Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘TinCaps’

Parkview Field to play ESPN Radio 1380AM broadcast

While the TinCaps travel to Burlington, Iowa fans in Fort Wayne have the chance to follow the team on ESPN Radio 1380AM as Dan Watson describes the championship action.

The Fort Wayne TinCaps will be extending Parkview Field’s normal hours to allow fans the opportunity to listen to the game together at the ballpark.

Parkview Field will be open to the public each of the remaining games of the 2009 Midwest League Championship Series, beginning Thursday night. A limited concessions menu will be available for fans to enjoy during the broadcast. There will be no cost for admission. Fans are encouraged to enter through the ballpark’s south gate at the corner of Brackenridge and Ewing.

REMAINING CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SCHEDULE
Thursday, September 17 @ 7:30pm (EST) – Game #3
Friday, September 18 @ 7:30pm (EST) – Game #4 (if necessary)
Saturday, September 19 @ 7:30pm (EST) – Game #5 (if necessary

The Fort Wayne TinCaps leveled the best-of-three Eastern Division Championship Series with a 9-4 victory over the Great Lakes Loons, Sunday at Parkview Field. Justin Baum went 3-for-4, drove in four runs and finished a triple shy of the cycle. RHP Stiven Osuna and LHP Rob Musgrave combined on a strong pitching performance.

Decisive Game 3 is set for Monday at 7:05pm at Parkview Field.

The TinCaps jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd when Baum ripped a one-out single to left to plate Cole Figueroa, who doubled to lead off the inning. Blake Tekotte singled Baum home with two outs.

In the 3rd, Vince Belnome pounded a one-out double and scored later on an error. Baum plated Dykstra with a double into the right-field corner to make it 4-0.

The Loons chipped into the lead when Nick Buss hit a two-out solo homer in the 4th inning. RHP Stiven Osuna ran into potential trouble in the 5th and was lifted for LHP Rob Musgrave. The lefty walked Jaime Pedroza to load the bases with two outs, but struck out Anthony Hatch to short-circuit the rally and keep the TinCaps ahead by three runs.

In the bottom of the 5th, the TinCaps took advantage of a key error. Belnome singled and on what appeared to be a tailor-made double-play ball to second, the Loons made an error to put two on with one out. Allan Dykstra stroked a two-run, opposite-field double into the left-field corner to make it 6-1.

The Loons climbed back into the game with a pair of runs in the top of the 6th, but Fort Wayne bounced back with a run of its own in the bottom of the 6th to push the lead to 7-3.

In the 7th, Dykstra hooked another double, this one down the right-field line, off LHP Roberto Feliciano. Baum followed with a titanic home run over the left-field wall to make it 9-3.

Great Lakes scored an unearned run in the 9th on a double by Esteban Lopez, but Musgrave retired Dee Gordon to end the game and force a third game of the series. Musgrave (3-4) was the winning pitcher; he went 4.1 innings, allowed three runs (one earned) on two hits, walked one and struck out five. RHP Bobby Blevins (11-11) took the loss.

The TinCaps improved to 97-48 for the season and tied the best-of-three series at a game apiece. Great Lakes dropped to 84-61 overall.

Fort Wayne and the Loons (Class-A Los Angeles Dodgers) play Game 3 of the Eastern Division Championship Series, Monday at 7:05pm at Parkview Field in downtown Fort Wayne. It is a Family Feast Night, with selected concessions items on sale for one dollar each. The winner of Monday’s game advances to the Midwest League Championship Series; Fort Wayne has never advanced to the championship round in 17 years as a franchise.

The Fort Wayne TinCaps finished the regular season on Monday with a record of 94-46, the best record in all of Minor League baseball and the best season in the Midwest League in 22 years. The last time a team won 94 games in the MWL was in 1987 when the Springfield (Illinois) Cardinals went 94-46.

A key player on the Springfield team was Bien Figueroa, father of TinCaps INF Cole Figueroa.

In another odd twist, Springfield did not win the playoff championship in 1987; that went to the Kenosha Twins, who went on to become the Fort Wayne Wizards, now known as the TinCaps.

The TinCaps’ 94-46 season is the best in all of Minor League Baseball since the 2003 Lake County Captains (Class-A Cleveland Indians). The Captains featured future Major Leaguers including RHP Fausto Carmona, OFs Ben Francisco and Michael Aubrey. Also on the Lake County roster was Clayton McCullough, now manager of the Midwest League’s Lansing Lugnuts (Class-A Toronto Blue Jays).

