by Pete

The Beat Improves to 3-0 Pitching and defense highlights efficient 9-4 win over Rhinos; Moody and Hinkebein pace offense with 2 RBIs apiece; Scary moment early as Colletto knocks out Rhinos catcher in 1st inning home plate collision

The Beat shook the Rhinos monkey off their backs with a tidy 9-4 win over a longtime nemesis that had won the previous two matchups between the teams including a 12-9 heartbreaker in the spring. Despite the final score, it was a tense, closely fought game through the first 5 innings before The Beat pulled away late. After the Rhinos had narrowed the Beat lead to 6-4 after 5, the boys in gray chipped away for 3 runs in the final 2 innings and shut down the boys in green with clutch infield play. Sharp all day, starting pitcher Kevin (Special K) Austin, now sporting a miniscule 2.88 ERA in the summer, got the dangerous Terry Daugherty to strike out swinging to end the game.

The 2002 Beat lost spring is fast becoming a distant memory as the team sprinted out to a 3-0 record to stay atop the C-6 standings despite the absence of injured slugger Mark Briscoe, who is expected back in September, and the injury of speedster deluxe Jacque Wilson. Always a streaky club, the Beatniks have won their last 4 regular season games after sinking to 2-5 on May 11.

Following a run of shaky fielding that was evident throughout 2 summer tournaments and the season opener, the Beat defense has stabilized, having committed just 2 errors over the previous 2 contests. For his part, Austin, has settled into an efficient groove reminiscent of his dominance of last summer.

The “New Jackson”
Following a 6-game run at Moscone (including the 4-game Metro Tournament), The Beat was back at the newly renovated Jackson Playground in Potrero Hill, which now features thick grass (like a very expensive shag carpet) and galvanized fences around the peripheries. Anticipating slow grounders on the revitalized surface, the Beat game plan was to play the outfield in to prevent the extra base on routine singles. On a typical windy afternoon at Jackson, this strategy might have gone out the window, but for this 11:15 a.m. game against an opponent with limited power, it worked.

Did anybody get the number of that truck?
Anxious to get off to a fast start against a Rhino team that had beaten them in the last 2 meetings, The Beat broke out for 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning and threatened for more. The inning was marked by a jarring collision at home plate in which the muscular Jim (The Thrill) Colletto bowled over Rhinos catcher Blake Loebs, who dropped the tag and was briefly knocked unconscious as anxious teammates and opponents stood by.

Jacq (The Rock) Wilson led off the inning with a single and with 1 out advanced to 3rd on Mark (MSG) St. Georges’s opposite field single to right-center. Cleanup hitter Donnell (Big Daddy) Moody followed with a deep fly that right center fielder Rance Jackson dropped trying to make an over the shoulder catch. Jacq scored and Big Daddy cruised into 2nd while MSG advanced to 3rd. Pitcher Rick Jarsch then pitched around Colletto to load the bases. St. Georges scored on Greg (Luki) Lukoski’s sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 as Moody and Colletto moved up to 2nd and 3rd. This set up the play of the game. Steve Hinkebein singled up the middle as Moody scored easily and Colletto barreled home. Left-center fielder Anthony Gully fired an accurate throw to Loebs at the plate, who caught the ball a split second before impact. Loebs applied the tag but dropped the ball as he spun around from the full body blow. How the catcher got knocked out was the subject of much speculation during and after the game. Loebs left the game and everyone hopes he’s okay.

Following the collision, Brian Arcuri singled and Pete Wenner walked to load the bases, but 1st baseman Rory McCall made a nice stop on Mike (Butts) Buttafuso’s sharp grounder for the final out

With a 4-0 cushion, Special K went to work. The only error of the game led to a run and it was 4-1 after an inning of play.

The Beat went down in order in the top of the 2nd before the Rhinos scored another run with 2 out to make it 4-2. After a 2-out walk to Gully, Phillips and Jarsch singled to score the run. However, MSG speared a hot smash to 3rd and stepped on the bag for the force to end the threat.

In the top of the 3rd, The Beat edged out to 6-2 as Moody led off with a single and advanced to 3rd on Colletto’s grass-aided double. Both runners scored as 3rd baseman William Phillips threw the ball past 1st on Luki’s grounder.

Big Daddy erased a lead-off walk in the bottom of the 3rd with a defensive gem at first base. D left the ground to bring down a sharp liner heading for the right field corner and alertly doubled off the runner trying to scramble back to the bag. What could have been the start of a big inning for the Rhinos turned into another quick one for the Beat defense.

Both teams went down quietly until the bottom of the 5th when the Rhinos closed to 6-4. Phillips and Jarsch, batting at the bottom of the order, singled and both runners advanced an extra base to 2nd and 3rd on the outfield throw. But Austin buckled down and kept the uprising to 2 runs on 2 sacrifice flies before McCall fouled out to MSG to end the threat with runners stranded on 1st and 3rd.

Pull away and slam the door
In the top of the 6th, The Beat had reached a turning point. In its spring loss to the Rhinos, this was the point of the contest in which the Rhinos, after trailing all game, chipped back and eventually passed the Beat. It was not to be this time.

With one out, the Beatniks loaded the bases on singles by Hinkebein, Arcuri and Wenner. Mike Buttafuso flew out to right center but scored Steve on the sacrifice to make it 7-4. The Beat threatened for more but the umpire ruled that the leftfielder Santiago caught Javier Urdiales’s sinking liner that appeared to hit the ground. This time, both teams quickly and quietly moved on.

In the bottom of the inning, Jackson led off for the Rhinos with a single that Steve Hinkebein appeared to have made a beautiful shoestring catch on. This questionable umpire’s call particularly riled up the Beatniks who protested loudly since they thought Javier had just been robbed of a game-breaking hit. Rather than wallow, Jackson was quickly doubled up on a grounder by Loebs’s replacement to Butts who smothered the slowly hit ball and flipped to the charging Brian Arcuri who rifled a throw to Donnell at 1st to get the runner. Gully then scorched a high liner that MSG leaped and snared with a snow cone catch to end the inning. The two bang-bang plays seemed to take the wind out of the Rhinos’ sails.

The Beat got two more insurance runs in the 7th to make it 9-4 as Jacq and Kevin singled to lead off the inning. Wilson scored from 3rd on MSG’s groundout to short and Austin trotted in on Moody’s RBI single. Then a bizarre sequence ensued when Jim Colletto hit a sharp grounder to Daugherty at short, who flipped to 2nd for the force, but no one was covering. As the ball rolled into short center, Big Daddy steamed around 2nd, but ran headlong into the Rhino shortstop who appeared to be blocking the baseline. Donnell was barely tagged out at 3rd as he dove into the bag after a rundown. Moody then had to be restrained as he berated the blues for not calling the interference. Fortunately order soon prevailed but the Beat rally ended.

On to the bottom of the 7th where the teams traded a single for 2 quick outs. With 1 runner on, up came Rhino's shortstop Daugherty, 3 for 3 on the game. Daugherty tore into the first pitch, deep but foul down the first base line. Austin, working with just the backspin all day, came in high with the first knuckler of the game and Daugherty bit, fouling it into the cage. Liking that success, Austin returned with another high knuckler out of the strike zone and left Daugherty swinging at air to end the game. For the second game in a row, stellar defense ruled and the businesslike Beat went home 3-0.

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