A shameless plug here for my brother Bob Flanagan, who is the GM for the Coastal Bend Aviators minor league baseball team in Corpus Christi, Texas. The official bio on the team’s website says this about Bob:

Bob is starting his fist year with the Coastal Bend Aviators and is in his fourteenth season of professional baseball. In his prior 13 years Bob has worked for ball clubs in Visalia, CA, Lubbock, TX, Florence, SC and Edinburg, TX. Bob says “Come out to the ballpark and see the difference a year can make.”

If you’re ever in Corpus Christi, be sure to look him up at the ballpark there. Click here to read Bob’s blog posts to his column called, simply enough “Hey Bob!”

(He’s younger by 3 years in case you’re wondering, as is his twin brother, Rick. They both claim to be better looking than I 😉 )

From the Kamloops Chiefs:

We are starting a little thing called Friday Night Lights to fill some extra time the league has the parks booked for on friday nights in Kamloops. Instead of letting it go to waste or use it for the odd practice we came up with a new event! Check ‘er out. We are trying to make it super competitive and also have a super fun atmosphere for kids to help generate some interest in faspitch from the youth.

Friday Night Lights with Kamloops !

The California Lumberkings will be back at the ISC II Tournament of Champions for the second straight year, having won the ISC II berth from the Red Rock Tournament this past weekend in St. George, Utah. The Lumberkings were the top finishing ISC II team in the tournament, including a win over the Consolation Bracket champions, Castlewood II, from Utah, and took ISC World #15 ranked Portland De Marini to extra innings, before dropping a tough one run game.

The Lumberkings were the first team from California to compete in the ISC II Tournament of Champions, and did well, qualifying for the playoff round, and winning their first playoff game, before falling in extra innings to a then-unbeaten Kitchener team.

The Lumberkings have improved their roster for 2007, adding pitcher Mike Egerdeen, who pitched well in last year’s ISC II for JRW of Yakima Washington, surrendering but one earned run in the tournament, as well as young Anthony Martinez, who pitched his 23-and-under team to the National title last summer. Hard throwing right hander Darren Strang, from British Columbia will be back with the Lumberkings for his second season.

Championship Game: So Cal Bombers vs Team Minnesota

The So Cal Bombers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead over Team Minnesota in the championship game and then hung on for an ultimate 6-4 win. Sean Whitten earned the win while Gerald Muizelaar took the loss.

For So Cal, Nate Devine, Steve Pinocchio, Adam LaLonde and Mike Butler provided the offensive punch. For Team Minnesota, Jeff Elsworth and Chad Boom provided most of the offense.

Italian Athletic Club of Stockton, CA and Portland/Demarini of Portland, OR tied for 3rd place.

In the Consolation final, Castlewood II of Pleasant Grove, UT defeated Larry Miller Hogs of Salt Lake City, UT, 13-9. Winning Pitcher was Chris Kemper while Hogs Mike Lorange took the loss.

Click here for Scoreboard, with all winning and losing pitchers.

AWARDS

All Tournament Team

Rick Smith – IAC
Joel Manfredi – IAC
Chase Turner – IAC
Brian Ree – Portland/Demarini
Jesse Duncan – Portland/Demarini
Bricklin Anderson – Portland/Demarini
Roman Foore – Team Minnesota
Chad Boom – Team Minnesota
Kyle Magnusson – Team Minnesota
Rick Lang – Team Minnesota
Darren Box – So Cal
Adam LaLonde – So Cal
Chad Ghostkeeper – So Cal
Nate Devine – So Cal
Mike Butler – So Cal

Outstanding Pitcher Award – Sean Whitten- So Cal Bombers
Most Valuable Player Award – Steve Pinocchio – So Cal Bombers

ISC Berths Earned
So Cal Bombers – ISC World Tournament berth
Lumberkings – ISC II Tournament of Champions berth. Lumberkings won this berth by being the highest finishing ISC II team playing with their ISC II roster.

Ken

Team Minnesota…..8
A-1 Taylor………….1
WP – Rick Lang
LP – Mark Bennett

For Minnesota: Rick Lang threw a 3-hitter. Chad Boom 3 for 3, 4 RBI, scored 3 runs and one home run. Greg Casaes 3 for 3 and scored 3 runs.

Italian Athletic Club….2
Houston Aces…………0
WP – Rick Smith (11 K’s)
LP – Terry Luster

SoCal Bombers………….10
Innovative Communications..2
WP – Tony Peeples
LP – Steve Morgan

For So Cal: Chad Ghostkeeper 2 for 3, scored 2 runs and hit a home run. Ray Parra hit a home run.

Portland Demarini…..4
Lumberkings………….3
WP – Bricklin Anderson (9K’s)
LP – Mike Egerdeen

For Portland: Todd Garcia had a home run. Winning run scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the bottom of 8th inning.

Semi final games are underway with 2 games in Championship bracket and 2 games in the Consolation bracket.

(click logo to visit Ballparkradio.com website)

Two Championship Bracket games from the 2007 Red Rock Tournament will be broadcast LIVE on Ballparkradio.com today:

Sunday, May 6, 2007, 1:00 p.m. MST – semi final
Sunday, May 6, 2007, 3:00 p.m. MST – Championship Game.

MST (Mountain Time) is one hour ahead of PST on the West Coast, and two hours behind EST, on the East Coast; adjust your time zone accordingly). The championship game will therefore be broadcast at 2:00 p.m. on the West Coast, and 5:00 p.m. on the East Coast.

Click the Ballparkradio.com logo above for the “Click to Listen” link. You can listen to the game live on your computer. All you need is Windows Media Player (which is pre-installed on most computers), and speakers or a headset. Join us and catch all the action LIVE !!

Lumberkings…….9
Castlewood……..1
WP- Anthony Martiniez (6 K’s)
LP – Kyle Eberts

Lumberkings: Brian Teeters 3 for 4, 3 runs scored, 2 RBI and a home run. Troy Parker 2 for 3 and 2 runs scored. Carlos Flores, 2 for 3 and 2 runs scored.

Panteras………..7
Cruces Titans…4
WP – Bill Montana
LP – Tony Mancha

Panteras: Jimmy Buenitelco 3 for 4, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI.

So Cal Bombers………3
Larry Miller Hogs……..4
WP – Cody Thomson, Mike Lorange (7)
LP – Tony Peeples

The 1 PM game between So Cal Tribes vs Innovative Communication is in extra innings and the result will be included with other 3 PM game results.

Ken

Houston Aces………..10
Castlewood II…………0
WP – Terry Luster
LP – Chris Kemper

Aces: Moises Davilz – 2 d\for 3, 5 RBI, 3 runs scored and a
home run. Willie Echevez 2 for 3 and 2 runs scored.

Team Minnesota………………..3
Innovative Communications – 0
WP – Rick Lang (4 K’s)
LP – Steve Morgan (3 K’s)

Larry Miller Hogs……10
Native Austin…………..2
WP – Dave Ratlif (11 K’s)
LP – R. Charginghawk (5 K’s)

Hogs: Home Runs – Ronnie Brannin (1) and Randy Barnes (2)

Portland Demarini…..15
Cruces Titans………….1
WP – Mike Piechnik (8 K’s)
LP – Randy Simpkins (4 K’s)

Portland Home Runs: Jesse Duncan (2), Todd Garcia (1)