MBL Manager's Meeting: Sunday, January 29 at 4pm.  Location TBD.  Each team must bring their $500 placeholder portion of their team fee.

The MBL will be accepting a few new teams in 2012.  If you are a prospective manager, contact Kirk Spano and Jim Rinelli via email between December 26 and January 6 to update us on your team's status.

2011 marked another significant year for the Milwaukee Baseball League.

Now in our ninth season as an independent league after Milwaukee County ceased running adult baseball leagues, the MBL again improved the stability and competitiveness of the league.  Our Open divisions the American and National added more players with college experience which culminated in a Championship between two teams with substantial talent.  The Veterans division crowned its second champ in an many years and showed that players in their late 20s, 30s and 40s can still ball.  In general the league is healthy with a good group of volunteers managing it, has run a small surplus each year and maintains an emergency fund of several thousand dollars for unforseen events and issues.

Looking forward we see three divisions comprising the league on a long term basis: American Division, National Division and Veterans Division.

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Basepath Collision Rule: When, in the baseline and within five feet of a base, there is a upright body to body collision between a runner and a fielder who is in possession of the ball or making a legitimate play to catch the ball, the umpire shall judge:

• 1) Whether the collision by the runner was avoidable, that is, could the runner have reached the base without colliding with the defensive player and without significantly increasing the chances of injuring himself by sliding or going around the fielder, AND
• 2) Whether the runner actually was attempting to reach the base (plate) or attempting to dislodge the ball from the fielder or keep the fielder from making a catch, such as by contact with the glove hand of the fielder.
  • If, in the umpires judgement, the runner a) could have avoided the collision and reached the base without a strong likelihood for self-injury, OR b) was attempting to dislodge the ball, the runner shall be declared out even if the fielder loses possession of the ball or does not make his catch at all. The ball shall be declared dead and all other runners shall return to the last base occupied at the time of the interference.
  • Note, the bulk of responsibility for avoiding collisions is on the base runner.  Umpires will err on the side of protecting position players with their discretion.
  • If a collision is deemed to be intentional or malicious the baserunner is ejected and that team's bench is warned.

Stop, don't buy that bat yet!  Information regarding bats in MBL.

We want all of our players to know that for 2012 the MBL will be going to the BBCOR standard to be consistent with the NCAA and high schools. Please support league sponsors Burghardt's Sporting Goods and Dunn's Sporting Goods by shopping for your bats at their local businesses.

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The Franklin Snappers formerly of the Land of Lakes Eastern Division will join the Milwaukee Baseball League American Division for the 2011 season.

Multiple MBL teams were again ranked in the Wisconsin Ameteur Baseball Organization rankings.

 

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The MBL and Milwaukee County Parks are partnering to help raise money for the parks and MBL teams.

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A Hard Habit to Break

Revived rec-league baseball to hold first playoff games.

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2011MBL Championship

Brown Deer Supreme Builders 12 Milwaukee Beavers 9

The 2011 MBL Championship provided a well fought, exciting game between the Beavers and Builders. The Builder’s opted to start their ace, Brendon Dorn (3.1 IP), who pitched a complete game victory in the semifinals the night before. The Beavers seized the opportunity and came out of the gates in the first inning scoring five runs created on four consecutive hits by Rob Tschimperle, Justin Barkhrst, Greg Ketz, and Mike Schroeder. The Builders were able to cut the lead to four with a Matt Cook rbi single in the bottom of the inning. The Beaver’s Schroeder came up big again with a two rbi single in the second and fourth innings to give Brown Deer a blow to the chest with the score 9-1 after the top of the fourth. However, Supremes Eric Belter hit a two run homerun, his second in as many days, to bring the score 9-3.

After a scoreless top of the fifth, the Beavers were able to record two outs from the first three Builder batters while allowing a runner to reach base.  With two outs, Brown Deer’s bats ignited in a huge way. The Builders socked six hits and drew two walks, and were aided by two errors resulting in a nine run rally to take a three run lead.  The comback was the largest in MBL championship history.  It was the type of rally that showed a level of heart that few have ever witnessed at Zirkel Field.

