Great Falls Plays Better This Week

[dasox24]

Great Falls Plays Better This Week

The Great Falls White Sox had a better week on the field, regardless of what the record indicates

By Evan Solon

August 2, 2004

FutureSox.com

 

 

After starting off the week 3-1, the Great Falls White Sox lost the final 3 games of the week to finish with a 3-4 record for the 2nd week in a row. They are currently tied for 2nd place in the North Division with a record of 2-3, 3 games behind 1st place Billings.

 

The offense continued to do well, hitting .284 as a team with 21 extra-base hits, 10 of which came from home runs. With a week low 57 strikeouts, the Sox showed much more patience at the plate. There were many players who had very good weeks offensively, but the best week came from 22-year-old first baseman Chris Kelly, a 6th round draft choice in 2003 out of Pepperdine University. The 6-foot-1 Kelly, who is considered undersized for first base by many, was one of only 3 Sox players to play in all 7 games this week. He hit .345 in 29 at-bats with 3 home runs and 8 RBI. All of his homers came in one monstrous game.

 

Other standouts on offense included Ryan McCarthy, Matt Deuchler, and Donny Lucy. McCarthy, primarily used as a DH before this week, played 5 of his 6 games at shortstop. The slick-fielding shortstop went 9-23 with 7 runs scored and 2 RBI from the #2 spot in the lineup.

 

Deuchler was a 40th round draft pick in 2003 and played for Bristol last year. He was 6-15 with 3 RBI and a stolen base. Although he has performed well for Great Falls this year, he is a little old at 23 to be repeating rookie ball.

 

Lastly, the 6-foot-3, 220 pound Lucy went 7-19 with 3 runs scored and 2 stolen bases in 5 games. Lucy has really come around after struggling during the early parts of the season.

 

Great Falls got much better performances this week out of their starting pitchers, with arguably the best coming from Garry Bakker, who was awful the week before. The 6-foot-2 right-hander out of the University of North Carolina got the no-decision in a Sox loss, but went 7 strong innings, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits.

 

On Sunday, first-time starter Adam Russell pitched very well, giving up 1 ER on 3 hits in 6 IP. He also recorded 4 strikeouts. Earlier in the week, Russle pitched out of the pen and gave up 0 runs in 2 IP.

 

As a unit, the starters made a drastic turn around from last week’s ERA of 12.24, with an ERA of 2.90 in 34.1 IP. However, they combined for a record of 0-2 on the week.

 

After having the best week of any reliever last week, Matt Zaleski had the worst week of any reliever this week. He gave up 6 ER on 12 hits in 5.1 IP.

 

The best performance from the pen this week came from Demetrius Banks on July 29th. He gave up 0 ER in 2 IP and got the win. He also recorded 4 strikeouts and 0 walks.

 

Other News & Notes: John Egbert is scheduled to get the start tonight against the Billings Mustangs, who have yet to lose so far in the 2nd half of the season… 3 players who started the year in Great Falls have changed addresses this week. Jeff Little, the Sox’ closer, who was named Rolaid’s Relief Man of the month back in June, was called up to High-A Winston-Salem. Relief pitcher Matt Nachreiner and infielder Melvin Perez were sent down to Bristol… The Sox fell to 3rd in the league in attendance after 3 home games this week. Currently, they are averaging 3,080 fans per game.

[danman31]

Solid stuff. Now if only rookie ball would stop sucking so damn much!