Laingsburg vs. Perry – – Baseball PreDistrict Game – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 26, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft
Today, your Bleacher Denizen is at Lansing Catholic High School, where the Laingsburg Wolfpack will compete with the Ramblers from Perry in a baseball PreDistrict game. Today’s winner will compete along with three other teams in the district semifinals on Saturday.
Lansing Catholic has a beautiful baseball/softball complex that was built just a few years ago. Today, I’m in their press box taking my notes. I’m sharing the space with Adam Collom, a Lansing Catholic student who is doing the announcing today.
Here are the starting lineups. Perry won the coin toss and will be the home team. Laingsburg will bat first.
LAINGSBURG
Dom Garcia cf
Emilio Garcia 1b
Ty Randall p
Elliott Wilsey rf
R.J. Garcia 3b
Jackson Audretsch c
Cam Ballard ss
PERRY
Brady Burns lf
Michael Werner rf
Joey Allen-McGraw ss
Tristan Krupp cf
Cole Sawyer 1b
Tyger Whitbeck 3b
Nolan Krupp 2b
Memphis Schrauben p
Olyan McFarland c
It is now time to review the results of this game through the eyes of an aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to get a baseball career started. Alas, he misinterpreted things when opposing fans cheered when he swung at baseballs and missed. He loved the cheers and did not have a difficult time at missing baseballs. It was too late when he realized that the cheers are meaningless unless the coach is happy and his playing time dropped abruptly!
Dom Garcia singled off the second baseman’s glove to lead off the top of the first inning for the Wolfpack. Dom Garcia stole second base and advanced to third base when Emilio Garcia beat out a bunt single. Emilio Garcia stole second base. Ty Randall lined a single to center field. Dom Garcia scored and Emilio Garcia advanced to third base.
When your Bleacher Denizen was a piano player/singer in country bands, one song that was popular was “The Thunder Rolls.” Unfortunately, we had to relive that song as thunder came and negated a double to deep center field by Elliott Wilsey and a mandatory thirty-minute wait was imposed.
Ty Randall stole second base and Emilio Garcia was able to score on an error. Jake Rivet entered the game as a courtesy runner for Ty Randall. Jake Rivet advanced to second base on a groundout to second base by Elliott Wilsey and scored on an RBI groundout to first base by R.J. Garcia.
Jackson Audretsch walked. Greg Stewart entered the game as a courtesy runner for Jackson Audretsch. Greg Stewart advanced to third base when Cam Ballard was safe at second base on an error. And there was more thunder. And the game restarted.
Liam Esch lined a single to center field and drove in Greg Stewart and Cam Ballard. Liam Esch stole second base. Rambler Pitcher Memphis Schrauben struck out the next Laingsburg batter to end the inning.
Laingsburg scored five runs (despite two rain delays) in the top of the first inning to take a 5-0 lead.
Laingsburg pitcher Ty Randall struck out the Perry leadoff batter in the bottom of the first inning and retired the next batter on a popup to the pitcher. And the lightning came again – – –
The game resumed and Ty Randall got Perry’s third out of the inning on a bouncer to the mound.
Dom Garcia bounced a single to right field to lead off the top of the second inning for Laingsburg. Perry Catcher Oylan McFarland fired the ball to second base to catch the runner stealing. Emilio Garcia was hit by a pitch. Emilio Garcia advanced to second base when Ty Randall grounded a single to right field. Perry Right Fielder Michael Werner made a nice throw to keep the runner from advancing to third base.
Emilio Garcia scored and Ty Randall advanced to third base when Elliott Wilsey was safe at first base on an error. D.J. Garcia doubled to deep right field to drive Ty Randall and Elliott Wilsey home.
Joey McGraw-Allen came in to pitch for Perry. Zach Miller went in to play shortstop for Perry. Joey McGraw-Allen struck out the next Wolfpack hitter. Cam Ballard singled to left field and D.J. Garcia went to third base. Liam Esch walked to load the bases. D.J. Garcia scored, Cam Ballard went to third and Liam Esch to second base on a wild pitch. Everett Rodriguez walked to load the bases. Joey McGraw-Allen retired the next Wolfpack hitter on a grounder to second base to end the inning.
Laingsburg scored four runs in the top of the second inning to boost its lead to 9-0.
