The Phantoms finish out the season on a strong note with a decisive win. Team Echelbarger scored 18 runs in 6 innings and hold the Blue Devils to 1 run, 2 hits and 0 walks. They had it all, great pitching, solid defense and awesome bats.

We have pitching! After Christian’s last outing, he got serious and worked on his pitching for several days with Jordan. He got his first start since the 3rd game of the season and pitched very well. Christian went 2 innings facing 8 batters with a pitch count of 33, 21 strikes, 5 strikeouts, 2 hits, 0 walks and 1 earned run. Chris pitched the third and fourth innings facing 6 batters with a pitch count of 24, 17 strikes, 4 strikeouts, 0 hits, 0 walks and 0 earned runs. Jordan pitched the fifth facing 3 batters with a pitch count of 12, 8 strikes, 0 hits, 0 walks and 0 earned runs. They combined for 46 strikes of 69 pitches holding Distinctive Glass to 2 hits, 0 walks and 10 strikeouts.

We have defense! With the awesome pitching, we didn’t have much action on the field…But we did get some plays. Christian had a 1-3 with Reilly in the first inning. Chris had a 1-3 with Alex B and Sean had a 6-3 with Alex in the fourth. Christian had a 4-3 with Benji in the fifth.

We have bats! The Phantoms offense was on tonight. They had 19 hits, 8 walks, 15 RBI’s and 18 runs scored in six innings. Just about the entire team came home. In the sixth inning, with bases loaded Jordan hit a base clearing double. After the opposing pitcher caught a line drive to get an out in the top of the sixth, we ended the game due to time. So the Phantoms reverted back to 11 runs.

Everyone played well and everyone deserved a game ball tonight. But our MVP of the night was Reilly for a spectacular pop-fly catch at center field for the first out of the fifth inning.

Team Echelbarger is looking great for the playoffs. I would say we have an advantage in the 3 areas of baseball. We have a solid pitching staff with Alex R, Christian, Chris, Jordan, Ryan and Sean. I don’t think any other team in the league has 6 solid pitchers.

We have shown awesome defense, every infield position has a primary and a secondary that can start in that position. At first we have Reilly and Benji. At second we have Christian and Ryan. At shortstop we have Chris and Sean. At third we have Ian and Alex R. At catcher we have Jordan, Benji and Alex R. We have solid outfielders with Alex B, Jack and Ceasar. When we are on, I don’t think any other team can match this defense.

The Phantoms have fire power behind the plate. Every single player on this team can hit the baseball. We have speed at the top of the line up, the ability to move runners and big bats in the later part of our lineup. For the season, the team in green has had 180 vs 121 hits, 133 vs 100 walks and 162 vs 101 runs.

The playoffs begin on June 1st and we have a BYE in the first round. We will play against the winner of the Point B / IRG Flames match. Our first playoff game is Saturday, June 5th on Field 2 at 1:00 pm. See you there! Go Phantoms!

Final Score: Echelbarger 11 – Distinctive Glass 1

“We have Bats! We have Defense! We have Pitching! We have Style! Who are we? PHANTOMS!!!” is the new cheer for this season. Team Echelbarger came out to play great baseball and win an awesome game against Showcase Sports.

Sometimes as head coach you need to chew out the team to start the fire within the players. We had a chat before the game on how we needed to step up, be focused, cheer for our teammates, call the plays and play Phantoms baseball. I told the team that it was up to each individual player to bring it and not the responsibility of the coaching staff to get them fired up.

We have Pitching! We had 6 innings of solid pitching with 73 combined strikes. Chris started the game facing 3 batters, 8 strikes, 2 strike outs, 0 hits, 0 walks and 0 runs. Ryan pitched the second facing 4 batters, 9 strikes, 3 strike outs, 0 hits, 1 walk and 0 runs. Jordan pitched 3 innings facing 18 batters, 46 strikes, 8 strike outs, 7 hits, 2 walks and 4 earned runs.

We have Defense! Christian had a 4-3 play with Benji in the first inning. Alex B caught a grounder at first base to tag the runner out to end the 5th. Christian had a 4-3 play with Ryan to get the 1st out of the sixth.

We have Bats! Christian lead us off with a lead off single, Chris drove him in with a first pitch triple. Sean has an RBI double to score Chris and Benji drive Sean home with a double. Chris leads off the third inning with single, Jordan moves the runner to 3rd but is thrown out at 1st, Sean drives Chris home with a single. Sean steals home on a error to the pitcher and Ryan takes 1st base on a catchers interference. In the fourth inning Ceasar gets walked, Ian hits an RBI single, Jack hits an RBI single, Alex B is walked, Chris hits an RBI single, Jordan hits an RBI single and Sean drives in the 5th run to end the inning.

Alex R was our MVP of the game. I told him that he would get the game ball if he struck out the last batter of the game and he did! He had a 1-3 play with Ryan in the sixth and hit a single in the 5th.