Jay Kuczynski couldn’t have picked a better time to earn his first win as a Builder. He pitched the final 3.2 innings, served 3 Ks, and allowed one hit. However, the game was a slugfest that provided 26 hits total between the teams. Beaver’s Tschimperele and Schroeder both had three hits. In addition, Barkhrst and Ketz both contributed a multi hit game. Builder’s Cook led the game in offense by going 4-4. Furthermore, Belter, Colin Moser, and Mike Krause all had two hits that were key components in the come from behind victory that erased an eight run deficit.

After the game it was announced that Eric Belter was named the 2011 MBL playoff MVP on the strength of his several clutch hits during the tournament, including home runs in the semi-finals and Championship.

Congratulations on a great season for both clubs, to Milwaukee Beavers for earning an appearance in the MBL Championship game, and to Supreme Builders for receiving their third Title.

 

 

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American/National

Town and Lake Realty Braves: 7  Franklin Snappers: 0

Braves finish the season 13-3 after the Snappers were not able to get enough players to play the game. Braves win by forfiet, not the way the Braves wanted to win the game at all. Good luck to all of the teams in the playoffs.

Milwaukee Beavers: 10  PJ's Tigers: 1

The Beavers took game one of a doubleheader against the Tigers behind a complete game victory by Jarrett Gates who was helped by his defense turning three double plays behind him. The Beavers offense broke open a close game by scoring seven runs in the last two innings to seal the victory. Joe Hallett (3-4, 1r, 1rbi, 2sb), Justin Barkhurst (3-5, 1r, 1rbi) and Dominique Griffith (3rbi) led the Beaver offense. Matt Duranso led the Tigers (2-2).

PJ's Tigers: 16  Leff's Beavers: 10

The Tigers defeated the Beavers 16-11 in game 2 of a doubleheader, Sat afternoon. Andy Monigal pitched a complete game to earn the win. At the plate the Tigers were led by Matt Duranso(4-4), 2 RBI's 2 Runs) Cory McEwen(3-5), 3 RBI's)Scott Rappl(2-3), 3 Runs, 1 RBI), Andy Monigal(3-3),2 walks,3 runs scored) and Andrew Rappl(2-5) 2 Runs, 2 RBI's. The win improved the Tigers record to 9-7 on the season.

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*Game recaps to follow

American/National

Brew City Inidans: 6  Fed Life Phillies: 3

O'Brien's Orioles: 13  Brew City Indians: 9

O'Brien's Orioles won their final regular season game over Brew City Indians 14-9. The Orioles held a 2-1 lead going into the top of the third when Dave Barth hit a towering grand slam home run to put the Indians on top 5-2. The lead did not last long when the Orioles put up nine runs in the bottom of the fourth to put the game out of reach. Sean Beuth pitched six innings to get the win. Chris Sanders (2H double 2SB 3R), Tim Heling (2 doubles), Dan Wilfrath 2-2 double 2BB), and Jim Rinelli (2H double 2RBI) led the Oriole offense. Solomon Juarez had four hits and four runs scored for the Indians

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Milwaukee Beavers: 6  Fed Life Phillies: 1
The Beavers took game one of the doubleheader against the Phillies behind a brilliant performance from starting pitcher Jarrett Gates. Gates tossed a complete game gem, allowing one run (none earned) and striking out 9. The Beavers broke open a 1-1 tie by scoring four in the fourth and Gates would do the rest allowing just three hits in the game. Justin Barkhurst (3-3, 2dbl, 2rbi) and Mike Schroeder (3-3, 1dbl, 1rbi) led the Beavers offensive charge.

Fed LiFe Phillies: 10  Milwaukee Beavers 0
The Fed Life Phillies defeated Miwaukee Beavers 10-0 in the second game of a double header. Jake Schaefer pitched the entire game yielding no runs and only three hits. Sam Keller Jr. was four for four with a triple. Josh Blackburn was two for three with a double.

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O'Brien's Orioles 12  Steakout Black Sox 2
Dan Wilfrath pitched five innings to get the win. Doug Dollhopf (2H 2RBI), Chris Sanders (Double, Triple, 2R, 2RBI), & Pat McGarry (2H 2RBI) led the offense on a sweltering day at Wisco field. Daniel Cruz had two hits for the Sox.