Tristan Krupp walked to lead off the bottom of the second inning for Perry. Tristan Krupp was out at second base and Cole Sawyer safe at first base on a fielder’s choice bouncer to the mound. Ty Randall struck out the next Rambler batter. Nolan Krupp walked and Cole Sawyer advanced to second base. Ty Rambler retired the next Perry hitter on a ground ball to second base to end the inning.
Emilio Garcia was safe at first base on an error to lead off the top of the third inning for the Wolfpack. Perry Catcher Oylan McFarland made an excellent throw to second base to catch the runner stealing. Perry Pitcher Joey McGraw-Allen struck out the next Wolfpack batter. Elliott Wilsey singled off the first base bag and took second base on a wild pitch. R.J. Garcia lined a single to center field to drive in Elliott Wilsey. Joey McGraw-Allen struck out the next Laingsburg hitter to end the inning.
Laingsburg scored one run in the top of the third inning to push its lead to 10-0.
Dom Garcia came in to pitch for Laingsburg. Ty Randall moved to second base and Everett Rodriguez went to center field.
Oylan McFarland walked to lead off the bottom of the third inning. Logan France came in as a courtesy runner. He advanced to second base on a wild pitch and moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Brady Burns. Michael Werner singled to center field to drive in Logan France. Dom Garcia got the next batter, Joey-McGraw Allen, to hit a scorching liner to Wolfpack Shortstop Cam Ballard, who fired the ball to first base to double off the runner and end the inning.
Perry scored one run in the bottom of the third inning to shave the Laingsburg lead to 10-1.
Rain started coming down pretty hard, but they kept playing as it is important to get this game in if possible.
Cam Ballard blasted a triple to right field to lead off the top of the fourth inning for the Wolfpack. Joey-McGraw-Allen retired the next hitter on a bouncer to the mound. Joey McGraw-Allen made a solid play to hold the runner at third base before he threw the batter out. Joey McGraw struck out the next Laingsburg hitter.
Dom Garcia singled to right field and drove Cam Ballard home. Dom Garcia went to second base when Emilio Garcia singled to left field. Perry Centerfielder Tristan Krupp went back near the fence to catch a drive by Ty Randall for the third Wolfpack out.
Laingsburg scored one run in the top of the fourth inning to take an 11-1 lead.
Dom Garcia retired the first two Perry batters in the bottom of the fourth inning on a fly to left field and a strikeout. Tyger Whitbeck walked and moved to second base when Nolan Krupp was safe at first base on an error. Dom Garcia got Memphis Schrauben on a hot liner to the mound to end the inning.
Joey McGraw-Allen got off the mound quickly to retire Laingsburg’s leadoff batter in the top of the fifth inning on a slow roller toward first base. D.J. Garcia lined a single to the outfield and took second base on an error. Joey McGraw-Allen retired the next two Wolfpack hitters on a fly to left field and a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.
Dom Garcia retired the Rambler leadoff batter in the top of the fifth inning on a grounder to shortstop. Brady Burns beat out an infield single and went to second base when Michael Werner drew a walk. D.J. Garcia made a great diving play to catch a drive off the bat of Joey-McGraw Allen and quickly scrambled to third base to force Brady Burns at third base for the second out. Michael Werner advanced to second base and Joey-McGraw Allen was safe at first base on the play. Dom Garcia retired the next hitter on a foul popup to third base to end the inning.
Because Laingsburg was up by ten runs at the end of the fifth inning, the mercy rule was invoked. Laingsburg won this game 11- 1 and will play in the District Semifinal on Saturday.
Brady Burns and Michael Werner each had a single for Perry.
Joey McGraw-Allen pitched three and two thirds solid innings. He gave up just three runs and struck out four Wolfpack batters.
R.J. Garcia had a double, two singles and four RBI for Laingsburg. Cam Ballard had a triple and a single. Dom Garcia and Ty Randall each had two singles and one RBI. Liam Esch had a single and two RBI. Emilio Garcia and Elliott Wilsey each had a single. (Elliott Wilsey was cheated out of a double and two RBI by a horribly timed lightning strike that happened as the ball was on its way to the plate when he was batting as well.)
Ty Randall pitched two no-hit shutout innings for the Wolfpack. He struck out two batters. Dom Garcia pitched three innings. He gave up one run and two hits while striking out one batter.