2023 50+ National

Mustangs Baseball Club 21, Fresno Knights 5

Submitted by Mike LaComb, Mustang’s manager

2023’s Vegas Open 50 National Division Champion Mustangs came to happen in a very interesting way. Originally, the Mustangs were going to have two teams competing in the tournament. We would have had both a 60 and a 50 team. When the 60-age bracket got combined into the 50 bracket, we decided to just combine the two teams. So, we had a half-and-half 50/60 team playing in the 50 National Division.

In every game that the team played, we started out behind. But we managed to have some big innings in each game and rallied past our opponents to go undefeated.

Vince Towns and Scott McIntosh both pitched complete game wins in the round-robin, and Jeff “Catfish” Hunter and Robert Calvert combined to pitch the other round-robin victory.

Carlos Perez and Jerry Guerra both sparked come-from-behind rallies in round-robin games with their timely hits.

Second baseman Nick Arico, shortstop Steve Kleinpeter, third baseman Jeff Newman, and center fielder Tony Moore locked down the middle of the diamond with their defensive play. Mike Settles, Mike Burton, and Joe Flanagan handled the catching duties.

In the championship game, Tony Moore went the distance on the mound garnering 12 Ks, and he chipped in two hits. Spencer Headley played through a sore knee and had four hits in the game. ‘Catfish’ had three hits, and was named tournament MVP. Erik Cary, Mike Burton, Mike Settles, and Vince Towns each had two hits. The final score had the Mustangs with 21 runs over the hard-hitting Fresno Knights with five runs.