We have Style! The team showed real character on the field today and commanded the game from the first pitch. We have one more regular season game before the playoffs and the Phantoms look ready to play.

Our next game is Wednesday, May 26th against Distinctive Glass at 7:00 pm on Lynndale Field 2. See you there. Go Phantoms!

Final Score: Showcase 4 – Echelbarger 10

Sometimes the ump makes the wrong call and that’s baseball… In a controversial call on the last play of the game, the Phantoms lose, but technically won the game. We have to remember that the minors level is a developmental division, we don’t keep track of wins or loses and standings.

Yogi Berra once said that “Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical…” I’m not sure if the Phantoms are too confident or if they are just getting bored. In the last couple of games, the team in green hasn’t been ready mentally to play baseball. The kids are quiet on the bench, not cheering for each other and not playing like a good team.

The Phantoms had a season low of 6 hits and 14 strike outs for the game. Sean contributed with a double in the sixth inning. Chris, Sean, Ceasar and Ian had singles. As a team we were held to 5 base on balls.

Alex R was our starting pitcher going 1 inning facing 5 batters with 1 strike out, 0 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs given up on a throwing error. Chris pitched the second facing 7 batters with 0 strike outs, 5 hits, 0 walks and 1 run given up. Ryan pitched the third inning facing 5 batters, 1 strike out, 2 walks and 0 runs. Ian pitched the fourth facing 6 batters, 1 hit, 3 walks and 2 runs given up. Jordan pitched the fifth facing 3 batters, 2 strike outs, 0 hits, 0 walks and 0 runs. Christian started the sixth struggling to find his control walking 3 batters, 1 strike out and 3 earned runs. Sean closed us out with 1 strike out and 1 walk.

We had a couple good plays in the game. Sean caught nice pop up at 3rd base. Chris had a 6-3 combo with Ryan in the first inning. Alex B started a 9-4-1-6 with Christian, Chris and Sean. Chris had 1-2 with Jordan and a caught a line drive a pitcher in the second. Ryan had a pop-up at pitcher and Sean caught a pop-up at short in the third. Ian had a 1-4 with Ryan, a pair of 1-3’s with Jordan in the fourth.

Jordan was our MVP for the game. He had the 1-2, two 1-3’s and 1-3 with Ryan at 1st base in the fifth inning and 2 strike outs facing 3 batters. Jordan had a double in the 3rd and was hit by a pitch in the fifth.

In the last play of the game, Sean with the count of 2 and 2 pitched to the lead off batter Michael #2 on Windermere. Michael hit a grounder to 1st and Ryan caught the ball and immediately ran toward 1st base. Ryan beat the runner by 2 strides and collided with Michael at first. Sean who was helping to cover 1st was base was blocking the view of the fielding ump and the runner was called safe. The go ahead run at 3rd came home and we lost the game. I would have contested the call with the home plate ump had it been a playoff game, but in the end it didn’t matter and there is another game to play on Monday.

Final Score: Echelbarger 7 – Windermere 8

Sometimes experiments don’t work out. I tried out kids in new positions tonight and we missed some opportunities on the field. The Phantoms end up loosing a good game and their record is now 10-3.

Alex B started us off pitching tonight facing 9 batters with 21 strikes, 1 strikeout, 3 hits and 5 earned runs in 1 inning. Jordan settled things down going 4 innings facing 18 batters with 50 strikes, 9 strikeouts, 6 hits, 1 walk and 2 earned runs. Sean started the 6th with 10 strikes, 1 strikeout, 3 hits, 1 walk and 4 earned runs.

Defensively we didn’t do much this evening. Routine plays were missed and there was no movement by the players. Sparta’s had some big hits, but our outfielders didn’t get under the ball to make the catches. Reilly got a ground out tag in the second at 1st and a 1-3 combo with Jordan at pitcher in the fifth. Ryan had an 8-4 play with Alex R in the third and Ian started a 8-4 tag at 2nd with Benji in the sixth.

The Phantoms bats kept us close tonight tying the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the 4th. But we couldn’t generate a 5 run inning to take us over the top. Jordan and Ceasar both had doubles tonight. We had singles from Ryan, Jordan, Benji, Sean, Jack and Ceasar. Sparta’s out hit the Phantoms 14 to 12 and held us to 3 walks.

The MVP of the game was Christian who had a nice game going 2 for 2 at bats with 1 walk. He had a hard hit RBI double in the 1st and an RBI triple in the 3rd. Christian closed us out with 8 strikes, 1 strikeout, 2 hits, 1 walk and 1 earned run.

Our next game is Saturday, May 15th against Windermere at 5:00 pm on Lynndale Field 2. See you there. Go Phantoms!

Final Score: Sparta’s 12 – Echelbarger 9

The Phantoms win again! Team Echelbarger is now 10-2 for the season and are being called the team to win it all by the other coaches in the league. However, we still have 4 games left in the regular season and other teams are improving as well.

