Orioles split week's Legion ball games

The busy week of American Legion baseball started for the Glenns Ferry Orioles with a loss to the Nampa Braves at Nampa. It would also end with a loss to the Braves, this time at Glenns Ferry.

In between, the Orioles picked up three wins.

Nampa Braves 4

Glenns Ferry 3

The Glenns Ferry Orioles saw one slip through their fingers at Nampa's Rodeo Park on July 5.

The Orioles out-hit theNampa team 6-3, but had costly errors lead to three unearned runs that proved to be their undoing.

Trailing 4-2 in their last at bat in the top of the seventh, Glenns Ferry managed to load the bases with just one out, but were able to score just one run.

"We had a couple situations there where we had guys in position to score, but just couldn't score the runs," said Orioles head coach Denis Uhl.

"We had a good pitching performance by Jason Simons once again, and we had our chances.

"Once again it shows there's no one in this league we can't play with, and the boys are starting to see that, believe that, and hopefully, we can come around and get everybody there on game day.

"We were missing some players once again, and that hurts when you can't have everybody there."

Brian Fields had three hits and scored two of the Orioles runs. Justin Case doubled in a run and Mike Anchustegui had a hit and RBI.

Jason Simons, who suffered the loss, his second against four wins, gave up just three hits while striking out six. He walked one and hit four batters.

Glenns Ferry 15

Emmett 5

The Orioles took advantage of the wind blowing out last Wednesday evening at home against the Emmett Blue Devils, pounding out 17 hits in a six-inning 10-run rule ball game.

Jeff Hernandez barely missed a home run his first at bat, and had to settle for a triple, but left no doubt the second time, going to the yard with the bases loaded for a grand slam home run.

Brett Young had three hits, including a three-run homer ands drove in four runs as well.

Michael DesPres had two doubles and three RBIs. Brian Fields, Scott Arellano, Cody Darrington and David Zito all had two hits, Darrington an RBI, and Aaron Swartz had a two-run single, and Jason Simons also collected a hit.

Scott Arellano struck out seven, walked two and hit one to improve his record to 3-2 on the season.

"That was a great win," said Orioles assistant coach Frank Case after the game. "We lost to them over there the last time we played them, and we really came out hitting tonight. The boys were hitting great out there."

Case was also happy with the fact the Orioles had 12 players for the game, and all played and contributed.

"It is nice, and that's kind of the way our season's been, kind of hit-and-miss with some of the boys, but it was great to have a few more out there tonight!"

Glenns Ferry 5

Vallivue 0

The Orioles got a great pitching effort from Brian Fields last Friday (July 9) and shut out the Vallivue Titans 5-0 at Vallivue.

Fields had a no-hitter for four innings, but Troy Shuey led off the fifth inning with a base hit to end that. It would be the only hit the Titans would get off Fields, who struck out nine on the night and improved to 3-2 on the season.

Glenns Ferry got their first run in the second inning, as Brian Fields led off with a single and came home on Jeff Hernandez' double.

Hernandez knocked in the Orioles second run of the game in the sixth, as Jason Simons, who had led off the inning with a walk, scored on Hernandez' sacrifice fly.

Brett Young doubled in one of three runs the Orioles added in the top of the seventh.

"It was a good ball game," said Coach Uhl after the game. "Well played by both teams. Brian Fields pitched well today and, for the most part, stayed ahead in the count, and when you stay on top, that gives you a choice of what you can throw to keep the hitters guessing, and he did for most of the game. We also had some key hits and good execution of the bunts. I was real pleased with the way we moved guys into scoring position and got the key hits to bring them in."

Glenns Ferry 6

Boise Seminoles 4

(8 innings)

The Orioles battled back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game, and then won it with two runs in the top of the eighth.

Glenns Ferry had their troubles figuring out how to hit Seminoles' pitcher Jim Hoyt, who had limited the Orioles to just three hits over the first five innings.

Boise, meanwhile, took advantage of Oriole errors to score a run in each of the first four innings off Oriole starter Michael DesPres.

Glenns Ferry finally got to Hoyt in the sixth, as Scott Arellano led off with a walk, and Brett Young singled. Michael DesPres sacrificed the runners to second and third, and Brian Fields' hit produced two runs, as Arellano and Young both scored. Jeff Hernandez followed with a two-run home run to tie the game at 4-4.

Shey Titus got the Orioles started in the top of the eighth with a one-out single. After Jason Simons popped out for the second out of the inning, Scott Arellano singled, his third hit of the day, and Titus and Arellano both came home on Brett Young's double to put Glenns Ferry up 6-4.

Jason Simons, who took over on the mound for Michael DesPres in the seventh, struck out the side in both the seventh and eighth to pick up the win, his fifth against two losses. DesPres pitched well also, giving up just four hits in six innings, striking out eight. Only two of the four runs he surrendered were earned.

The Orioles collected 11 hits off three Boise pitchers, Scott Arellano leading the way with three hits. Brett Young, Brian Fields and Jeff Hernandez each had two hits, Young a double and two RBIs, Hernandez a double and homer and two RBIs.

Shey Titus and Michael DesPres also collected hits.

"We kind of sat on it there for about five or six innings," said Uhl of their slow start, "but we had a good pitching performance by Michael DesPres, and Jason Simons came in there and closed it out, and without those guys keeping it close, it was a battle but we came through.

"The home run by Jeffrey Hernandez to tie it up was huge, and we had some good execution there getting the runners in scoring position, and then the hit by Brett Young was huge. It was a good team effort today."

Nampa Braves 10

Glenns Ferry 2

The Orioles and the Braves played again seven days later in Glenns Ferry on July 11, and this time it was not close.

Helped out by errors, Nampa built up a 9-0 lead before the Orioles finally scored in the bottom of the sixth inning, with Jeff Hernandez scoring on a wild pitch, and David Zito coming in on Mike Anderson's single.

After an error helped keep the first inning going, Brody Jessup got to Glenns Ferry starter Jason Simons for a grand slam home run and the Braves were up 4-0.

"We looked kind of like a tired team out there today," said Coach Uhl after the game. "We shouldn't be. We've played real well up to now, and came back with some come-from-behind victories, but today we just fell flat.

"Our pitching performances were good enough to win. They had just three earned runs today. We had no communication between the outfielders and infielders today. We had some balls drop in that should have been caught because they weren't communicating, and then we didn't hit some cutoffs that cost us some runs. It just wasn't our best baseball by far."

Jeff Hernandez had three hits on the day, including a double. Mike Anderson had two hits and an RBI. Scott Arellano, Jason Simons, David Zito, Bubba Johnson and Shey Titus also had hits.

Jason Simons fell to 5-3 on the season, pitching five innings, striking out eight, hitting three and walking two.

The loss at home to Nampa put the Orioles at 16-10 on the season, and 10-10 in league play.