got the hell out of dodge following the contedt, but weisberg had the following to say about his final game in a short bus all-star uniform: "thank mutherfucking god" the win improved hoosier daddy's lifetime record against short bus to 4-0. BACK |