The Phantoms only had 9 players and didn’t seem too interested in playing tonight. Maybe it was that this was the first 5:00 pm game we’ve had in a while and we’ve are used to playing the late 7:00 pm games. The first inning was a disaster for the team in green, missed opportunities and let Point B get 5 runs in.

We only used 2 pitchers and overall we had pretty good pitching after the first inning. Ryan was our starter facing 11 batters in 2 innings. He had 23 strikes, 2 strikeouts, 4 hits, 2 walks and 5 earned runs. Jordan pitched 3 innings facing 14 batters, 31 strikes, 5 strikeouts, 6 hits, 0 walks and 2 earned runs. Both combined for a league season second best 76 pitch count for the evening. The lowest pitch count for the season is 68 by Point B on 3/30 against Wilcox.

Team Echelbarger had 13 runs on the board with 9 hits, 13 walks and 3 hit by pitches. Point B actually out hit the Phantoms with 10 hits, but only got 2 walks for the game. Alex B lead us off again going 2 for 3 at the plate, 1 HBP, 1 RBI and grounded out in the 4th. Ryan contributed with a RBI double in the second.

Defensively Benji caught a pop fly to end the fourth inning and Jordan caught a pop-up at pitcher for the 1st out of the fifth frame.

Our MVP of the game was Reilly. He has been a solid first baseman for the entire season. He leads the team with 32 putouts for the Spring and 5 of those this evening. Reilly had three 1-3 plays with Ryan in the first and second innings. In the fifth inning had a pair of 6-3 plays with Sean. He was patient at the plate with 4 walks and 1 run scored. Awesome job Reilly!

I’m letting the kids play some positions that they normally don’t play in the next couple of games. We’ll also get one last look for the pitchers I haven’t identified for the playoff rotation. We’ll have at least have 5, maybe 7 players going for us on the mound in the post season. I like our chances.

Our next game is a 7:00 pm rematch against team Sparta’s on Monday, May 10th at Lynndale Field 2. See you there! Go Phantoms!

Final Score: Point B 7 – Echelbarger 13

A well executed game by the Phantoms this evening. They had pitching, defense and offense. Team Echelbarger goes into games believing that they will win.

I stated at the beginning of the season that our objectives are to have Fun, learn the game of Baseball, have good sportsmanship, provide a positive environment and measure our success on our improvement and the above. Not wins and losses. I think we are moving in that direction.

Teams are selected by blind draft in the minors division. I only knew what I was getting with my assistant coaches kids. The rest of the team was unknown. After observing the team after first practice, Coach Jeff and I talked about how we really needed start with basics. Throwing the ball, catching and proper batting techniques.

Those first few practices were pretty rough, but the boys were eager to learn and put in the effort to practice what we coaches were teaching. The Phantoms have come a long way since then and everyone is contributing as a team. I would argue that we have the best defense on the field, have great pitching and we’ve always had awesome bats. They ARE the team to beat going into the post season.

Ryan was our starting pitcher going 2 innings facing 9 batters with 15 strikes, 1 strikeout, 3 hits, 2 walks and 1 earned run. Jordan pitched 2.2 innings facing 11 batters, 32 strikes, 5 strikeouts, 3 hits, 0 walks and 0 earned runs. Sean pitched 1 inning facing 3 batters, 7 strikes, 1 strikeout, 1 hit and 1 earned run. Christian closed out the game again.

Everyone contributed on offense tonight, we had 14 hits, 7 walks, 8 RBI’s and 10 runs scored. Alex B got his first start at lead off going 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored. We stole home a couple times and took extra bases with runners in scoring position. I’m pretty happy with our aggressive base running and taking a base on every passed ball.

The Phantom defense was in top form. We got all 18 outs for a six inning game. Just about the entire team had a play tonight. In the 1st Alex R had an incredible diving catch with on the knees 4-3 play with Reilly. Reilly had a nice catch at 1st for the tag for the 2nd out.

In the second inning Jack had a 5-3 play with Reilly. Jordan had a pop-up play at pitcher in the fourth. Sean had 1-2 with Alex in the sixth and Christian also had a 1-2 with Alex to end the game.

Our MVP of the game was Benji. He took one for the team with a first pitch HBP (Hit By Pitch) and scored. Benji and Sean had a 2-5 play to end the first, he had a 2-1 play with Ryan in the 2nd, Chris and a pair of 6-3’s with Benji in the third and a 1-2 with Sean to end the 5th. A great defensive game for ‘G’!

The Phantoms are learning the game of baseball. They are running their own drills before games with only suggestions from the coaches and are continuing to practice after our time is over. They have really become a team and it’s a pleasure to watch them grow.

Our next game is 5:00 pm, Wednesday against Point B on Lynndale Field 2. See you there. Go Phantoms!

Final Score: Echelbarger 10 – Interbay Foods 2