Dawson does it all in TOTS' win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Mike Dawson had it all covered today as Team White cruised to a 12-2 win at Udall Park in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

Dawson pitched a complete game, struck out five, made eight assists and two putouts and allowed just one earned run -- a home run over the left field fence by Team Blue's Ernesto Escala. The home run was Escala's first home run with the TOTS and the ball cleared the left field fence with plenty of room to spare.  The members of the club signed the "home run" ball after the game.

Escala started for Team Blue and was relieved in the fifth inning by lefty Dennis Crowley.

Big John Mathews collected three hits and scored three times for the winners, while Doc Thompson and Thunder Tim Tolson knocked in three runs apiece.

There was a little drama in the sixth. Crowley, better known on the club as Dennis the Menace, targeted (just joking) Pigpen Price with an inside pitch that caught Price, just inches above an already bruised hamstring.

"I came back from the MSBL World Series with an upper hamstring problem and Dennis drilled me. I waited 10 days before returning and this was my first game back. It seems like I'm always getting in the way of something," Price said.

Price and the TOTS all survived today's game as 22 players filled the rosters. David Byars, Team Blue's first baseman, found himself on the ground a couple of times today, once at bat, trying to get away from an inside pitch from Dawson, and at first base while blocking a bad throw.

The  TOTS will be back in action on Wednesday at Udall. Game time: 10 a.m.

Photo: Escala, who hit his first home run as a TOT today at Udall Park.