A quick, late night recap on California Teams at the 2008 ISC II Tournament of Champions:

All Three California Teams Finish Pool Play with 2-1 Records

[APPLETON, WI ] –

California Lumberkings – lost to the Lloydminster Dodgers of Alberta Canada, 4-2, and came back in the nightcap to beat the Memphis Posse, 12-3. In the win over Memphis, Greg Oliver got things going in the first with a two run double against the fence in left center, and second baseman Marcus Tan continued his torrid hitting. In the words of Dan Patrick, Marcus is “en fuego”. Three more hits for young Marcus and another handful of RBI. The only time he was retired tonight was when the centerfield pulled a 275 1/2 fiit fly ball that was over the fence. The Lumberkings finish pool play with a 2-1 record, earning a “2” seed in the playoff round to begin Tuesday morning. (and with it a bye)

Rude Pac – won their final pool play game, 4-3, rallying from down 3-0 to beat a very good Wellington Brewers team from Elora, Ontario, Canada. John Pruneda started the rally with a solo home run, and the rest of the Pac followed suit, jumping ahead 4-3. Mark Bennett picked up his second win in the tournament, holding off the Brewers, with the final out speared at second base by a leaping, diving Troy Parker. Rude Pac finished pool play with a 2-1 record, earning a “2” seed in the playoff round (and with it a bye).

River City Rockers – The Sacramento club dropped a close one to ABS Villard of Minnesota, to fall to 1-1 in pool play, but came back to knock off the top seeded team in their pool, the Team Easton Thunder of Ottawa, Canada, 2-1 with a walk off win in the bottom of the seventh inning. Rob Penticoff launched a missle to straight away centerfield for a solo homer in the first, a single run that Bryan Newton made stand up for the rest of the game, wiht 14 strikeouts. Ottawa tied the score on a Corey Costello triple, and wild pitch. Mark Summers got things going for the Rockers in the bottom of the seventh inning, as they loaded the bases against Ottawa with one out. Shortstop Dave Bostock drove home the game winner on an infield single to short. The Rockers finished pool play with a 2-1 record, tied with Ottawa and ABS Villard, Minnesota, who also had 2-1 records. Based on runs allowed, Ottawa earned the top seed, Minnesota the 2 seed, and the Rockers a “3” seed.

Click here for ISC II Tournament of Champions Scoreboard.

Then click the blue links for box scores and play-by-play.

Rocker’s Bryan Newton Tosses 5 inning no-hitter

The River City Rockers of Sacramento, California got off to a big start Sunday at the ISC II Tournament of Champions, in Appleton, Wisconsin, with an 8-1 win over the Kelvington PDC Comets of Saskatoon, Canada. Rocker’s pitcher Bryan Newton was stellar in the run-shortened 5 inning game, tossing a no-hitter and striking 15. Shortstop Dave Bostick drove in two, while catcher Mario Pereira had two hits, including a double, and scored two runs. Zack Abernathy, Rob Penticoff, Mark Summers, Mike Abernathy, Russell Newman, and Scott Harrison all had a hit in the winning effort.

Click here for the box score and play-by-play.

The Rockers will return to play today at 1pm CDT (11am on the west coast), taking on ABS Villard of Minnesota, followed by another one at 4:30pm CDT (2:30pm on the west coast), against one of the ISC II’s top ranked teams, the Ottawa Team Easton Thunder. The latter game will be broadcast live on Ballparkradio.com.

In their first ever ISC II Tournament of Champions, Rude Pac, from Sun Valley, California won one and lost one, getting outstanding pitching for 14 of the 15 innings.

In their first game of the day, veteran pitcher Mark Bennett made a lone run stand up against Kenosha, WI Earls Club, for the 1-0 win. That run came in the Rude Pac first when Javier Fierro tripled and came home to score on Troy Parker’s two-out RBI single. Click here for the box score and play-by-play.

In the nightcap, the Pac lost a tough, extra inning affair, 6-2, to the # 3 ranked New York Knights, in a game that was much closer than the final score suggests. One again, Rude Pac scored in the first inning, with Ron Mizener tripling into the left field corner and coming home to score when Javier Fierro struck out, but reached first on the catcher’s throwing error. New York tied the game in the 3rd on a monstrous solo home run to straightaway center by catcher John Rozitch, a ball that was estimated at 352 feet. Greg “Spud” Barker toughed out an aggavated heel injury to pitch five strong innings, striking out five, before giving way to Steve Morgan. Morgan shut New York out for the next two innings, with the score tied at the end of regulation. New York then put together three consecutive singles, for two runs and the lead. Morgan was relieved by Mark Bennett who surrendered Rozitch’s second home run off the game, a three run shot that put the game out of reach.

New York pitcher Bill Hillhouse tied the ISC II record with 20 strikeouts in the game. Click here for the box score and play-by-play.

California Taylor Farm Lumberkings second baseman Marcus Tan had a huge day in Appelton, WI yesterday, in the opening round of the ISC II Tournament of Champions at Appleton, Wisconsin. The top ranked Lumberkings defeated a tough Wyevale Tribe squad, 6-2, with Marcus Tan having a hand in all 6 runs. Tan walked to lead off the first, and scored, drove in the second run in the second, and then put an exclamation mark on the day, with a grand slam home run in the bottom of the sixth to drive in four more runs, for a total of 5 RBI.

Lumberkings Dave Drotzman’s ERA for the past several ISC II T of C’s shrunk even further, as he spun another game, shutting out the Tribe. Drotzman started last year’s T of C with a no hitter, earning All World honors in the tournament, and is off to another great start in 2008.

Click here for the box score and play-by-play.

The Lumberkings are 1-0 in pool play in the tournament and will take on the Memphis Posse of Tennessee in a 6:30pm CST game tonight, a game that will be carried live on Ballparkradio.com

Be sure to catch ISC II Commissioner Blair Setford’s Day 1 Recap over at our brother ISC II blog, “The Deuce”:

Day 1 – Exceeding Expectations
August 11th, 2008

With 32 excellent teams gathering in Appleton for the 2008 ISC II Tournament of Champions, there were high expectations on the part of most for this year’s ToC to be the best ever. While it’s still too early to make that judgement, it’s certainly shaping up that way as things got off to an explosive start in the first round of games and kept going all through the day.

Click here for the full story.