by Pete & Kev

P E R F E C T I O N ! The Beat finishes successful romp through C-6 at 8-0 with 26-8 rout of Nine Inch Snails in summer finale; Beatniks chalk up best record in C-league and reign as circuit’s only undefeated team; Jacque Wilson awarded Brass Beat in special session following game

The Beat tore through division C-6 this summer with a perfect 8-0 record and by a composite score of 114-59. The season’s run differential of 55 is a new team record. The Beat now heads into the October 10th C-league playoff opener against 23rd Hour with considerable momentum having crushed its final 2 opponents. The Beat clobbered the Rhinos 16-5 in game 7 on September 28.

As if to exorcise the demons that drove a lackluster finish after clinching the 2001 summer title, The Beat appeared on a mission to kill the monkey this time around. Last year, The Beat took a 2-game losing streak into the playoff opener against the Mindless Ones. This year, the Beatniks are riding a 9-game winning streak dating back to May 18.

It’s a tale of two seasons, which is the same that can be said for the spring and summer of 2001. The Beat went into the playoffs last year with only 5 victories and the worst division-winning record in C-league. This year, it goes in with the best. In addition, the team executed a complete turnaround from the spring when it thudded to a 4-way tie for last place at 3-5.

Knowing that sluggers Donnell Moody and Mark Briscoe would miss the season finale, some Beatniks wondered if it’d be necessary to win a low-scoring game over the Nine Inch Snails to stay undefeated for the summer. This seemed like a potentially tall order against a team that that had averaged 14 runs in its previous 2 match-ups against the boys in gray this year. It turned out to be an idle threat though as the deep depth of The Beat came through in dramatic fashion. The team scored 21 runs with 2 outs in the 2nd and 3rd innings off Snails pitchers Matt Sarconi and Paul Bergmann to administer a methodical 18-run mercy killing.

Escargot with Beat Sauce? Indubitably.

Doing it with a flourish

Almost everyone in the lineup went at least 2 for 4 against the Snails and 3 RBI games abounded. The onslaught was highlighted by inside-the-park home runs by Jacq (The Rock) Wilson and his brother, the new Brass Beat holder Jacque Wilson. Snails’ left-centerfielder Chris George made a valiant dive trying to snare Jacq’s sinking liner leading off the game, but George could only backtrack in desperation after Jacque’s tomahawk drive that sailed deep onto the next diamond. 

Jacq, Kevin Austin, Mark (MSG) St.Georges and Peter Wenner each logged 3 RBIs apiece. Greg (Luki) Lukoski continued his late season breakout with a 3 for 3, 4 RBI performance. Steve Hinkebein and new daddy Jim (Big Paw) Colletto (Jim & Katy’s first child was born at 4pm on 10/4) both experienced their second straight 4 for 4 games.

The bottom half of the lineup rose to the occasion for the second straight week as Hinkebein, Lukoski and Mike Buttafuso remained hot heading into the playoffs. Against the Rhinos, the 5 through 10 hitters—Colletto, Jacque, Steve, Brian Arcuri, Pete and Luki—went a combined 19 for 23 (.826) and 11 of 16 RBIs. This time the 5 through 11 hitters were 19 for 25 (.760) and accounted for 13 ribbies.

Kevin (Special K) Austin and Dennis O’Brien teamed up to limit an opponent to single figures for the 5th time this summer.

For the 3rd straight game, The Beat were slow getting off the mark as they eked out a single run in the top of the 1st off Jacq’s leadoff homer. The Snails jumped on top 3-1 with none out in the 1st before a Butts-to-Arcuri-to-Colletto double play gave Austin and the defense new life.

The Beat loaded the bases in the top of the 2nd on 3 straight singles by Colletto, Arcuri and Hinkebein. A sacrifice fly by Lukoski and an RBI fielders’ choice grounder by Wenner tied the score at 3-3 with 2 out. The inning would not have gone on if Steve hadn’t made a nifty slide with hands raised to foil the Snails second baseman Steve Kim. A hit parade then ensued as Javier Urdiales, Buttafuso, Jacq and Kevin all singled to increase the Beat lead to 5-3 before MSG lined a 2-run triple down the right field line. Jacque then crushed his 2-run homer to left to make it 9-3 Beat. Five more singles by Colletto, Arcuri, Hinkebein, Lukoski and Wenner and The Beat lead of 13-3 was seemingly insurmountable.

Special K allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd to cut the Beat lead to 13-6, but the boys in gray scored 11 more in the top of the 3rd, highlighted by a Colletto triple, to blow it out to 24-6. Both teams scored 2 runs apiece in the 4th to cap the scoring before the umpires called the mercy rule with 10 minutes remaining.

