Tuesday, June 4, 2024

TOTS: Thunder continues to roll!

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball


Thunder Tim Tolson, 71, continues to roll as the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers top hitter this summer.

Tolson, who was already making waves in April with 22 hits, unleashed his full power in May, smashing the TOTS' pitching for a staggering 32 hits. He stepped up to the plate 46 times and maintained a jaw-dropping .696 batting average. 

Not too far behind was Joe Opocensky, 74, who went 29 for 42, a .690 average. Opocensky and Tolson tied for the most runs scored for the month with 22 apiece.

Randy Livingston, 66, Ken Nebesny, 67, and Ernesto Escala, 72, followed in hits; Livingston went 20 for 33, while Nebesny went 19 for 40, and Escala finished the month 19 for 37, while topping the chart in RBI with 24.

In the super senior's division (75-and-over), Danny "Pigpen" Price led the way with 13 hits in 37 trips to the plate, a .351 batting average. David Byars (12 for 36) and Bob Daliege (11 for 29) were close behind.

The TOTS maintained a .404 batting average as a club, with 337 hits in 834 at-bats.

On the mound, Daliege (38) and Livingston (39) hurled the most innings, with both pitchers maintaining 2-2 won-loss records. Opocensky was the strikeout king for the month with 13 K's. He pitched 27 innings and finished with the best won-loss record at 4-1.

Way to go, TOTS!


 Thunder Tim Tolson (above photo) led the TOTS in hits for the month of May with 32.


Danny "Pigpen" Price (photo above) led the TOTS' super seniors (75-and-over) with 13 hits in May.


Joe Opocensky (above photo) was the strikeout king in May for the TOTS with 13 while maintaining a won-loss record of 4-1.

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Monday, June 3, 2024

Diamondbacks still chasing the .500 mark

 Arizona Diamondbacks


The Arizona Diamondbacks won a couple of games over the New York Mets over the weekend, winning two of four in the Big Apple (10-5, 5-4), but they are still chasing the .500 mark on the season with a 27-32 record.

The Diamondbacks take on the San Francisco Giants Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at Chase Field. The Giants are also chasing the .500 mark and enter tonight's game with a 29-31 record.

Ketel Marte continues to lead the Diamondbacks in batting with a .270 average. Marte is 63 for 233 and is tied with Christian Walker in home runs with 12. Walker leads the club in RBI with 38, while Marte is second in runs-batted-in with 32.

Zac Gallen (5-4) maintains an ERA of 3.12 to lead the Diamondbacks pitchers.


Baseball season ends for the Wildcats

 Arizona Wildcats Baseball


Only the echoes of cheering baseball fans remain inside the spacious confines of Hi Corbett Field on Monday morning. A dust devil gathered steam behind the third base bag and rolled across the infield, lifting and disappearing high above the right field wall.

After three days of action at the 2024 NCAA Tucson Regional, the wrong team, as far as the Arizona fans were concerned, walked away with the title and advanced to the Super Regionals. The winner: the West Virginia Mountaineers, who had traveled 2,100 miles across the country to battle the host team, the Arizona Walk-Off Wildcats,  the Antelopes from Grand Canyon University, and the Patriots from Dallas Baptist.

Anticipation was high as baseball aficionados eagerly awaited the first pitch between the Antelopes and the Wildcats on Friday. Many had predicted that the Tucson Regional, one of the 16 regional sites selected for the weekend, would be the most fiercely competitive.

Arizona (36-22) was ambushed again as the Wildcats' in-state rival, Grand Canyon, won 9-4. The Antelopes' pitching staff allowed seven hits, three runs in the second inning, and a lone run in the sixth. Arizona started its ace, Clark Candiotti. He lasted six innings and allowed four hits and five earned runs.

The Wildcats' run in the sixth would turn out to be their last run of the Tucson Regional.

The next day, Arizona lost 7-0 to Dallas Baptist. The Wildcats collected just five hits. They went quietly into the night and were eliminated from postseason play. 

West Virginia would beat GCU, 10-6, on Sunday to go 3-0, take the regional, and now head for the Super Regionals to face LSU or North Carolina.