NY Gremlin Knights
3 – Bryan Newton – P
9 – John Rozich – C
12- Nathan Craigue – OF/INF
13- John Heinsch – DH/C
19- Steve Price – OF/DH
20- Bill Hillhouse – P
21- Dave Simon – OF/INF
23- Jay Herr – 3B
24- Chad McConnell – SS
26- Derek Pukash – OF
27- Dan O’Brien – UTIL
29- Jeremy Tracy – P/INF
32- Chad Busch – 2B
42- Reggie Barrau – OF
51- Craig Pidcock – P
94- Ed Jackson – OF
##-Jon Nimmo – C1-Bruce Tanski – Sponsor
5- Gregg Leather – Manager
33- Jim Busch – Coach
Texaco Pirates, Bahamas
Steve Mullaley
Jason Hill
Kyle Magnusson
Fred Sweeting
William Weatherford
Don Garvey
Louie Joglar
Andrew Albury
Alexis Hernandez
Grant Albury
Edward {Cheno}Lamb
Darrell Joy
Rob Schweyer P
Sean Cleary P
Rob Scheller P
Haziel Mcdonald Manager
Manor Dirt Bags, TX
Kenneth Tumlinson – Manager/Sponsor
Tim Schultz, Inf
Mike Govea, DH
Mike Contreras, Inf
David Rocha II, C
Will Sandifer, Inf/Of
Steve Vierra, Inf
Todd Kensler, Inf/Of
Rick Martinez, Of
Eddie Guerra, Of
Adam Fiebig, Of
Eric Middaugh, Inf/Of
Brian Schultz, C
Justin Tumlinson, Of
Rick Barker, P
Chris Maas, Inf
Ryan Nichols, P
More about the Texaco Pirates here, and the Gremlin Knights here. (waiting for more info from the Brewers de Venezuela)
We’ve learned that big Jon Nimmo will be joining the Gremlin Knights at the AAU tournament. Jon was a member of the 2007 California Lumberkings, runner-up that year in the ISC II division, where he earned All World honors as the top Designated hitter in the tournament. (Jon shown at far right in this photo, which includes, L to R, 2007 MVP Jay Herr, All Worlds Dave Drotzmann and Jeff Twist, and MVPitcher Jeremy Tracy) Ironically, Nimmo will be teammates with Herr and Tracy in this 2009 AAU.
Jon hit a home run in the semi-finals of that tournament, against A-1 Taylor Farms of California, then another in the championship game against the eventual champions, TNT of Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Some observers – myself included – remarked that Nimmo’s home runs went as far as any home run hit in either the ISC II tournament — or the ISC World Tournament. Jon’s title game home run cleared the entire set of bleachers at the main ISC World Tournament diamond at Kitchener. As the saying goes, Jon can hit it out of any park in the country — including Yellowstone.
Speaking of prodigious home runs at the AAU tournament, many mention one by Roman Fiore of Minnesota as the longest, clearing both fences, and then some in a semi-final game on the main diamond.
As for the most memorable home run in the AAU tournament, that would have to be the walk-off home run by Frankie Perez in the bottom of 2006’s extra inning championship game, to give the AAU title to the Heflin Builders over the NY Gremlins.
(We corrected an earlier note that said “Heflin Gremlins over Broken Bow”, thanks to Gregg Leather’s note) The use of “Gremlins” by multiple teams gets a bit confusing
The Gremlin Knight lineup will certainly not lack for power — along with Nimmo, Herr smashed the ISC II tournament home run record (with 7), eclipsing the old record of 3. New York’s other catcher is John Rozich, hit 3 in his first two games at last summer’s ISC II tournament. This trio might arguably be the ISC II division’s top three power hitters.
The Bahamas Pirates and the Gremlin Knights will face off in pool play at 7pm Thursday night. (I only wish that Ballparkradio would be in town in time to broadcast this one, which figures to be a dandy). This game pits one of the ISC II division’s top teams, the Gremlin Knights, (3rd place in 2008) with three aces from the 2008 event, All World Bryan Newton (River City Rockers), and NY’s Billhouse (21 K’s in a game), and Craig Piddock against a team that has worked its way up from the Consolation bracket to one of the tournament favorites, an ISC World-talent-laden squad, with veteran world tournament pitchers, Rob Schweyer and Rob Scheller.
The 10th annual AAU International Tournament will be held January 22-25, 2009 at the Disney complex in Orlando, Florida, hosting 40 teams from around the world. Selected games will be broadcast live on Ballparkradio.com