O'Brien's Orioles 14  Steakout Black Sox 0
Rookie Sean Beuth pitched four scoreless innings for the Orioles striking out seven to earn his first win as an Oriole. Jim Vielbaum, fresh out of semi-retirement due to injuries had two hits and three RBI to lead the offense. Bryan MacPherson also had two hits with 2RBI. Black Sox manager Dwight Williamson valiantly came in to relief pitch in both ends of the DH in the 95+ degree heat. Thankfully, nobody tipped over and no IV's were needed.

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Brown Deer Supreme Builders 15  Losing team: T&L Braves 6
In a battle of division leaders, Supreme Builders knocked off the undefeated Braves in a six inning game that ended due to time rule. All the Builders starters were in the starting lineup for the first time this season and it showed as they pounded out 18 hits and scored 15 runs. The Braves did manage to cut Brown Deer's lead to one run after the fourth but the bats stayed hot with 8 unanswered runs. Brendon Dorn earned his sixth win with a complete game allowing 4 earned runs. Supreme's bats were led by Nate Osterndorf (4-4, 3R), Matt Cook (3-4, 5 rbi, 2R), Mike Krause (3-5, rbi, 2R), Eric Belter (2-3, 2 rbi, 2R), Tommy Rapp (2-4), and Dave Kuczynski (2-5, 4R). Leading the offense for the Braves was Josh Szuzlik with two hits.

O'Brien's Orioles 14  Milwaukee Beavers 6
The Orioles climbed back to .500 with their win Friday night over the Beavers. On a night when both starting pitchers were a bit wild at times. Dan Wilfrath got the win despite hitting four batters and walking two in five innings of work. Sean Beuth pitched the final two innings for the Orioles striking out five. Beavers starter Mike Schroeder took the loss walking nine in 4.1 innings of work. Tim Heling continued hitting the ball well going 3-5 with six RBI's. Doug Dollhopf and Chris Sanders also chipped in two hits and 3 RBI's apiece to lead the Oriole's offense. Rob Tchimperle and Mike Schroeder had two hits apiece for the Beavers.

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TLC Braves: 6 O’Briens Orioles: 2

Braves win a hard fought battle with the Orioles 6-2. Nick Voltner started the game and went the distance pitching a great game and working is way out of trouble a couple times. Nick steped up and performed great tonight getting his first victory of the year. Hitting stars for the Braves were Bill Gorman, Josh Szuslik and Austin James all 2-4. Gorman had a single and double, 1 SB. Szuslik had 2 singles, 1R. James had a single and double 2RBI and 1 R. Paul Mallas also had a great day at the plate drawing 2 walks and scoring 3 times. Adam Graves was 1-3 with a big 2 out double scoring the first run of the game. Final line on Voltner pitching is 7IP, 2ER, 7K's, 8 H, 0 BB, 1 HBP. For O'Brien's hitting stand outs were Doug Dollhopf 2-4, 2 singles, 1R, 1K. Dan Wilfrath 2-3, 2 singles, 1R, 1K.

Milwaukee Beavers: 7 Brew City Indians: 5

The Beavers returned to the win column with a well played 7-5 victory over the Indians Sunday afternoon at Wick Field. The game started shaky for the Beavers, who were playing with a limited roster, when starting pitcher Nick Griffith left after four batters with an injured pitching arm. Jarrett Gates was summoned for his MBL pitching debut and induced an inning ending 1-6-3 double play with one pitch to limit the first inning damage. He proceeded to retire 12 of the next 13 batters, striking out seven. The Indians would touch Gates for two runs in each of the last two innings as fatigue began to set in, but he was able to finish the game with the tying run at the plate. The Beavers were led by Rob Tschimperle (1-2, 1dbl, 2rbi) and Greg Ketz (2-3, 2rbi). The Indians were led by Steve Perez (3-4, 1dbl, 3r, 1rbi).

