Jeff Kilgard twice had to prove himself Wednesday evening at Veterans Park.
The jolly Veto Leaguer known for his good natured laugh and laughable love of the Chicago Cubs was faced with the challenge of improving the record of the hapless SNK Crushers, while also proving that he is not the slowest Veto Leaguer.
Kilgard succeeded in one challenge, and half succeeded in the other.
The Game
Jesus Apodaca, the young speedster from Las Cruces, New Mexico, was kept out of VLB lineups after nursing his right hand back to health.
The day of his good friend's wedding, Apodaca finished his shower, grabbed a drink of water, dropped the cup, and managed to fall on it severely lacerating his hand. He drove himself to the emergency room and barely made it to the church in time. While the wound didn't stop him from competing in the NES version of Marble Madness, baseball was off the table.
Not for long.
In his first outing after a trying game several weeks ago, Apodaca delivered. The government employee went 5-for-6 in his first game back for the Baseball Furies, but it wasn't enough as Kilgard's SNK Crushers notched a 7-6 victory.
"I think I found my swing, though," Apodaca said.
However, Kilgard found victory. With a single run in the first, the Crushers led 1-0 for 4 1/2 innings before the Furies tied it in the bottom of the fourth. The talk of the first VLB shutout was quickly silenced.
The Crushers (3-6) rebounded on the heels of Chris Polton (4-for-6) who drove in two runs. SNK scored three times in the fifth and three more times in the seventh to take a 7-2 lead. However, no lead is safe with Kilgard's crew.
"I can see the headlines now," sub-captain Josh Paul said. "Crushers implode again."
The Furies (5-5) battled back scoring twice and loading the bases in the eighth. Ellefritz stepped in and hit a sharp grounder to Kilgard at third. Kilgard threw to pitcher Matt Veto who returned the throw to Kilgard for the crucial 5-1-5 double play. The Furies came away with a sacrifice fly in the inning and still trailed 7-5. They scored just once more and the Crushers hung on.
Bryan Mier and Paul each had four hits in the loss. All but one player in the eight-man SNK lineup scored a run in the victory. The Vandals now sit a half-game ahead of the Furies in the Black Hawk. They will battle the Meteors in a match of divisional leaders on Saturday.
The Race
Pride was up for grabs as three notoriously slow Veto Leaguers toed the line at Veterans Park on Wednesday.
Brett Carlson and Jeff Kilgard each led the latest "Slowest Veto Leaguer" poll on the VLB message board with three votes apiece. The other racer, Scott Ellefritz, had not garnered a single vote at the time of this writing.
Carlson proved to the field that if he tries he will accomplish. Carlson bested the three-man field winning by over a step with Kilgard close behind and Ellefritz in third.
"This wasn't really fair," Ellefritz said later. "I had to run with spikes on and they had gym shoes."
Ellefritz demanded a re-race with different shoes. The race was impromptu and the motion is under review. As of now, Ellefritz advances as the slowest runner and will potentially meet Bob Zerull and Jacob VandeMoortel to settle the case.
Strange weekend, hilarious race.
The jolly Veto Leaguer known for his good natured laugh and laughable love of the Chicago Cubs was faced with the challenge of improving the record of the hapless SNK Crushers, while also proving that he is not the slowest Veto Leaguer.
Kilgard succeeded in one challenge, and half succeeded in the other.
The Game
Jesus Apodaca, the young speedster from Las Cruces, New Mexico, was kept out of VLB lineups after nursing his right hand back to health.
The day of his good friend's wedding, Apodaca finished his shower, grabbed a drink of water, dropped the cup, and managed to fall on it severely lacerating his hand. He drove himself to the emergency room and barely made it to the church in time. While the wound didn't stop him from competing in the NES version of Marble Madness, baseball was off the table.
Not for long.
In his first outing after a trying game several weeks ago, Apodaca delivered. The government employee went 5-for-6 in his first game back for the Baseball Furies, but it wasn't enough as Kilgard's SNK Crushers notched a 7-6 victory.
"I think I found my swing, though," Apodaca said.
However, Kilgard found victory. With a single run in the first, the Crushers led 1-0 for 4 1/2 innings before the Furies tied it in the bottom of the fourth. The talk of the first VLB shutout was quickly silenced.
The Crushers (3-6) rebounded on the heels of Chris Polton (4-for-6) who drove in two runs. SNK scored three times in the fifth and three more times in the seventh to take a 7-2 lead. However, no lead is safe with Kilgard's crew.
"I can see the headlines now," sub-captain Josh Paul said. "Crushers implode again."
The Furies (5-5) battled back scoring twice and loading the bases in the eighth. Ellefritz stepped in and hit a sharp grounder to Kilgard at third. Kilgard threw to pitcher Matt Veto who returned the throw to Kilgard for the crucial 5-1-5 double play. The Furies came away with a sacrifice fly in the inning and still trailed 7-5. They scored just once more and the Crushers hung on.
Bryan Mier and Paul each had four hits in the loss. All but one player in the eight-man SNK lineup scored a run in the victory. The Vandals now sit a half-game ahead of the Furies in the Black Hawk. They will battle the Meteors in a match of divisional leaders on Saturday.
The Race
Pride was up for grabs as three notoriously slow Veto Leaguers toed the line at Veterans Park on Wednesday.
Brett Carlson and Jeff Kilgard each led the latest "Slowest Veto Leaguer" poll on the VLB message board with three votes apiece. The other racer, Scott Ellefritz, had not garnered a single vote at the time of this writing.
Carlson proved to the field that if he tries he will accomplish. Carlson bested the three-man field winning by over a step with Kilgard close behind and Ellefritz in third.
"This wasn't really fair," Ellefritz said later. "I had to run with spikes on and they had gym shoes."
Ellefritz demanded a re-race with different shoes. The race was impromptu and the motion is under review. As of now, Ellefritz advances as the slowest runner and will potentially meet Bob Zerull and Jacob VandeMoortel to settle the case.
Strange weekend, hilarious race.
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