San Francisco Angels

 Wood Bat Baseball Team

 

Recap of 2003 season

Memorial Weekend May 24- 26

 

Back to Home

  

Hey kids!

Click here and go away

"All the News in Fits"

 May  2003 

Shannon's homerun propels Angels to victory

 

Monday, May 26- The San Francisco Angels earned a split in their road series with the Salinas Packers by driving through to an 8-5 win on Monday.  In the 5th inning, Catcher Brad Shannon (Sonoma State) connected for his third homerun in five days to give the Angels two runs, the lead, and momentum to continue scoring. Lance Stevens (SF State) and Matt Flaherty (SF State) provided solid pitching against the Packers, who were the 2002 NBC California Coastal League champions. The Packers finished 12th in the NBC Summer World Series in Wichita last year.

Lance Stevens has now won 12 straight games (over two seasons) for the Angels, who improved to 11-4 and face Rural League opponents for the next three weeks. The team plays 13 games of AABC Stan Musial baseball before embarking on a trip to Wenatchee, Washington for more NBC brand competition (weekend of June 13-15).  (Angel team sources)

 

Below: Wes Bentley takes batting practice before the game at Salinas Municipal Stadium.

 

Bungled Bunt Bounces Badly in 12th

Angels' catcher Brad Shannon

 

Sunday, May 25- The Angels Lost 3-2 in 12 innings on Salinas Packers' Opening Day in front of 1,200 appreciative baseball fans at Salinas Municipal Stadium. San Francisco's favorite team rallied for two runs against the Packers to tie the game in the 9th inning. Django Whittingham (Indiana Tech) doubled to lead off the 10th, but didn't score. The Packers won it in the bottom of the 12th with a suicide squeeze bunt popup that could have been caught, but fell and starting twisting foul, only to get stuck on the roughed-up first base line.

 

Ben Smith (SF State) went the first six innings for the Angels, John Herbert (ex-pro San Diego Padres) followed and took the loss. The pitching and defense was excellent on both sides. The Packers' Opening Day matchup had the quality of a well-played minor league game.  (Angel team sources)

 

See story on the Salinas Californian website.        click here for box score & recap

 

Saturday, May 24- Golden Gate Park, San Francisco against newly-formed SF Giants, Won 19-7 (9inns) (see scoresheet) and 19-5 (7inns). click here box scores & recap

 

The Giants are a new team, not quite ready to compete successfully at a high level. Angels batters walked or were hit by pitch 32 times in the two games. In the first one, Angels leadoff hitter Mike Ryan scored six runs. In the second game, Brad Shannon (who batted .373 at Sonoma State) hit a bomb to the left side of the open field at Golden Gate Park which, according to Manager Roland Nazar,  not only killed two small animals, but Shannon crossed the plate for a homerun before the Giant outfielders recovered the ball. Bertland Watson (ex-Canada College) and Armando Ornelas (.351 with 11 homeruns at Sonoma State- that's right, still another powerful hitter!) also hit monster bombs into the open field. "I can honestly say that the blast from Ornelas went at least 700 feet," testified Nazar, relaxing at home with some beers after the game.

 

Mark Caviglia (SF City College, transferring to U of Hawaii, Hilo) pitch six innings of two-hit ball for the Angels in the first game. Rich Gamble (SF City College, also transferring to Hilo) started and won the second game.

 

The Giants appear dedicated and are expected to improve over time. They are well-led by George Elsner, the head coach at Balboa High School, and his father Fred, an Army specialist just returning from Kuwait. But at the end of the second game, the overkill had become so tedious that the Angel hitters switched to the opposite side of the plate. Batting left-handed, righty Jake Holt (ex-Hayward State, hit .414 in 2001) smacked a double.

 

Big Rec fields at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco: A fogbound legend.