2014 DW Energy Giants Capture 35+ National in North Texas
North Texas Amateur Baseball League 35+ National
DW Energy Giants 7, Dallas Smoke 5
Submitted by Kirk Pruitt, president NTABL
The DW Energy Giants, managed by Martin White, won the 35+ National NTABL championship by winning the final two games of the 2014 playoff bracket. In the opener, the Giants had to defeat former major league pitcher Jeremy Hill (Kansas City Royals) who started for the Dallas Smoke while Steve Hahn was on the hill for the Giants who pitched 6 innings while Jason Bottenfield closed the game. The Giants won 2-1 on a great pitching performance.
In game two, the Giants won 7-5 despite having starting pitcher Sean House get ejected in the 5th inning with bases loaded and no outs. Clutch hits were provided by Derek Vaughn, Tito Pena and John Mahalik. There were several big defensive plays during the games especially a home to first double play on a ball hit to third basemen Julio Leija.
The Giants finished the year at 24-2. The team was made up of ex-college and ex-professional baseball players. 9 of the Giants played professional baseball at some point during their careers.
Sean House led the team in wins and John Mahalik led the team in Home Runs.
Some major team contributors not mentioned above were Travis Hitzeman (3B), Will Nash (C), Jimmy Kent (2B)and Jeff Baum (DH). Newcomers Jesus Zavala (P), Diego DeLeon (OF) and Derek Brandow (P), were team leaders all year long and returning Giants teammates Jerry Anderson, Jeff Shaffer, Martin White, and Albert Bustos excelled at the plate and defensively.