2016 Blue Jays Down Sharks to Capture 18+ MABL Crown in DC

DC MSBL/MABL, 18+ Division

Bluejays 7, Loudoun Sharks 3

‘Garboczi and Dumont Rule on the Bump’

By Eric Collier, Blue Jays manager

While I could say something about each one of our players and how they contributed to the Championship, there are some that deserve special mention. First our pitchers.

Our Aces, Tom Garboczi and Duey Dumont came through big time. Duey was masterful in the elimination game that got us to the finals. Tom was a warrior yesterday giving up one unearned run in a complete game performance and closed out the final 4.1 innings of the nightcap giving up only one run. It is important to remember two other guys who gave us key contributions from the bump. Zeke Perez got us to Game three of the semifinal series with a clutch performance and Gene Kassman gave us just enough yesterday in Game two to give Tom the break he needed to finish the game.

Our defense made plays all evening to stifle rallies and frustrate their offense. We essentially had three center fielders in the outfield in Joey Townsend, Will Bartlett, Mike Blackwell and Tom when he was out there. They cover the field, gap-to-gap and line-to-line. All four made plays and Joey had his usual highlight reel performance.

The infield of Christian Valdez at third, Juan Waters at short, Zeke and Mike sharing second and Chris Garboczi at first made the routine plays consistently. That’s how you win ball games. Juan, Mike and Zeke have such great range and go back on the ball so well, that along with our outfielders, they take away cheap hits.

I must also mention three other Jays who are not in the picture but no less important to us: Mario Tolentino who played a stellar third base for us all year, and made a spectacular play on pop foul to end the game that put us in the Championship Series; James Rader who makes catching look easy and base runners take shorter leads and think twice about stealing; and Justin Brooks who spent half the year on the DL but gave it everything he had when he was in there.

With a 12-1 Game one victory, and a 7-3 win over the Sharks in the nightcap, we won our second Championship in three years, and erased a bitter memory from a year ago by beating the team that gave us that memory.

I also want to convey a special thanks to Chris and Duey for their support in helping me manage the team this year. I could not have gotten through this season without your collaboration week in and week out.

Added DC MABL League President Larry Lombardi, “Eric not only manages the 18+ Blue Jays but he also plays in a couple of our other age groups. All I can say is that with team managers like Eric he makes our job easier to run a league, besides the fact Eric is one of the nicest guys you would want to know!”

Eric continued: I’m so proud of these guys. They ALL contributed to this Championship. They play the game the right way out of respect for the game, respect for each other, their opponents and believe it or not, the umpires. They work with and for each other so that they can get better. This is probably my favorite team though I love them all. What makes this group so special is not just the way they play. It is their willingness to support each other. I’d have to say that my favorite play of the year was Cello Dean’s 2-RBI single in the top of the second that put us ahead to stay. That hit is symbolic of the character of this team. And I know they know what I’m talking about.

Life imitates baseball, and if you take the lessons of this game and your performance inside the lines to your lives outside the lines, no doubt you will happy and successful wherever they go. Yes, the off-season will be much easier to take this year. Well-done guys!