Henry W. Broughton

My father, Henry W. Broughton, died in his sleep on September 28, 2008. I took him to the emergency room on September 21. An hour earlier, we were watching the final baseball game in Yankee Stadium on TV.

Henry took me to a game at Yankee Stadium in 1964. We were in New York for the World’s Fair. The game was remarkable because Mickey Mantle hit a home run, and it was one of the longest balls ever hit in Yankee Stadium.

An earlier baseball memory is from 1961, the year that Mantle and Roger Maris were chasing Babe Ruth’s record. We were watching a Yankees game on TV. This was long before ESPN, and televised sports were far less common. The game was tied going into the ninth inning. Henry observed that an extra-inning game would be a bonus to Mantle and Maris, because it would give them additional turns at bat. As it turned out, Yogi Berra hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth, and the scenario Henry envisioned didn’t happen. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a few that are out:

Lee: Last year’s runner-up starts the season on Feb. 6, hosting Illinois Institute of Technology. They play Auburn-Montgomery April 17-18, and Cumberland April 21. The Flames have picked up two D-I transfers, Tyler Roberts (Memphis) and Trey Burstrom (Tennessee). They have also added Julian Alvarez, who hit .419 and 26 home runs for Bacone last year, and two players drafted in 2006, Jeff Ramirez and Rashad Taylor. Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Ekstrom

RHP Mike Ekstrom, who took Point Loma Nazarene to the NAIA Baseball National Championship tournament in 2004, has been called up by the San Diego Padres.

Ekstrom had 12 wins and an ERA of 1.96 in his senior year with the Sea Lions. He is the second Sea Lion to make it to the Major Leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

Terry Puhl

Terry Puhl, Field Manager of Canada’s entry in the 2008 Olympics, was a Major League outfielder for 15 seasons with the Houston Astros and the Kansas City Royals. He was a National League All Star in 1978 and played in the 1980 National League Championship Series vs. Philadelphia, setting a then-NLCS record with a .526 batting average. He holds the Major League record for career fielding percentage (.993).

Puhl’s day job is Coach of the University of Houston-Victoria Jaguars, an NAIA program entering its second year. He gave this interview on his way home from Beijing.

Bob Broughton, The College Baseball Blog: Do you think that baseball should be an Olympic sport? Read the rest of this entry »

Canada lost to Chinese Taipei 6-5, in 12 innings.

Chinese Taipei led 5-3 after two innings. Canada got one back in the fourth when Adam Stern (Nebraska) hit a triple, and came in on a ground out by Emmanuel Garcia. They tied the game in the seventh on a home run by Stubby Clapp (Texas Tech).

Because the game went more than ten innings, a special Olympic rule came into effect. In the 11th and 12th innings, both teams started the inning with runners on first and second, and no outs. Chinese Taipei got the winning run when the the first batter of the 12th inning, Chih-Hsien Chiang, hit a single to bring in the baserunner planted on second.

All five of Canada’s losses were by one run. Story from CBC: Canada drops another close game in Olympic baseball.

The Corvallis (OR) Knights swept a best-of-three series against the Wenatchee (WA) AppleSox to win their first West Coast Collegiate Baseball League championship. The AppleSox won the championship in 2006 and 2007.

The Knights won the first game of the series 6-4 (11 innings) in Wenatchee. The star of that game was Doug Cherry (Washington), who went 4-5, reached base six times, and was spectacular on defense. He drew a walk in the ninth to bring in the tying run and send the game into extra innings. Bryant Kraus (Portland) batted in the winning run in the 11th. Taylor Starr (Oregon State) got the win for the Knights. Read the rest of this entry »

Brooks McNiven

Team Canada got brilliant pitching performances from Brooks McNiven (British Columbia), Jonathan Lockwood (Louisiana Tech), Rheal Cormier, and Tim Burton. They held The Netherlands to two hits, and got a 4-0 win.

McNiven, the starter, went six innings, and didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning. The Netherlands’ only other hit came off Burton in the ninth, but Burton struck out the other three batters he faced. Read the rest of this entry »

This time, it was a 1-0 loss to Japan. Yoshihisa Naruse, Kyuji Fujikawa, and Koji Uehara combined to hold Canada to two hits. The only run of the game was a home run by Atsunori Inaba in the fifth inning.

Story from the Toronto Star: Canada’s Olympic baseball hopes fade after 1-0 loss

The Okotoks Dawgs (AB) won their second straight Western Major Baseball League championship on August 16, winning three games out of four against the Swift Current (SK) Indians.

The final game, in Okotoks, drew a crowd of over 2,700; the Dawgs have a new ballpark, and have been drawing good crowds all year. The Dawgs continued to get excellent pitching during the final round. Mark Hardy (British Columbia) pitched a complete-game one-hitter in a 1-0 win. Jake Bottari (College of Idaho) held the Indians to one run in seven innings in another game.

Swift Current’s win was a 1-0 14-inning thriller. Sean Cooley (North Dakota; 8 1/3 innings, 6 hits) and Shawn Lee (Bellevue; 5 2/3 innings, 2 hits, eight strikeouts) combined for the shutout. Jeff Duda (Campbellsville) pitched twelve shutout innings for the Dawgs. Duda was 7-3, 1.88 ERA for the season.

