March 25-28

Rain was in the forecast for Monday, it arrived in the afternoon and forced postponement of the baseball game at McCaskey. The boys were also rained out of their season opener on the road the previous Friday, that gives the club two makeup games (both against non-league opponents) right out of the box. Went to The Hotel on Monday and Tuesday but missed out on Wednesday, Jenny and I had our midweek lunch date and later in the afternoon I was at McCaskey. The boys hosted Penn Manor at 4:15, at game time it was 48 degrees with a sharp wind blowing in from left field. JPM head coach Tyler Horst has a fair number of returnees on the roster, on this day the ballclub started its season about as well as you could ask for. In the bottom of the first Dylan Esh reached on an error and scored on Alex Dominguez's RBI double. Evan Proulx and Alex Polito drew back-to-back walks to load the bases, a two-run single by Zach Liss scored Dominguez and Proulx to put the Red Tornado up 3-0. In the third Proulx reached on an error, Liss walked and Hunter Lloyd was hit by the pitch to load the bases. Nate Santiago's RBI hit plated Proulx, Alex Ruiz followed with a base hit scoring Liss and a two-run single by Mason Lee chased home both Lloyd and Santiago. Ruiz came home on a wild pitch with the fifth run of the inning to make 8-0. The game ended via the mercy rule in the sixth, Dominguez and Proulx drew back-to back walks and Polito's infield hit loaded the bases. Noah Raymond was hit by the pitch to force Dominguez home, Joe Anavitate drew a walk scoring Proulx with run #10. That was more than enough for starting pitcher Dylan Esh who worked five innings allowing three hits and striking out six, Seth Winters took over in the sixth and finished it with a spotless inning. For me it felt good to be back on the ballfield again especially where THE GAME is what matters and the BS plays almost no role whatsoever. JPM plays its next three on the road, the next home game is on April 5. My mother had a throat doctor followup on Thursday, they ordered a "swallowing test" for her which we booked for April 4 at the health campus. Take care, thanks for reading.