2024 55+

Mustangs Baseball Club 16, Salt Lake Bees 7

‘Mustangs Baseball Club Repeats as 55 Desert Classic Champions’

Submitted by Mike LaComb, manager

The Mustangs kicked off 2024 right in step with how they ended 2023 by winning the first MSBL tournament in the new year. But, not without a tough fight in the final game as the Salt Lake Bees came out swinging as they went up 5-0 in the first inning. In the end, the Mustangs offense came through and won the game 16-7.

The pitching, defense, and hitting all showed up in this tournament as the Mustangs bested some tough competition.

On the mound Vince Towns got two round-robin wins, and ” Catfish” Hunter pitched a round-robin win and the championship game win.

In the field, the Mustangs defense was led by Derick Smalling at short, where he made several “OMG!” plays in the championship game. Eddie Rosas and Erik Cary were solid behind the plate, and both shut down the running game with their strong arms. Dan Seale, Sean Cohan, and Joe Bottorff roamed the outfield and made some “ESPN” worthy plays.  Willie Jutze, Bill Torres, Rick Pianelli, and Scott Miner held down the infield positions.

The Mustangs hitting dominated the whole tournament, with the team scoring double digit runs in each game. Brian Cassidy led the team with an .800 OBP.  Dan Seale had four hits in the championship, and ” Catfish” had three, with both of them hitting triples. Vince Towns, Eddie Rosas, Scott Stone, and Joe Bottorff had hot bats all weekend. The team had an average OBP of .547.

Besides the baseball, the team and its guests had a great time in Palm Springs. We had great fields to play on, strong competition, great weather, as always, a well-run MSBL tournament, beautiful natural scenery, and a great place to visit. We look forward to next year’s Desert Classic!