And they say that baseball isn't a contact sport ..... Well, Thursday night in Sabine, the Sabine Nationals and Carthage Astros proved that baseball IS a contact sport. Sabine, however, made hard contact where it counted the most ... on the baseball ... and on the scoreboard, as they used a 5-run 6th inning to overpower Carthage enroute to a 10-4 win.

A few observations from the front row:
(1) What's the old joke about going to a fight ... and a hockey game breaking out? Well, there was no fighting Thursday night, as the umps, coaches, and players (for the most part) kept control of the situations. But there was plenty of contact between the ball, batters, fielders, and runners ...
especially in the last two innings: ........................................... Next ........... Prior
1st Inn'g ......................... Contact ................. Results .......... Batters ........ Score
(a) "Car" batter ...................HBP ...................... Run ............. 1B, W ........... 0-0

5th Inn'g
(b) "Car" runner ............. Hit by throw .............. Run .............. KOK ............ 4-2 ... Sabine
...............................getting back to 3rd ............. E-2

6th Inn'g
© "Sab" runner ........... Aggressive tag ............. Run ............ 1B, 1B .......... 5-3 ... Sabine
.................................... in front of 2nd ............. Ball 4

(d) "Car" pitcher ........... Hit in left shin ............ Batter ........ W, HBP, W ...... 7-3 ... Sabine
.................................... by grounder .............. Safe E-1

(e) "Sab" runner ........... Aggressive tag ........... Out .......... W, HBP, W ....... 9-3 ... Sabine
................................several steps in front
...............................of plate-sliding runner

(f) "Sab" batter ................... HBP ................... LOB-3rd ............ 1B ............ 10-3 ... Sabine

7th Inn'g
(g) "Car" batter ................... HBP ...................... Out ................ 1B ............ 10-3 ... Sabine

(h) "Car" runner ......... Ran over catcher ..... Out (by rule) .... EOGame ...... 10-4 ... Sabine
................................... at home plate

Hit by pitcher three times, hit in the back with a throw, and hit in the shin by a grounder ... and that was just by the ball. That happens in games, especially at this level. As for the three player-to-player contacts? I thought they crossed the line, especially the play at the plate that ended the game. I'm sure that the coach will take advantage of this opportunity to re-emphasize "tag techniques", as well as maintaining mental focus and emotional control throughout future ball games. Come to think of it, Carthage has a future ball game Monday night ... a rematch with the same Sabine Nationals. It should prove to be an interesting game.

(2) Pop test time: Which of these base-hit descriptions doesn't belong in this list?
(a) flair to right field.
(b) topped roller to 3rd base.
© Texas leaguer to center field (dropped between 3 fielders).
(d) blooper down the right field line.
(e) "knocked the cover off the ball" line drive to the left center field fence.
(f) check-swing "excuse me" hit over 2nd baseman

Yeah, you're right. The answer is #(e) !!! But like the guy said, "They all look like line drives in tomorrow's sports page." However, at game time, the "hard hits" can have a big IMPACT on the flow of the game.

Carthage --
-- had 4 hits .. 3 hit hard -- double and 2 singles
-- hard hits resulted in 1 run and 1 rbi.
-- the problem, of course, was the 16 strikeouts (out of 21 game outs). That tends to reduce the opportunity to hit "the hard one" for a hit or error by the defense.

Sabine, on the other hand --
-- had 9 hits .. 5 hit hard .. 2 triples and 3 singles
-- hit several hard grounders in which the 3rd baseman made good defensive plays for outs.
-- had the grounder that hit the Carthage pitcher on the shin. The batter reached 1st base on the pitcher's throwing error.
-- hard hits resulted in 4 runs and 5 rbi's.

(3) There's an old saying -- "Diamonds are a girl's best friend". For you players, your moms and dads already know this ... some day, you will too. But in the world of baseball, the saying is, "Double plays are a pitcher's best friend"! That may be true in the pros, or even in college. However, at this level (even high school baseball), I believe that "K's" are a pitcher's best friend.

For the second game in arow, the Sabine duo of Dakota Stewart and Jarod Streeter matched their IMPACT mark of 16 strikeouts.
...................................... Inng ..... K ..... W ..... H ..... R ..... LOB
Stewart ...... 1st 2 inn'g .. 2 ........ 6 ...... 4 ...... 1 ..... 2 ....... 6 ..... ***
...................2nd 2 inn'g .. 2 ........ 3 ...... 2 ...... 1 ..... - ........ 2
....................................... 4 ........ 9 ...... 6 ...... 2 ..... 2 ....... 8
Streeter ......................... 3 ........ 7 ...... 1 ...... 2 ..... 2 ....... 1
Totals ............................ 7 ....... 16 ...... 7 ...... 4 ..... 4 ....... 9

Stewart used the "K" to get him and his teammates out of trouble in his first couple of innings of work. In the 5th inning, Streeter came in and had his second effective pitching performance in arow with 7 K's and only 1 walk.

*** The first 2 innings were Carthage's opportunity to take control of the game. How?

Here's a math quiz -- what's the answer? ................................. Total
Inn'g ..... Score ...... (Hits .. + .. Walks .. + .. HBP .. + .. Err .. = On base
1-2 ........ 2-2 ............. 2 .... + ..... 4 ...... + .... 1 ..... + ... 1 ... = .... 8 .....

