Season Highlights By Game
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As you may have noticed by looking below, 2016 was a bit of a down year for updates. Despite the lack of updates, the Donks had their best season yet, finishing with an 18-4 record. The team earned a first round bye for the playoffs as the #2 seed of the National Division. Ultimately the season came to an end in the league Semi-finals where we were defeated by the eventual champions, the Cottage Grove Coyotes. As 2017 approaches, the Sea Donkeys look to reload and solidify their legacy in TCMABL history by brining home the cup. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game 1 was a showdown of TCMABL aces, Roger Morrison and Luke Elifson. As many recent games between these two games have gone, this one was a tight affair filled with all around great play. Elifson continues to pitch well against the Coyotes, yielding only 4 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run over 7 innings. In the end, the Donkeys offense put a little more pressure on the Coyotes defense, and the difference ended up being the unearned runs.
Donkeys 3 - Coyotes 2
In a reverse of the first matchup of the day, this one was a barn burner. In the top of the first, and interesting rehash of a pivotal event last year occurred. With Grill on the hill and Casazza at the plate, a line drive was hit over the head of outfielder Joe Paul. In last years version, the result was a misstep and triple. In this years version, JP made a lunging grab at the extent of his reach, and doubled off the runner from first on a nice relay. Hats off! Unfortunately for the Donks, the Coyotes came out smashing, putting up 4 in the first, and 4 in the second. Down, but never out, the Donks started clawing their way back into the game. Jelani put us on the board with his first home run (and added another one later as well.) Hull smashed a bases clearing double, as well as his first home run of the year. As the Coyotes continued to scrape across runs, we continued to narrow the gap, but ultimately came up a bit short in this one.
Coyotes 11 - Donkeys 9
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Overall our opening series with the Blizzard 2015 left off, with the Donkeys offense powering the way.
Game 1 started out with a bit of.... overeagerness. Two of the first three outs of the year were made on caught stealing plays. Oops. Despite our rally killing first inning, monster 3 hit games by Mogged, Meyer, and Anderson carried the way, as we racked up 16 total runs. Elifson got the start on the mound and looked sharp, yielding no earned through 5 innings. However, the Donks defense was not in mid-season form yet as collectively we committed a few errors which led to 4 total runs for the Blizzard. Gaddis came in for the last 2 innings and closed it out.
Donkeys 16 - Blizzard 4
Game 2 was a bit more contested. Logan was on the bump and cruising through 5 innings. The Donks had built a 5-1 lead when a number of bloops by the Blizzard, combined with a few misplays led to them taking the lead 6-5. Focus came about in the dugout as we became determined to strike back immediately. The inning was led off by Lutzka, who laced a line-drive single up the middle. Casazza followed up with a double. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Hull smoked a grounder at the short stop, taking a wicked hop, and scored two to take the lead. We'd end up moving the score to 9-6 by the end of the 6th. Gaddis finished out the 7th, yielding one run in a non-threatening inning to end the series with a Donks sweep.
Donkeys 9 - Blizzard 7
Next weekend we face our friendly rivals the Cottage Grove Coyotes at Northeast Athletic Fields in Minneapolis. Last years matchup featured some of the most intense and close games of the year. Both teams look to bring everything they've got in this pivotal GAME OF THE WEEK matchup! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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