Brian Duensing

The starters are James Avery (Niagara) for Canada, Brett Anderson for USA.

Canada leads 1-0 after one inning.Canada’s run came on an RBI double by Emerson Frostad (Lewis-Clark State).

8:15 PM PDT: Canada leads 3-0 after two innings. Emmanuel Garcia hit an RBI triple, then scored on a ground out by Michael Saunders.

8:35 PM: Canada leads 4-0 after three innings, and they are hitting Anderson at will. The fourth run came from an RBI single by Adam Stern (Nebraska). Great defensive play by Stubby Clapp (Texas Tech) at second base in the bottom of the third.

9 PM: Canada leads 4-2 after four innings. USA got on the board with a home run by Brian Barden (Oregon State), got the second run on an RBI single by John Gall (Stanford). Avery was replaced by R.J. Swindle (Charleston Southern). Read the rest of this entry »

Keunwoo Jeong

Canada out-hit Korea 5-3, but the only run of the game came on a home run by Keunwoo Jeong in the top of the third, off Canadian starter Mike Johnson.

Hyunjin Ryu pitched a complete game for Korea, struck out six, walked three. Johnson went six innings, allowed all three of Korea’s hits. David Davidson and Tim Burton were Canada’s relievers.

Canada’s best chance to score came in the bottom of the ninth. Mike Saunders opened the inning with a hit, and was on third with one out after Nick Weglarz got a hit. Brett Lawrie flied out. Matt Rogelstad (Arkansas State) drew a walk, loading the bases and and moving Weglarz, the potential winning run, to second. Ryan Radmanovich (Pepperdine) flied out to end the game with the bases loaded. Read the rest of this entry »

Canada took a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth on a two-run home run by Nick Weglarz, which chased Cuban starter Adiel Palma. Cuba responded with four runs in the bottom of the sixth, on two-run home runs by Alexander Malleta and Alfredo Despaigne. Canada got one back in the eighth when Weglarz came in when Brett Lawrie hit into a fielder’s choice, but they went three up, three down in the ninth to end the game.

Canada missed an excellent chance to take the early lead in the second. Scott Thorman opened the inning with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, and to third on a single by Weglarz. The next batter, Jimmy Van Ostrand, hit a ground ball, and Thorman got caught between third and home. Weglarz and Van Ostrand moved to second and third on another wild pitch by Palma, and Canada had runners at second and third with one out. However, Matt Rogelstad (Arkansas State) struck out, and Chris Robinson (Illinois) was out on a dangerous ground ball to end the inning.

Starter Brooks McNiven (British Columbia) lasted only two innings. He gave up three runs (one of them unearned) in the second, and the Cubans were generally hitting the ball hard against him. Canada used four pitchers the rest of the way, Jonathan Lockwood (Louisiana Tech), Chris Reistma, Robert Swindle (Charleston Southern), and Steve Green (Fort Scout CC).

Weglarz hit another home run in the fourth, and finished the game 4-4.

Canada’s next game is against Korea, at 6 AM EDT on Friday.

Canada got a methodical 10-0 win in a game shortened to eight innings by the mercy rule.

Canada got all the runs they needed on a three-run home run by 1B Scott Thorman in the fourth inning. The required runs for the mercy rule came on a two-run home run in the eighth inning by RF Mike Saunders.

Chris Begg (Niagara), Tim Burton, and Rheal Cormier (CC of Rhode Island) combined for the shutout. The Chinese had a chance in the bottom of the eighth to break up the shutout and extend the game into the ninth inning; runners on second and third with no outs. However, Cormier, after giving up a double to the first batter he faced, got three straight strikeouts to end the game.

Canada’s next game is against Cuba, at 6 AM EDT on Thursday.

Update: Brooks McNiven (British Columbia) gets the start against Cuba. Mike Johnson will start against South Korea on Friday, and James Avery (Niagara) starts against the USA on Saturday.

The Okotoks Dawgs and the Swift Current Indians will meet for the Western Major Baseball League final. The best-of-five series starts in Swift Current, SK on Wednesday,

The Dawgs won three of four against the Sherwood Park Dukes in the West Division final. Their leading hitter is now Lee Darracott (Campbellsville; .353, 4 HR, 27 RBI). Jake Bottari (College of Idaho; 6-0, 0.71 RBI, 54 K) continues to do great things on the mound.

The Indians swept the Regina Red Sox in the East Division final. They are lead by Conrad Funk (Winthrop; .397 regular season, 1 HR, 36 RBI), and Nick Bratney (George Fox; 6-0 regular season, 1.18 ERA, 24 K).

WMBL official site: http://www.wmbl.ca/

Article by Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network: Get to Know Team Canada

Excerpt: “Meet Mr. Average hitter for Team Canada: Emerson Frostad (Lewis-Clark State), 25, of Calgary Alta. A Texas Rangers farmhand, Frostad has split this season between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Oklahoma in the Texas Rangers system. He had played 486 games in five seasons. Read the rest of this entry »