The Chicago Hounds took advantage of the Electrons at Winnemac Park today, defeating the hungover former champions 12-0 in only 5 innings via the slaughter rule. The Electrons had a game on Friday night, and apparently spent quite a bit of time at Ks Dugout after their game, so much so that the first baseman Chris Reehoff ended up sleeping at the Guzzler’s house, which is probably never advisable (but certainly much better than driving to the suburbs).
The Hounds only needed 1 run to win the game, but scored a whopping 10 in just the first frame. Nolan Bielinski (#4, C) led off the game with a triple, Garrett Eddy (#22, RF) walked and stole second, then Brent Schoenbach (#7, 3B) drove in both with a single. TJ Rinaldi (#1, CF) walked, Joe Wietecha (#19, 2B) singled, driving in Eddy. Keith Richardson (#17, 1B) then had an infield single, loading the bases.
Then brand spanking new rookie Mike Marra (#15, LF) came up for his first ever at bat as a Hound. How did he respond? Just a bases loaded, 3 RBI triple!! Tim Riggenbach (#8, P) then drove in Marra with a sac fly. Matthew Steffens (#6, SS) walked, and then Nolan was up again in the first, as the Hounds batted around! Bielinski singled, driving in Steffens, Eddy singled, and then Schoenbach singled again, which meant Brent drove in 4 runs in the first frame!
The Hounds scored again in the 2nd (Wietecha walked, and scored on an error) and in the 4th (Schoenbach doubled and Wietecha singled him home). All told, 12 runs in just 4 offensive innings for the Hounds.
On the pitching and defense side of the game, the Hounds were nearly flawless. Riggenbach struck out 8 in only 5 innings, including striking out 4 batters in the 3rd inning (thanks to a throwing error by Bielinski, who clearly wanted to pad Riggenbach’s stats). Riggenbach only allowed 3 hits, no walks, no HBP, and the only reach by error was via the aforementioned strike out.
The defense didn’t have too many chances (Riggenbach also had a nice stab on a sharply hit ball to the mound), but the game ended with another show-out by Eddy as he ended the game with a bullet to the plate. Eddy also had a diving play earlier in the game.
So, the Hounds win today, the Hounds have won 5 in a row, and the Hounds play the Orioles tomorrow at Ridgewood HS at 10:00 am. See you there!