The Outlaws played in the Northern California Travel Ball Harvest Classic at Mather on the grass field. Although we had originally envisioned shutting him down for baseball until November, Jack wants to play. The Outlaws played the Lincoln Brown Sox in the first game of the day. Although they have been in a couple of tournaments together, the Outlaws have never faced the Brown Sox before.
At the plate, Jack was 0 for 2, but reached on an error. In his first at-bat with Trevor on first, Jack grounded the first pitch to the left side. The third baseman's throw was high. Trevor kept running and scored, while Jack ended up on second. Jack ended the inning there when Breyton struck out swinging. Jack hit a 1 and 2 pitch for a line drive up the middle in his second plate appearance. When it left his bat, I was sure it was a hit. The shortstop made a nice catch for the out.
In the field, Jack played first, third, shortstop and pitched!?! He pitched 1/3 of an inning. With the Outlaws trailing by the score of 5 to 1, Jack came in to pitch in the fourth inning. He could not find the strike zone and threw 14 balls and 5 strikes. After getting the first batter to ground out to short, Jack hit a batter and then walked two more. The fifth batter hit a double to drive in two runs. Jack pulled himself out complaining of pain in his arm. Jack gave up four earned runs on one hit. He had one put-out playing first base in the fourth inning.
The Outlaws pitching continues to be an adventure. They gave up 10 hits and 15 runs. Unfortunately, the Outlaws also had two errors and three unearned runs in the top of the first and wasted any momentum that they might have gained from Breyton being the starting pitcher. The Outlaws lost the game by the score of 15 to 3. The box score is here.
The Outlaws turned around and played the Central Valley Athletic's from Fresno. They have never faced this team before.
At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1 with a run scored. He reached base on a walk and hit by pitch. Given that he is not swinging a bat other than during tournaments during the last two months, I actually feel pretty good about the contact that he is making. In his first at-bat, Jack got hit by a pitch on a 1 and 0 count to load the bases. He was out at second on Breyton's fielder's choice. Jack grounded an 0 and 1 pitch to the third baseman in his second plate appearance and was thrown out at first. In his third at-bat, Jack walked on four pitches. He stole second and then scored on Johann's infield single. Jack came home after the throw had gone to first and made a very athletic acrobatic move to avoid the tag by the catcher.
In the field, Jack played shortstop and first base. He had three assists, one put-out and an error. Charging a grounder hit back up through the middle, Jack sailed a throw over Josh's head at first for an error; he didn't realize how much momentum he had behind the throw. Jack fielded three other grounders at shortstop and made the throw to first and second for the outs. At first base, Jack took one throw from Jordan at third for the out.
Leading 4 to 1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Outlaws gave up four runs to lose the game by the score of 5 to 4. This was one of the most gut-wretching loss that I watched in a couple of years. The box score is here.
I continue to worry about Josh. Since June, he has had a number (4?) of rocky outings with the Outlaws where he has gotten hit very hard. His seven inning ERA for the two 14u tournaments that the Outlaws have played is 13.3.
The Outlaws ended the day seeded fourth out of the five teams in the tournament. They will play Hard 90 Pastime Premier at 8 am on Sunday morning.
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