2016 55+ Mountain

Sacramento Royals 12, Buffalo Team New Era 1

‘Tuman Complete Game Caps ‘Three-Peat’

By Patricia Garcia, special to MSBL National

October 27, 2016, 55+ Mountain Division, Tempe Diablo Stadium – The Sacramento Royals won the World Series Championship for the third year in a row with a 12-1 victory over the Buffalo Team New Era behind the leadership of starting pitcher Jerry Tuman. Tuman pitched a complete game, allowing eight hits, but only one run.

“He’s been doing that for a long time with our team. He’s usually throwing semifinals or finals,” said Gary Stonebrook, the manager of the Royals. “We always count on a good game and he hasn’t let us down.”

However, behind solid pitching, the Royals strung together 18 singles and one double, while 12 of 14 batters reached base. Nine of those batters scored at least one run.

“We kind of had a plan of what we wanted to do and we executed it. We knew they had a really good pitcher and we knew we were gonna see him at one point, so we wanted to make sure we were comfortable,” Stonebrook said. “The 6-1 lead wasn’t a real comfortable lead, but again, that was our plan that we followed.”

Each team left a considerable number of runners on base, 19 total.

“We average ten runs a game and we only scored one,” said Ralph Proulx, manager of the Buffalo Team New Era. “You can’t win that way.”

On the other side of the field, Stonebrook was proud of his team’s small-ball offense.

“That’s the way our team has been operating all year,” Stonebrook said. “It was one through ten, everyone contributed and they didn’t just contribute with a big hit, it was just the constant barrage all week.”

The Royals had six different offensive standouts. Phil Adams went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Bruce Anderson went 2-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base, a run scored and an RBI. Bobby Brown went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and two RBIs. Steve Welch went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a stolen base after being hit by a pitch, while Derek Bulock went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs. Finally, off the bench, Darryll Foster went 2-for-2 with a stolen base, a runs scored and an RBI.

“They hit the ball well, they’re a good team. They played well all week,” Proulx said. “They’re a solid team, they’re good and they hit the ball.”

Scott Reeves was named MVP by the Royals, while he only batted 1-for-4 with one RBI in the championship game, he made some incredible defenses plays in center field to save the team in scoring situations.

“We’ve been very, very successful,”Stonebrook said. “We probably have more world championships in Sacramento than any other league in the country.”

For Team New Era, owners of three championships of their own, their loss to the Royals was their second and final loss of the season.

“Our guys played well, we played well all week, this is only our second loss,” Proulx said. “Pitching pitched well, they found all the holes.”