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Braves 8 A's 4

Braves continued their undefeated season by beating Rookies A's 8-4. Lee Waechter was on the mound and was pitching good. Braves scored 1 in the first. Rookies came back with 1 in the 3rd to tie the game. In the 4th the Braves scored 3 more to take a 4-1 lead. Rookies came back with 3 of their own tie the game again. In the top of the 7th the Braves scored 4 to take the lead for good and in the bottom of the 7th Paul Mallas came in to pitch and sent 1,2,3 to secrue the victory. Leading hitters for the Braves were Nick Voltner 2-4 1R 2SB 1BB and Lee Waechter 2-4 1R. Leading hitters for the A's were Mike Olszewski 2-3 BB, Tony Urbaniak 0-0 2BB, 1HBP 2R. Final line on Lee Waechter was 6IP, 4K, 4BB,4ER.

Brown Deer Supreme Builders 8 Franklin Snappers 6

The Builders jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the second which was highlighted by Dave Kuczynski's two run home run. However, the Snappers crawled back by scoring two in the fourth and Nick Derovin's 2 rbi single in the fifth gave them the lead 5-4. The Builders regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth with Chris Moser's 2 rbi single. In the bottom of the sixth, Brown Deer tacked on two more insurance runs to seal the game. Leading the Builder's offense was Kuczynski (3-4, HR, 3 runs, 3 rbi), Matt Cook (2-4, 3B, 2 runs), and Chris Moser with 3 rbi. Bobby Widenski led Franklin's sticks with two hits and three runs scored.

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Brown Deer Supreme Builders 15 Flannery's JV's 5

Nate Osterndorf took the mound for his first time as a Builder in game one of the double header. He struckout 10 batters, walked one, and earned the complete game victory in 5 innings due to ten run rule. Supreme Builders ended the game in 4.2 innings by hitting .535 as a team which scored 15 runs on 15 hits. Everyone in the lineup got a hit and leading the way was Matt Cook (4-4, 3B, 3 rbi, 3 runs), Eric Belter (2-3, 3B, HR, 3 rbi, 3 runs), Sean Carolan (2-3), and Dave Kuczynski (2-3, 3B, 2 rbi, 2 runs). Ben Krey led Johnny Vs/Flannery's offense going 2 for 3 with a rbi triple.

Flannery's JV's 7 Brown Deer Supreme Builders 5

Flannery's JV's took game 2 of a doubleheader 7-5 over the Supreme Builders. The JV's overcame a 5-1 deficit with a 4-run 4th and 2-run 5th. Alex Marchen had a 2-run single to break a 5-5 tie. Lee kleszczynski had 3 hits and Marchen, and Dan Marx had 2 hits for the JV's. Steve Murphy picked up the win by going the distance by scattering 9 hits and giving up only 1 earned run. Dave Schimenz and Matt Cook had 2 hits each for the Builders. The Builders had the tying runs on base in the 7th but key defensive plays by SS Marchen and RF Jeff Kustermann preserved the lead and the win for the JV's.

 

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MBL Games

Milwaukee Beavers 11 Franklin Snappers 8

The Beavers rallied late to snatch one away from the Snappers 11-8 in a sloppy game Sunday night at Zirkel Field. The Snappers capitalized on a wild first inning by Beaver starter Steve Gustafson, who walked the bases loaded before walking in a run and giving up a two out, two run single staking the Snappers to an early 3-0 lead. The Beavers clawed their way back, after Gustafson settled down, to take a 5-4 lead into the sixth.  In the bottom of the sixth the Snappers jumped back to an 8-5 lead while recording one hit along with two Beaver errors.  The the Beavers did much of the same scoring six runs in the bottom half of the sixth with just three singles, re-claiming an 11-8 lead that held up for the victory as Beaver's closer Mike Schroeder shut down the Snappers once and for all in the seventh. The Beavers leading hitters were Jarrett Gates (2-4, 2rbi) Joe Cefalu (2-5, 2rbi) and Alex Rejniak (2-3, 2rbi). The Snappers were led by Andy Saustad (2-3, 2rbi) and Bobby Widenski (2-3, 1rbi).