The Astros had 8 baserunners after the first 2 innings. But they only scored two runs? Why?
-- that was because Stewart struck out 6 batters in those first 2 innings. All 6 outs came via the "K"!!!!
-- and Carthage left the bases loaded in both innings.

Stewart had some control problems as he gave up 6 walks and 1 HBP in the 4 innings that he worked. Unlike the Winona game (1 walk), he was just missing the outside corner a little. But the "K's" kept Sabine in the game until the runs came.

(4) 6th inng ... the runs came. The Nationals put up a 5-spot to double their score and increase the lead to 10-3. It wasn't the fact that 5 runs scored, but the way they were scored. A slow motion car crash comes to mind. You know it's in the process of happening ... and there's nothing you can do about it.

Carthage's starting pitcher, James Donald, left after 5 innings, trailing 3-5 (3 earned runs). Perhaps it was ...
-- his 92 pitch-count, according to my count.
-- his run given up in the 5th inning to run the score to 5-3, Sabine.
-- the top of the order coming up for Sabine in the 6th (3 for 6, 3 runs, 2 triples, 1 rbi).

However, the relief pitcher came in for the 6th inning and faced 8 Sabine batters. The results?
Btr ...At Bat ......................................................Runners ................... Score
#1 -- Walk ...................... (3-2 count) ................ 1st bse
#2 -- Walk ...................... (4 pitches) ................. 1st/2nd
#3 -- Single ......................... RBI ...................... 2nd/3rd ..................... 6-3
#4 -- Single ......................... RBI ...................... 1st/3rd ...................... 7-3
#5 -- Grdr off pitcher's ......... RBI ....................... 1st/3rd ..................... 8-3
........ leg. E-1 throw
#6 -- Walk .....................(10-pitch QAB) ............. 1st bse
.. during count ..... runner scores - w/pitch ........................................... 9-3
.. on ball 4 .......... runner out at plate-w/pitch
#7 -- HBP .......................................................... 1st/2nd
#8 -- Walk ....................... (3-2 count) ...............bases loaded

..... a new pitcher was brought in .............
Note: subsequent wild pitch scored runner from 3rd ........................... 10-3

The damage?
-- 1/3 inn'g .. 5 earned runs on 2 hits ... 4 walks ... 1 HBP ... and 33 pitches.

(5) I've created what I call a "Freebie Factor". It's plays by the defense that allow a batter to reach first base without a base hit or out made. The results:

Sabine ... # ... Runs ... RBI ..................................Carthage .. # ... Runs ... RBI
Walk ...... 7 ...... 4 ....... -- ....................................Walk ........ 7 ...... 2 ....... --
HBP ....... 1 ...... -- ....... -- ....................................HBP ......... 2 ...... 1 ....... --
Error ...... 2 ...... 1 ....... -- ....................................Error ........ 1 ...... -- ...... --
Totals ... 10 ..... 5 ....... -- ....................................Totals ..... 10 ...... 3 ....... --
.....Total Runs . 10 ..... 50% ............................................................ 4 ...... 75%

Sabine generated 2 more runs than Carthage from freebie opportunities at the plate. Throw in a few more hits, a passed ball, several wild pitches, and some errors .... that makes up the rest of the 6-run difference.

(6) Sabine continued their aggressive base-running style. Compare the two teams in advancing on the bases without the benefit of the ball being hit in play.

Advanced on ............ Sabine ............................... Carthage
-- Steals ...................... 5 ....................................... --
-- wild pitch ................. 6 ....................................... --
-- passed ball .............. 1 ....................................... --
-- p/o rundown err ....... 1 ....................................... --
Totals ..........................13 ....................................... --

Runs scored .................. 2 ....................................... --

Outs made from
caught stealing ............. -- ------------------------------- --
picked off (P/O) ............. 1 ....................................... --
attempt on w/pitch ....... 1 ....................................... --
Totals ........................... 2 ....................................... --

(7) Sabine's offensive output was led by:
-- Zack Martin .............. 2 of 3 ... 3b ... 3 runs ... 1 rbi ...... -- ......... 1 walk
-- Dylan Cook .............. 2 of 3 .... -- ... 2 runs ... 2 rbi ...... -- ............ --
-- Blane Sinclair ........... 1 of 2 .... -- ... 2 runs ...... -- .... 2 steals ...... --
-- Spencer Gregory ...... 2 of 3 .... -- ....... -- ...... 1 rbi ... 1 steal ....... --

-- Brandon Florence had a QAB (Quality At Bat) ... 6th inning ... 10-pitch walk ... scored later in inning.

Carthage was led by:
-- Jaylon Hicks .............. 0 of 0 .... -- ... 2 runs ..... -- ......... -- ......... 4 walks (the patience and batting eye that a lead-off hitter needs)
-- James Donald ........... 1 of 2 ... 2B ... 2 runs .... -- .......... -- ............ -- ......... 2 HBP

-- Jonathon Reeves had a QAB (Quality At Bat) .... 1st inning ....10-pitch walk