April 10, 2009 – A.S.P.N on The Hill

After being away from Douglas M. Epling Field at East Bank Middle School for nearly one month, the West Virginia Tech Golden Bear are finally back at home.

The team is scheduled to play a double header today and the players are removing the tarp as I type. For those of you new to the site, WVT is coached by Lawrence Nesselrodt and Andy Chalot. This dynamic duo happens to be the brain trust behind our Waynesboro Generals. Ness is the Director of Baseball Operations and Andy will be joining us as the new skipper.

First pitch is slated for 1:00 P.M. so I will have time to work on some more of the pics from last night. Getting the field ready for the twin bill

I went back and checked and it was March 10TH the last time the team played at home. Exactly one month and WVT played 18 games during that stretch. Seven wins and 11 loses on the extended road trip has the eams record standing at 11-16 heading into the games with conference foe University of the Cumberlands. 7-7 is the mark in the Mid-South.

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GAME ONE

Cumberlands 000 000 0 – 0 2 3

WV Tech 220 000 X – 4 7 1

WP- Vandenbout

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GAME TWO

Cumberlands 000 003 0- 3/7/0

WV Tech 150 101 x- 8/14/1

WP- Armstrong

S- Krauklis

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1ST Pitch- 1:15 and former Waynesboro General Pistol Pete Vandenbout is on the mound!

1:25 P.M. – Pete posts a zero in the top of first. WVT’s Gerardo Caceres is leading off and strokes a solid single to Center.

University of the Cumberlands is located in Willamsburg, Kentucky. The Patriots enter the four game series with WVT at 21-12 overall, 8-6 in the Mid-South. The Golden Bear would need to take three of four to move past the Patriots.

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1:44 P.M. – Caceres comes around the score as does John Rodriquez, giving the home team a 2-0 lead after 1 inning.

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1:51 P.M. – Pete gets a double play after a walk. No hits, No Runs after two innings. WVT back up to bat.

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2:02 P.M. – WVT plates two more runs with Caceres driving one in and scoring the other. Vandenbout back to mound with a 4-0 lead.

Campbellsville is running away with the MSC regular season at 15-1 but after that it is very intersting…

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2:19 P.M. – Pete pitches around his first hit and we head to the bottom of the 3RD up 4-0.

The pre-season poll for the Mid-South went as follows:

Cumberlands – 34, Campbellsville 33, Georgetown 26, Lindsey Wilson 19, St. Catherines 18, WVT 9, Pikesville 8

Our guys were picked to finish a distant 6TH or maybe 7TH in the 7 team league. Left with a minimal number of players on the roster, Ness and Andy have already exceeded expectations!

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2:29 P.M. – End of 3, still 4-0. Bottom of third included a pickle with the put out going 4-2-5-1-6. Pete is going back to work. Quick three up/three down for Pete and the Golden Bear Nine. The temp has reached 63 and the sun is bright but the radar says we are in trouble soon.

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2:46 P.M. – Just found a cool note left in the comment box. Always enjoy those. End of four innings here in East Bank- WVT 4, Cumberlands 0.

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2:56 P.M. – Pete records his fourth and fifth K’s for the game and still has allowed just one single thru five innings. Heading to the bottom of the 5TH leading 4-0. Now 67 degrees and still bright.

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3:06 P.M.- End of 5 innings-WVT collects 7th hit but strands runner at third. Pete back out with pitch count of 89.

3:20 P.M. – Bottom of 6TH and Trey Anderson replaces Cumberlands starter Adam Blakey. Blakey threw 103 pitches in his five innings of work, allowing 4 runs but only two earned.

Vandenbout recorded his sixth and seventh K’s but figures to be done after 6 innings and 111 pitches. 2 hits, 0 runs and 7 K’s- not a bad line!

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3:28 P.M. – Pete heads back out in search of the complete game. The double header makes the game 7 innings. Vandenbout needs 3 more outs for the CG.

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3:33 P.M. – 124 pitches/8 K’s / 2-hitter for Pistol Pete!! WVT wins 4-0!

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4:04 P.M. – Game 2 is under way and Mike Armstrong is on the hill for WVT. Armstrong pitches around a walk and a HBP to post another zero for Ness. Still no rain! Temp hits 70.

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4:33 P.M. – Armstrong pitches around a single in the top of the second. Caceres swipes second after a lead off single

and came around to score on an infield single by Hernandez. WVT 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning.

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4:45 P.M. – Gerardo Hernandez just launched a Grand Slam over the 20+ foot tall left field fence. The word crushed doesn’t do the shot justice! WVT leads game 2 6-0 now as we head to the top of the third inning.

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4:53 P.M. – Rain, Rain stay away. The latest radar looks bleak and we need to finish off this 6-0 game. Heading to the bottom of the 3RD.

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5:06 P.M. – Off to the top of the fourth inning as the Patriots finally retired Caceres. The 2B has scored four times in 7 plate experiences. Armstrong has allowed just 1 hit over three.

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5:20 P.M. – Armstrong doesn’t allow a ball to leave the infield in a 1-2-3 top of the fourth inning. Hernandez followed his Granny with a double to deep right field and came around to score, making it 7-0.