2015 18+ Central

Los Angeles Caxcanes 10, Santa Rosa Rosebuds 6

‘MVP Rocha Takes Charge’

By Rodney Johnson, special to MSBL

October 25, 2015Tempe Diablo Stadium – The passing of the torch couldn’t have gone any smoother for the Los Angeles Caxcanes. Timoteo Chavez took over primary managing duties from his dad whom had led the team for 23 years. In his first tournament at the helm, the younger Chavez guided his team to a World Series title. “Everyone here is from the L.A. area and we all play together in the same league,” explained Chavez. “This is a very tight group.” Traditional Mexican music blared from the dugout as the obviously very loose Caxcanes warmed up “We have a very festive atmosphere. We’ve had some fun taking in Arizona sites, having a few drinks and a couple of good dinners, but we are here to play ball.”

Los Angeles broke up a close game with five runs in the fifth inning and cruised to a 10-6 win against a game Santa Rosa team. The Rosebuds had built a 3-2 lead through four and one-half innings. RBI singles by Michael Miller and Sammy Bruno and a sacrifice fly by Aaron Lyon accounted for Santa Rosa’s early scoring. Eduardo Camarena’s second inning home run and an RBI ground out by Ramon Marquez in the third kept it close for Los Angeles.The Caxcanes used four singles, a walk and a hit batter to score five times in the fifth andpull away. Tournament MVP Brian Rocha went two-for-four and scored twice. “Brian is only about 160 pounds, but he hits harder than some of the guys we see out here that go 220 (pounds),” boasted Chavez. “He has also played great defense in center field and is our leadoff hitter.”

Gabriel Bueno pitched 6.2 innings to earn the win and Fernando Medina closed out the game to pick up a save.

Santa Rosa manager Michael Miller said his team had nothing to be ashamed of. “We lost, but we did it right,” said Miller. “We brought our own guys and didn’t add a bunch of guys that weren’t from our league like some teams here do.” For the tournament, The Rosebuds rented a 10-bedroom house in the mountains that sleeps 20. “There are no distractions out there and no one could go into town and get into trouble. We were way out there in the middle of nowhere so we were stuck with each other. I feel like it has brought us together,” explained Miller.

Los Angeles beat the River City Reds 5-3 in the playoffs while Santa Rosa defeated the Long Island Black Sox 8-2 to advance to the title game.

Team                                1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9               R     H     E

Santa Rosa Rosebuds     0     0     2     1     0     0     2     0     1                6     14   1

Los Angeles Caxcanes    0     1     1     0     5     1     2     0     x                10   14   1

Wittig, Wood (5), Everitt (8) and Demartini. Bueno, Medina (7) and Camarena.

WP: Bueno LP: Wittig SV: medina.

HR: Camarena (SR)

3B: none

2B: Buchannan 2 (SR)

Leading Hitters: Rosebuds – Greinke 3×4, 2R; Miller 2×4, RBI; Bruno 2×5, 3RBI; Silvieri 2×3, R; Buchannan 3×4. Caxcanes – Rocha 2×4, 2 R; Rodriguez 2×3, RBI; Camarena 2×3, 2R, RBI; Bramasco 2×4, R; Perez 3×4, R, RBI.

SAC: Silvieri (SR)

SF: Lyon (SR); Medrano 2 (LA)

SB: Rodriguez (LA)

LOB: Rosebuds 13; Caxacanes 12

Time of Game: 3:02