Pioneers Crush Falcons

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Carl's Scorecard - North Pulaski #1

Carl's Scorecard - North Pulaski #2

published Thursday, Mar. 22, 2007

The Pioneers welcomed the North Pulaski Falcons to the 5A East conference in typical Pioneer fashion with a pair of crushing defeats. The Pioneers hit, pitched and fielded themselves to 23-0 and 14-3 victories against the plummeting Falcons. I did see something new at Jacksonville though. In the six years I have been regularly attending Pioneer games I have never seen a coach direct a catcher to intentionally put the opposing team at risk by having him place his headgear directly on the third base line when a runner would be advancing to home. Even more incredibly the umpires declined to stop this practice and stated "there is no rule against it" there is also no rule against handguns. Use some sense, guys! Safety is stressed above all other aspects with the AAA, this obviously flys counter to that. I would suggest to the Falcons coaches that umpires in every other town in the 5A East will not allow this pitiful attempt to overcome their inadequacies as coaches by using an unfair home town advantage. So learn to coach or keep getting thrashed. You'll get no mercy from us in the Nation in '08!

In the opener, pitcher Cody Aycock took the mound and established his intent to dominate the Falcons by striking out the first three batters, then the next three, and the next three, until after ten consecutive strikeouts he gave up the first and last hit of the game in the fourth inning. Aycock was relieved after four complete with 11 strikeouts and 1 hit. Closer Trent Weeks pitched the fifth and final inning and closed in style with two strikeouts off his own. The Pioneer hitters attacked quickly with the first two Pioneer batters, Aycock and Jake Arnold scoring runs in the first. The second inning is a complete slugfest with twelve Pioneer runs on nine hits capped by an Aycock home run. In the third the Pioneers bring the score to 17-0 when consecutive lead off walks add two and Kyle Kallsnick adds the third after reaching on a double. Not content with such a narrow lead, the Pioneers up the score to 21-0 in the fourth, beginning with a lead off hit by Aaron Thornton, who is scored by Steven Cesarski on a home run. The Falcon pitcher walks or hits the next five Pioneer batters to score the last two Pioneer runs of the inning. In the final inning, lead off batter Colton McSpadden doubles and is scored by Price Holmes with a game capping Home Run to bring the score to its final of 23-0 Pioneers. Hitting for the Pioneers: Aycock - 1b, hr; Arnold - 1b,2b; Thornton - 2x1b; Cesarski - 1b,2b,hr; J. Palese - 2b; Kallsnick - 1b,2b; Holmes - hr; Simpson - 2x1b; McSpadden - 2b.

The night cap game began after a very short break. The Pioneers got a run up in the first after Thornton hit on and Nick Palese picked up an rbi single. Pitcher Steven Cesarski struck out the first two Falcon batters and sat them down after allowing only a walk. In the second the Pioneers increased their margin to 5-0 with hits by Aycock, and Cesarksi and a Ross Simpson triple. The third inning ends with the Pioneers adding four more runs on hits by Aycock and Thornton and the first Falcon run of the night is scored after a Pioneer error to bring the score to 9-1. The Pioneers add an additional four in the the fourth with hits by Jake Palese, Aycock and Thornton. Arnold adds a run on a sacrifice fly. Relief Pitcher Weeks takes the mound and strikes out three while allowing one walk. In the fifth and final inning the Pioneers added one run when Weeks singles and is relieved by Will Lindsey. Lindsey scores on a Kallsnick rbi hit. Weeks allows a brief two run, two out rally but the unearned runs are too little, too late for the weary Falcons and leave the score at 14-3 Pioneers. Hitting for the Pioneers: Aycock - 3x1b; Thornton - 2x1b,2b; Cesarski - 1b; N. Palese - 2x1b; J. Palese - 1b; Kallsnick - 1b; Simpson - 3b; Weeks - 1b.

Hold the Rope! Carl.