2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #3 Day 2

With two losses on Saturday, the Gunners ended up getting seated sixth and playing in the consolation game on Sunday. It was another early morning drive to Big League Dreams Park in Manteca for an 8:00 a.m. first pitch.

With nothing at stake, the coaches mixed the line-up and pitched several of the boys that are on the end of the bench. Jack came up in the third inning. Falling behind no balls and 2 strikes in the count, he lifted one in right center for a single. Jack stole second, went to third on a passed ball and then scored on a single by Jeremy to left.

While walks had hurt them on Saturday, the team misplayed a number of balls in the infield in this game. The end result was that the Gunners were trailing by the score of 7 to 4 in the bottom of the fifth.

Jack lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. After falling behind in the count 1 ball and 2 strikes, he crushed one into left center. The fields are big and the ball rolled all the way to the warning track. The third base coach waved Jack to third. With the ball coming back into the infield, he made an awkward head first slide into third. The infields on these fields are artificial turf. Jack was safe, but he ended up scraping up his chest and banging up his right knee pretty good. He was able to walk it off and stay in the game. The next batter walked and stole second. An infield out scored two runs to make the score 7 to 6. The game ended with that score after five innings. The Gunners lost to the Petaluma Rebels.

Jack played two innings in right field and three innings in left field. He did not get any opportunities to play the ball.

After getting a single and triple and scoring two runs, the change in Jack's body language was amazing. After he scored following the triple, I was halfway expecting him to grab his crotch like Sam Cassell after a big shot and dance towards the dugout. Although the weekend was a bust for the team, Jack's defensive play on Saturday and hits on Sunday were very good for his confidence.

For the weekend, Jack was 2 for 3 with one strike out and two runs scored. For the three tournaments that he has played Jack is 3 for 11 with three walks and three strike outs.

Jack played 12 of the 15 innings this weekend and has played 35 of the 52 innings in the three tournaments this fall in left field, right field, third base and as DH.