Fort Wayne won both the first-half and second-half Eastern Division championships and open a best-of-three series against the South Bend Silver Hawks (Class-A Arizona Diamondbacks) Wednesday at 6:30pm at South Bend’s Coveleski Stadium.

The next game at Parkview Field is scheduled for Thursday at 7:05pm. If necessary, a winner-take-all Game three would be played on Friday at Parkview Field at 7:05pm.

The winner of the Fort Wayne-South Bend series will take on the winner of the Great Lakes-West Michigan series beginning Saturday, September 12th.

Fort Wayne clinched its first playoff berth since 2006 by winning the first-half Eastern Division championship, going 45-25 before the All-Star break. The 45 wins in a half were a franchise record until the TinCaps won 49 games on their way to a second-half championship.

Tune in Saturday morning at 9 for Talkin’ Sports, as we’ll be talking with University of St. Francis head mens soccer coach Mitch Ellisen.

We’ll also talk with TinCaps President Mike Nutter in our weekly segment as the TinCaps regular season winds down..

We’ll have Week 2 scores and recaps from high school football games around the area.

We’ll be naming our PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week in the 4th Quarter of the show.

Any athlete (youth, adult, high school, collegiate, neighbor) can be a PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week. Nominations for the PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week can be submitted to this e-mail address or: jim@wowo.com.

We’re also asking for those attending high school football scrimmages tonight to call in and give us your thoughts.

Have an idea for a show topic or local guest? Let us know.

Tune in Saturday mornings at 9 for Talkin’ Sports on WKJG-ESPN Radio 1380. Phone lines are always open at 260-447-8500.

Talkin’ Sports is brought to you each week by: INdigital Telecom, Perfection Bakeries/Aunt Millie’s, Wise Insurance, PSI/One Eleven Design and Kraft Foods.

Talkin’ Sports. Local Guests. Local Topics. Local Opinion.

Daniel Hausmann has an interesting tidbit about former Frederick Mayerson, who brought the Kenosha Twins to Fort Wayne and renamed them the Fort Wayne Wizards.

Flat Out Crazy LLC is the new name of the holding company created by the merger of Asian-food concept chains Stir Crazy Restaurants and FlatTop Grill. The combination is backed by private equity firm Walnut Group.

Kudos to the Spaulding brothers, who are linked in the post.

In other news, Fort Wayne is no longer the top minor league sports market in the country according to Street and Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal. Seeks that not even the Komets repeat as Turner Cup Champions, nor the TinCaps historic innagural season at Parkview field couldn’t keep Hershy-Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from pushing Fort Wayne down to number two.

In a season where the record books have been pretty much re-written, TinCaps skipper, Doug Dascenzo claimed one of his own thanks in no small part to the teams he’s led on the field while in Fort Wayne. Last night’s 8-6 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts was Dascenzo’s 210th victory while managing in Fort Wayne.

The win puts him at the top of the list, passing the Padres current hitting coach Randy Ready for the franchise record. The TinCaps put their record at 84-40 on the season and 39-15 in the second half.

Congratz Doug!

Tune in Saturday morning at 9 for Talkin’ Sports, we’ll be talking with Juanita Goodwell, new head girls basketball coach of the South Side lady Archers in addition to her duties as the school’s softball coach.

We’ll also talk with TinCaps President Mike Nutter in our weekly segment as the TinCaps amazing season continues.
High school football starts tonight and we’ll have Week 1 scores and recaps too.

We’ll be naming our PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week in the 4th Quarter of the show.

Any athlete (youth, adult, high school, collegiate, neighbor) can be a PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week. Nominations for the PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week can be submitted to this e-mail address or: jim@wowo.com.

We’re also asking for those attending high school football scrimmages tonight to call in and give us your thoughts.

Have an idea for a show topic or local guest? Let us know.

Tune in Saturday mornings at 9 for Talkin’ Sports on WKJG-ESPN Radio 1380. Phone lines are always open at 260-447-8500.

Talkin’ Sports is brought to you each week by: INdigital Telecom, Perfection Bakeries/Aunt Millie’s, Wise Insurance, PSI/One Eleven Design and Kraft Foods.

Talkin’ Sports. Local Guests. Local Topics. Local Opinion.

This photo was taken at Parkview Field during an Jeudy Valdez at-bat with the TinCaps on April 16th, 2009. Had it signed in person on July 5th, 2009.