First pitch that I saw from JR, I smacked to left center. When I saw the left fielder turn his back to chase it, I knew I had my goal of getting an extra base hit.

It’s great to be playing baseball. We’ve got a very good team. We beat JRs guys 5-4 in the bottom of the 6th. I contributed on both offense and defense.

One inning in right with a good catch and a good backup on a throw to first. Then multiple innings at third with a few plays. So, reasonable defense.

Had a double, scored a run and drove another in. On that double, I had to stay on a line drive just out of the shortstop’s reach. Then on the next hitter, I went to steal after 4 pitches and Shaun Quill hit a grounder behind me. I headed right home in case they had a double play. They only got the lead runner.

We were using a default lineup – just having everyone hit in alphabetical order while our coach, Rick Knapp, figured everything out.

Rick’s a lifetime baseball man, having served as a pitching coach for the Tigers and coordinated minor league pitching for the Twins, Royals and Dodgers. His last job was as the coordinator/consultant for MLB International, which had him trotting the globe to develop pitching worldwide. There’s a great interview with Rick about that job on Krush Performance. The entire coaching staff for the week is made up guys like Rick. Major league experience in managing, coaching and playing, while still loving the game enough to spare a week for a bunch of Old Men Playing Baseball.

In the third, our alphabetical lineup produced again. Jonathan “JT” Taylor led off the inning with a double and was driven in by Ed Confino after a walk to Bill Arnold. Al Ferlo, who struggled in the batting cage, drove in a run by hitting the ball hard. It may have been scored an error, but that run was important. My own hard-hit ball drove in the third run on an error.

So, we got to the 4th all tied up. JT came in to pitch and kept them off the board for the final two innings. A couple of hard hit balls and some good base running allowed Shaun Quill to score with Craig Tasens picking up the game-winning RBI.

Great start for the week.