Your FC Pilots dropped a pair of heartbreakers last night at Fossil Creek Park, falling to the Ajax by a-lot to a-little in back to back losses.  After getting no hit in game 1 of the double dip the Pilots did show signs of life at the plate and in the field, and there are a number of lads who continue to compete out there no matter what the count, score or record. 

I 100% appreciate that winning makes everything better – like ranch dressing or sprinkles or a believable fake mustache.  And I appreciate that games that get out of hand can be tough to watch and stomach and as I’m finding at this very moment write about.  Rather than a traditional recap here are some highlights of last night’s games via the numbers …

23 – Ajax batters faced by Jayden over his 2 innings of work without issuing a single walk.  45 of Jayden’s 63 pitches were for strikes.

8 – pitches Jack saw in his second inning at-bat before crushing a ball to deep left center after taking a 1-2 count full – spoiling 3 pitches foul and plating 2 of the Pilots 3 runs.

4 – punch outs by Ty – the last being the loudest to end the 2nd inning and get his Pilots back to the dugout.

3 – outs that Ben and Jack recorded in the first inning of game 1.  2ks and a pick off to KR at 3rd. 

3 – hits by Ty at the top of the Pilots batting order in game 2.  3 for 3 - single / double / single.

2 – innings of debut baseball on the mound by Nathan.  Nate faced 12 batters, striking out 1 and keeping the Ajax in check with his relentless pursuit of the strike zone.

1-2-3 – outs in the second inning of game 1 – groundout to Jayden at first, groundout to Ben on the mound, called 3rd strike looking.

1 – full on getting dirty dive at SS by Damian in an attempt to nab a seeing eye grounder up the middle.  Awesome effort #5 – now go do some laundry.

A few other highlights:

We had 2 well turned cut-offs from the outfield to nail a greedy runner on the bases.  Cutting a throw in deep center, Ty threw an absolutely perfect dead on laser to Eli at 3rd .  No fly zone – no Ty zone?  Does that work?!  It was an unreal play.  Wyatt was responsible for a whole pile of outs with 2 great catches in CF and a bang-bang double play at SS.  Jack nearly nailed a runner stealing 2nd and did nail a runner trying to steal third from his perch behind the plate.  Kevin C added another loud base knock to his season total going slightly oppo to right CF.  He came around to score and keep the basepaths busy.

So some silver linings for sure.

We have 3 regular season games to go, and a playoff play-in game on July 12th.  I’ll be reaching out re: the dates of our upcoming schedule as we’re about to be smacked by the summer travel monster.  Please make sure your availability is up to date on the Sports Engine app for games and upcoming practices.  For those in town it would be great to see your dudes out there on Friday afternoon for practice.  I’ll get that put up on our team schedule.

Questions – comments – concerns, please reach out.

Cheers guys and Go Pilots,

Chris