A new Brass Beat holder

In a different ceremony following the last out, The Beat players sat down to vote on the perennial Brass Beat winner bestowed on the player who has most represented the spirit of The Beat both on and off the field. Previous winner Michael (Pizza Man) Weiss had left the Bay Area for personal reasons over the summer with the replacement Brass Star in tow. OB graciously created a hand-painted gold Beat note out of clay for presentation to the winner. Since Pizza wasn’t available to present the prize, team elders decided to hold a vote in which players would vote on a slip of paper and drop them into Special K’s cap.

Jacque Wilson narrowly edged his brother Jacq, Brian Arcuri and Jim Colletto for the 2002 honors. In addition to his inspirational team messages, signature speed and clutch hitting, Jacque recovered from a torn oblique muscle suffered in the opening game of the Metro Tournament in July to hit .478 and tie with Kevin Austin for the team lead in RBIs (11) in the summer. Jacque finished strong with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs against the Rhinos and Snails, including a cleanup appearance in place of Big Daddy in the finale.

Team leaders

Thanks to ending the season with 8 hits in his final 8 trips to the plate, Jim Colletto finished as the overall team leader in 4 offensive categories—Batting Average (.556), On Base Percentage (.635), hits (25) and RBIs (19). Jacq Wilson was a key contributor to the championship season solidifying the leadoff spot following Gunnar Rosenquist’s departure with a .600 summer average and .710 OBP. Overall, Jacq led the team with 25 runs in 2002, 9 walks, was 2nd on the team with 23 hits and 2nd in OBP at .579. Donnell Moody led the team in slugging percentage with a 1.050 mark and 12 extra base hits. He was 2nd in hitting with a .550 average, 2nd in RBIs with 18 and 3rd in OBP with a .568.

The latest Brass Beat winner Jacque Wilson led the team with 4 home runs, finished 2nd in slugging at .776 and extra base hits with 7. Brian Arcuri rode a solid summer to 4th on the team in hits and average and 5th in runs scored. MSG appeared on 4 leader boards (tied for 4th in RBIs with 15, 4th in runs with 19, 5th in slugging at .600 and 3rd in walks with 5). Though he came up a few at bats short of leader board qualification, Pete Wenner posted an awesome .630 average over 27 at bats to lead all regular players in hitting.

Special K posted his best season ever as a starter this summer at 7-0 with a 5.25 era and finished 2002 at 9 wins and 3 losses and an 8.14 era for the year. OB won 2 game balls this summer and was John Smoltz-like out of the bullpen at 1-0 with a 4.38 ERA finishing the year at 2-2. The duo set a team record allowing only 41 earned runs on the season while posting a combined era of under 6.00 for the first time ever. Beat opponents never scored more than 8 earned runs in a game and averaged only 5.13 earned runs per game.

That couldn’t have been accomplished without some stellar defense. Mike Buttafuso returned this summer taking back his old spot at second base. Mike’s return freed up Brian Arcuri to move to short to fill the huge hole left by last season’s Brass Beat winner Mike Weiss and a serious injury to spring starter Mark Briscoe. Arcuri and Butts sealed off the middle of the infield making this year’s infield defense comparable to last summer’s, which may have been the best in the team’s history. Jacq Wilson also took over the wind-blown right field position vacated by BJ Bateman this year. Jacq’s incredible range and shoestring catches shored up the toughest outfield position and helped make this undefeated season possible.

Thanks to the excellent pitching and defense, no team scored more than 12 runs against The Beat in the summer of 2002 and opponents were held to single digits 5 times. The boys in gray averaged 14.2 runs per game overall while giving up an average of only 7.4. The team set a new standard of excellence for pitching and defense on September 28th by setting down 11 consecutive Rhinos over 4 innings.

The Beat achieved its best overall mark in C-league at 11-5, reflecting steady improvement in league play since 1999 with full year records of 8-8, 9-7, 9-6-1, 11-5, respectively. The boys in gray head into Thursday night’s 7pm game at Moscone #1 on its highest high since 1995 when it cruised through DD with its last undefeated record. Could the team’s first playoff victory be far behind? 

The 2002 Beat Back:  The Jet, Special K, Jacq the Rock, The Dude, Butts, Big Daddy, Pete  Front:  The Rifleman, The Thrill, Hink, Lukie, Jav, MSG

2002 Stat Sheets

Midseason Tournament Summer Championship Season Full Season Full Season including Tournaments Summer Post-Season

See the scoresheet in pdf (275k) or
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