2025 55+
Mustangs Baseball Club 18, Central Coast Tigers 5
Submitted by Mike LaComb, Mustangs manager
The Mustangs went undefeated for the Memorial Day Weekend Las Vegas Open. The weather was excellent, the tournament ran smooth and successfully, thanks to the MSBL leadership team of Steve, Tom, and Vic. Tom Taylor was our bench coach for the weekend.
The Mustangs opened up with Jeff ” Catfish” Hunter taking on the always competitive Salt Lake Bees. We won 7 to 1. Robert Calvert homered for the Mustangs, and Ralph Rodriguez went three for three. The team played errorless baseball, with Dave Kaufmann, Rusty Anderson, and Joe Bottorf cornering the outfield and coaching the bases for us all weekend.
In the second game on day one, Erik Cary, pitched the team to a victory over the Cal Vets. Ralph Rodriguez stayed hot, going three for three again with a homer. Once again, the team committed no errors.
In the last round robin game, the Fresno Knights gave us a battle. The Mustangs had to come from behind to earn a walk-off 9 to 8 victory. Dan Seale pitched the last four innings to get the win. Big hits in the game came from Rusty Anderson, Chris Dunn, and Kirk Douglas.
The semifinals on Monday morning pitted the Salt Lake Bees against us again. Chris Dunn took the ball and had to throw his best as the game was a two-run game until the late innings, when the Mustangs finally pulled ahead to win 6 to 1
The championship game brought the Central Coast Tigers to the dance. The Tigers and the Mustangs had faced off earlier in the year at the Desert Classic, with the Tigers besting the Mustangs. So, the rivalry was on. Wilson Reyes got the win on the mound, with ” Catfish” getting the save. The Mustangs dominated at the plate, winning 18 to 5.
Ralph Rodriguez was named tournament MVP, as he had an unbelievable OBP of .889, going 16 for 18! The rest of the guys were on the base paths most of the time too, as Ken Prohoniak, Ernie Lujan, Eril Cary, George Cooper, Dan Seale, Robert Calvert, Rick Clough, Rusty Anderson, Matt Sherock, Tomas Rodriguez, Chris Dunn, Mike Burton, Kirk Douglas, Jeff Newman, Nick Arico, and Catfish all had OBPs ranging from .307 to .714.