Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Congrats to the Lexington Snipes and Buckley Dutch Masters of the Eastern Illinois Baseball League. They played well enough at the EI League Tournament this past weekend to advance to the final round.
They will face each other in a Best of Three round next weekend (Aug 9 and 10) for the Tournament Championship.
I have seen Buckley face Chambana and they are formidable adversaries. But this is baseball and anything can happen.
Good luck to both teams!
They say memory is the second thing to go.
When I was told about the Eastern Illinois League this spring, it didn’t ring a bell with me. It did sound interesting… a wood bat league that apparently has been around for quite a while. So, as avid readers know, I’ve been going to a good amount of Chambana games recently and enjoying it along the way.
Then today, Bob Swisher wrote an article in the local News Gazette about the history of the EI League (its history can be traced back to 1930) and mentions one of EI’s greats, Ehm Franzen.
Some EI unis on display at the exhibit last March
Ehm Franzen?? Then Boom! Bang! The circuits in my brain did a somersault when I realized that I’ve had a run-in with the EI League last year. Shawn Lee (of Vermilion Voles fame) and I went to a talk and exhibit at the Early American Museum in Mahomet that was entitled "A Whole ‘Nother Ball Game". While the focus was on the Three-I League (a different league all together), there were exhibits on the Eastern Illinois Baseball League being displayed.
Ehm Franzen
Even better, EI League great Ehm Franzen was in attendance at the talk. Shawn and I got a chance to talk to him afterwards and boy, he had some stories! He claimed to have faced Satchel Paige twice.
Here are photos I took last March from "A Whole ‘Nother Ball Game" Exhibit.
The Eastern Illinois Baseball League kicks off their weekend tournament with a Cash Bash tonight at 6pm at the Gifford Fall Festival Building in Gifford, Illinois.
Tomorrow, the tournament starts and goes through Sunday. Here is their schedule (all subject to change):
Saturday, August 2
At Buckley
Game 1 1:00 p.m. Paxton vs Effingham
Game 2 20 minutes following game 1
Buckley vs Central Angels
At Lexington
Game 3 1:00 p.m. Lexington vs Chambana
At Gifford
Game 4 1:00 p.m. Royal vs Gifford-Flatville
Sunday, August 3
At Buckley
Game 5 2:00 p.m. Winner game 1 vs Winner game 2
At Lexington (subject to change)
Game 6 2:00 p.m. Winner game 3 vs Winner game 4
FINAL– BEST OF 3 SERIES August 9 & 10
Winner of Game 5 vs Winner of Game 6
Game 1: 2:00 p.m. Saturday, August 9
At home of lowest seed
Game 2: 1:00 p.m. Sunday, August 10
At home of highest seed
Game 3 (if necessary) 20 minutes following completion of game 2
Check the EI League website for updated details.
Since I don’t drive, I doubt I’ll be able to make the trip up to Lexington as much as I’d like to. It sounds like a lot of fun.
Go Chambana!!!
Buckley starter Justin Schroeder pitched a complete game win in game 2.
When I got to McKinley Field today to watch Chambana today, the home team had the lead! That was something I hadn’t seen much of since I started following the Eastern Illinois Baseball League team.
Unfortunately, the lead didn’t last long. Their opponent, the Buckley DutchMasters, simply overpowered Chambana and came back from a 6-3 deficit to win Game 1 11-7.
As for Game 2, it was all Buckely and then some. Their offense was just too much for Chambana. By the time I left in the fourth inning, it was 12-2 and the rest of the game was superfluous. Congrats to Buckley’s Justin Schroeder for pitching a complete game win.
I did run into Robin, a friend of mine I knew from University of Illinois games. It was Robin who actually told me about the EI league and suggested I check it out. Turns out Buckley is his home team so he and I hung out during the games today.
Some photos:
The EI League has two things that University of Illinois baseball doesn’t. Wood bats and lots of dust.
A near collision in the infield. Buckley’s catcher made the play at first.
Buckley has a cowbell that travels with the fans and gets rung after every good play by their team.
I’m sure Chambana catcher Jake Mathis is saying something nice to the ump in this photo. Mathis was 5 for 7 for the day with 2 runs and 2 rbis.
Lots more photos in the Photo Gallery.
There’s a Chambana doubleheader at McKinley Field this afternoon. They’ll be taking on the Buckey Dutch Masters at 1pm. Buckley has sole possession of first place in the North Division of the Eastern Illinois Baseball League.
Chambana has dropped their last four games and fallen to last place in the South Division in the EI League. A doubleheader sweep would certainly help their situation.
Come on out for some baseball. I’ll be there.
The EI League is a wood bat league.
Today, I made my way over to Champaign to catch EI League baseball action. The EI (Eastern Illinois) League is a wood bat league which has mostly college or college-age players.
I made my way to McKinley Field. the home field of Champaign Central High School’s baseball team as well as EI’s Chambana team. Chambana was hosting Effingham today for a doubleheader. This was my first EI Baseball League so I was coming not knowing a whole lot about the players, teams or the league.
Kyle Wilson pitched 6 shutout innings for Effingham in Game 1
Someone did tell me that Effingham was at the bottom of their division. Boy, you wouldn’t know it by the way they played today. Behind the pitching of Kyle Wilson, they cruised to a 10-0 victory in the first game. The game was called after seven innings because of a 10-run rule, it was explained to me.
Wilson also managed to strike out 10 Chambana batters.
Manager Bruce Barber having a chat with the ump
Frustrations were running high in the Chambana dugout, it would appear. Manager Bruce Barber came out early in the game to argue about what he felt was a baserunning error by Effingham’s pinchrunner. Towards the end of the game when the score and pretty much everything else was getting out of hand, batter Drake Wallace argued with the home plate ump on a called strike. Obviously, they didn’t see eye to eye and words were exchanged. Wallace went back to the dugout and still more words were exchanged. Words I can’t really write here. Let’s just say he wanted the ump to kiss him… but not on mouth.
Well, needless to say, he got ejected. Then out comes Manager Bruce Barber with a song and dance about the ump not hearing him correctly (something about rabbit-ears) and it wasn’t long before Barber gets the thumb too.
A guy I was watching the game with said he thought Barber was just trying get the rest of team pumped up since they were down 8-0 at that point.
Chambana Game 2 starter Matt Miller
Game Two’s starter for Chambana was Matt Miller. Miller was practically a walk-on for today’s game, according to his father. Interestingly, the last league Miller pitched for was the Chicago Suburban Baseball League. The CSBL is a popular league for Illini players (this year, we have two playing there).
Unfortunately, for Chambana, Effingham played not like a last place team but a team on the rise. They defeated Chambana 13-3 with Ryan Bradley getting the win.