August and September Week One 2024 Report by Heskin

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Sandgnats
All-Star
All-Star
Posts: 1648
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 5:52 pm
Location: Spokane, Washington State, United States of America

August and September Week One 2024 Report by Heskin

#1 Post by Sandgnats »

CRYSTAL LAKE HERALD

SPORTS – GNATS NOW

Updated: September 10, 2024 – 10:30AM CDT

By Howard Heskin, Staff Writer – Twitter @HowardHeskin1

With many of the usual faces missing because of injuries causation some late summer struggles Crystal Lake finds itself nursing a 4.5 game lead in the Great Lakes Division with 4 weeks remaining in the 2024 season. After a shake up in the training staff, slowly, but surely Crystal Lake's star players have been returning to the field culminating in star SS Juan Hernandez's return this week. Starting Pitcher Alfredo Velazquez will be returning in 2 weeks in time for the playoffs after a short rehab stint. In the meantime, Crystal Lake's staff has been led by mid-season acquisition, Tatsui Kouno who has put up a 3.25 ERA and a 4-3 record since joining the crew at Dole Field. Everyone's favorite Grape Gatorade specialist Francisco Robles has been pitching well as of late given that he has learned Japanese and now has committed no cultural faux-pas with catcher Nori Yamamoto. The leadership of Manual 'the Mayor' Corona has been sorely missed as evidenced by a few pitchers complaining about a lack of leadership with the pitching staff. However, Crystal Lake's staff is rounded out with up and comers Dave Jones, Tony Cuellar, and a late season return and call up from AAA of Jim 'Nitro' MacCowan.

After losing records in July and August, Crystal Lake has started off September with a record of 5-3.

Looking ahead, Crystal Lake will take on the hard-charging Codgers (73-62) for a 3 game set in Palm Springs. The boys will enjoy the last day off of the regular season with a Thursday afternoon at the pool in the desert before heading back north with a visit at Kalamazoo (64-71). Then, we return home with a 4 game series against Bakersfield (64-74) and 3 games verses Aurora (85-51). Then, we'll hop on a plane to Japan with 4 games verses Toyama (86-56) and then turn right back around and immediately face Yuma (63-75) at home for 3 games.

The season then ends with 4 critical games at Duluth (70-66) and the season finale with 3 very meaningful games for Neo-Tokyo (47-88).

One statistic that has struck me this season is Crystal Lake's inept at 1 run games. Presently at 14-30 (.318) in one run games and 7-10 in extra innings has not been the sign of a team ready for the sometimes narrow margins that a deep post-season run demands. However, one bright spot is Crystal Lake's strength on the road which could prove well needed given the present standing of 10.5 back of Aurora for the top spot in the SL.

This week saw the return of Crystal Lake's big bats and offensive prowess with:
R. Uribe : 34 AB, 10 H, 5 HR, 7 RBI, .294 AVG, 1.087 OPS
J. Long : 36 AB, 11 H, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .306 AVG, .974 OPS
J. Ricks : 31 AB, 8 H, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .258 AVG, 1.006 OPS

Ricks and Uribe all missed significant time this year and are a welcome sight back in the outfield.

Go Gnats!
RJ Ermola
Vice President and General Manager of Baseball Operations
Crystal Lake Sandgnats

*2024 PEBA Champions*
Post Reply

Return to “Crystal Lake Sandgnats”