The Chicago Hounds lost 8-7 v. the Vikings at Winnemac Park on Thursday night, and then beat the Astros 17-1 today at Maywood Park.
The Vikings loss was a “should have won the game” type of situation. The Hounds gave up a lot of errors and put themselves in a position to lose in the first 5 innings. But the Hounds scored 4 runs in the 5th inning to tie the game at 7-7 as Nolan Bielinski (#4, C), Tim Riggenbach (#8, RF), and Matt Burch (#6, 1B), and Alex Garcia (#32, 2B) all reached safely and all scored, with Joe Wietecha (#19, P), Nelson Bowers (#27, DH/RF), and Max Kiefer (#21, LF) driving in the runs (Max with 2).
But the Vikings catcher hit a solo shot to right field over the track in front of the school to take the 8-7 lead, and the Hounds were unable to score in the 6th and 7th for a Hounds loss.
Today the Hounds were down 1-0 for the first 2 inning v. the Astros–the newest team in the CMBA. The Astros were 1-10 going into the contest, having secured their first ever victory against the mighty Marlins. The Hounds scored 2 runs in the 3rd to take the lead as both TJ Rinaldi (#1, EH) and Matthew Steffens (#5, SS0 walked and scored off of Tim Riggenbach’s (#8, CF) two RBI double off of the wall in right field at Maywood (he missed a home run by a mere 4 feet).
The Hounds blew the game open with 8 runs in the 6th and 7 more in the 7th, with the biggest blast an infield park home run by Matt Burch (#6, 1B), who hit a ball 50 feet over the head of a bewildered center fielder for the Astros.
The Hounds were very pleased to see the 2017 return of umpire Cooper, who had a heart attack in 2014 and has not umped in the past 3 years. Alex Garcia (#32, P) took advantage of Coop’s classic strike zone, and after allowing the first batter of the game to score–simply never allowed another. Steffens closed the game in the 7th.
Every single Hound in attendance scored today, and every Hound (save Nolan Bielinksi (#4, C) also struck out today.
The Hounds have a doubleheader v. the Electrons tomorrow at 12:15pm and 3:00pm at Winnemac. We hope to see you there!