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Tarpons Snatch 2 Ws

By Tommy Apligian, 09/23/22, 2:15AM CDT

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Tarpons showed their stuff today

Tarpons Week 2

 

There’s a saying amongst fishermen, Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning, red sky at night sailors delight.  Well the Tarpons were clearly seeing red from the previous week. We let one slip away in the 2nd half of the last game and wanted revenge.  Unfortunately the Lugnuts were in a similar hole, at 0-2. Only 1 team could come out clean in this game and fortunately it was the Tarpons.  

 

We started off the 1st inning with a leadoff walk from Aaron Holmes.  A Driggers double, sac fly by STK, and double by the Peter Hogan and we were on the board with 2 runs. Over the next 2 innings we opened up the flood gates and put up a 10 spot.  Mitch Klaassen got the party started with a leadoff single, then Ted Hogan with his first fence bomb of the Fall.  Jorge Rivera and Jay Swank turned the bottom over with a couple of hits and then top kept it rolling with 3 more singles and 4 rbi’s.  We picked up where we left off in the 3rd inning scoring 5 again.  This time it was Thiele starting the rally with a leadoff single and moved up on a sac fly by Klaassen.  That heads up base running lead to an RBI single by Robbie Franklin and got the inning flowing. Another extra base hit by Ted Hogan (2b) and a 2 run triple by Jorge and yet another hit by Mr Swank padded the lead even more.  The 4th inning saw Mitchy the Kid Klaassen rip a 2 run bomb after STK hit a leadoff double. That 2 runs was great insurance as we ended up taking the W 14-10.  The bottom half of our lineup was special today and really propelled us to our 1st victory of the season.

 

Game 2 vs Muscles

 

When we stepped on the field on this game, we were feeling very confident from our first victory.  That MOMENTUM carried over into our play.  This time with a stiff cross wind that was playing havoc on the ball.  Both teams hit some really hard balls that would have gone out on another field but just got knocked down on this one.

We were visitors this time so it was our turn to strike while the iron was hot. With a couple of hits including a double by Driggers, we had guys on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. (We aren’t going to mention the 2 K’s in the inning—btw great job pitching by Croce today against us).  Thiele comes up with a clutch 2 out 2 run shot to put us on the board. That momentum kept carrying over into each inning as we held them scoreless in the 1st.  Once again our bottom came through again with the up and coming rook Ted Hogan (2b) and another single by Mr All I Do Is Get On Jay Swank.  That lead to a bases clearing triple by the speedy Holmes. An inside the park HR capped off the 4 run inning to give the Tarpons the lead and really gave us the confidence to keep pushing hard. After another excellent inning of pitching and defense by the Tarpons, we headed back to the plate in the 3rd and put the strain on the Muscles. STK lead it off with a 2b followed by yet another RBI single by Thiele. After a couple of walks loaded the bases, Jorge Rivera lined and rbi single and once the inning was over we had an 8-3 lead.  8 guys went to the plate this inning for us. While we only got 2 runs out of it (that’s a lot of noise for just 2…) it was taxing on their defense and flipped the lineup over once again. More great pitching and defense got us back to the plate quickly. Croce buckled down and their defense held us to 2 scoreless innings. Finally in the 6th and final frame, Jay Swank got us going again with a single. We got 2 more inside the park home runs* that resulted in 3 more coming across the plate.  Thiele once again shut down their offense in the 2nd half of the frame to end the game, 11-3.

 

2 great wins for the Tarpons today which gets us back to .500 and in the thick of things. Everyone contributed and did their jobs today. It was a true team effort.

 

Big shout outs today to Thiele who was 3-6 2r, 2 1b, 2b, 3RBI and outstanding pitching limiting the Lugnuts to 10 on a wind blown out field and 3 to the Muscles on a cross wind field

Jay Swank was clutch today going 4-5 with 3 runs scored

Jorge Rivera was clutch with the stick today going 3-5 with 2r, 1b, 3b, 3RBI and flashed the leather at 3b

Ted Hogan with his first fence bomb! and solid work in the outfield

Mitch Klaassen also came through in the 1st game with a timely fence bomb

In fact the last 4 batters hit .650 today with a ton of production and really lead the charge for our 1st W of the season.