 

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MBL American & National Results

Town & Lake Braves 8 Milwaukee Tigers 4 (Friday, May 27 make-up game)

The Tigers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after the first inning. The Braves came back with 3 in the 3rd to go up 3-1, then adding 1 more in the 5th. The Tigers clawed their way back into the game to tie it up in the bottom of the 7th. Going to extra innings the Braves Preston Wietholter lead off with a single, then George James came up and laid down a bunt and reached on an error, Austin James came up next and did the same as his brother, then with no outs and Chris Samz batting Eric Forbes (who pinch ran for Wietholter) scored on a pass ball, then Samz lined a 2B into center scoring both James' boys, Samz then scored on a Voltner ground ball to SS. The Tigers tried to come back in their half of the 8th, but Mallas was too much for them. The Braves didn't have a great day at the plate other than WIetholter 2-3 2 singles and a BB. Mallas was 1-3, 1R. Samz was 1-1 2B and 2 RBI. Josh Lemke started pitching for the Braves and was stellar only giving up 1 earned run and 3 unearned runs, 6.1 IP, 7 hits 6 K's and 2BB. Mallas pitched 1.2 IP, 1K, 2H's and no runs. The leading hitter for the Tigers was Jimmy Juanbauer 3-4 2 singles, 3B, 2R and BB.

 

O'Brien's Orioles 6 All Star Sportswear 5

The Orioles got their second win of the season behind solid pitching by Dan Wilfrath and the continued hot start from Tim Heling. The Orioles jumped out to a 1-0 lead off Helings first inning home run off All-Star starter Brian Curran. They would add two more in the third with Brian MacPherson's clutch two out two run double. Some defensive miscues by the All-stars and key singles from the Orioles led to three more runs in the fourth. Wilfrath pitched six strong innings striking out seven and allowing only one run on four hits. All-Star made it interesting in the bottom of the seventh when Bryan MacPherson entered in relief of Wilfrath. Jason Mikula hit a three run homerun to close the gap to 6-4. After another walk Chris Sanders entered the game for the Orioles and gave up an RBI double before closing the game out giving the Orioles the 6-5 win.

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Veterans Division Results

Leff's Beavers  6  Wisconsin Wholesalers 1

Steve Rappl threw the complete game for the victory.  Steve helped himself with a two run home run in the first inning.  The Beavers added runs througout the game to slowly but steadily pull away.

Leff's Beavers 8 Wisconsin Wholesalers 1

Todd Voit cruised through the first three innings before getting into trouble in the fourth loading the bases with no outs.  Bryan Ureda came in to put out the fire allowing no runs in the inning.  Biran Jaeger closed to complete the Beaver victory.  Andy Bartosh led the Beaver hitting going 3 of 4 with a double and two runs.

 

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West Allis Timber Rattlers 10 Leff's Beavers 9

In their inaugural game the Rattlers jumped out to a 9-0 lead after 4 1/2 innings, then held off a late rally by the Beavers to get out with their first win.

The Varsity Club Hornets  won the inaugural Vets Division Championship over the Club Paragon Aces on a rainy afternoon at Zirkel Field.  In a well pitched game from both teams, only 2 earned runs total, Steve Thompson got the better of Travis Rose for the victory.  Steve Thompson pitched 7 strong innings allowing  1 run, 0 earned runs, striking out 10 Aces and walking only 2.  Nick Kibler came in and pitched the final two innings for the save and allowing only one run.

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Milwaukee Baseball League Championship

Southshore All-stars 4 PJ's Tigers 1

In a rematch of the 2009 championship game the results would be different this year.  Tony Landgraf avenged his 2010 championship game loss on the hill by allowing only one run by the PJ's Tigers in the 2010 championship.  Landgraf, who missed much of the season due to injury and family commitments, changed speeds and moved the ball around the plate to induce several important fly outs and ground balls that his mates fielded cleanly, rusulting in ten PJ's baserunners being stranded. 

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Colonel Hart's Aces over Varsity Club Hornets

In a rematch of the 2010 Championship the Aces controlled the game from the outset claiming the 2011 MBL Veterans Division Championship.

 

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