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United League Baseball All-Star game just around the corner

June 27, 2006 - United League Baseball (ULB) News Release


As the United League Baseball season nears its halfway point, it can mean only one thing, the league's All-Star game is just around the corner.

Voting is presently under way for the game, to be played at Edinburg on Wednesday, July 12.

The game will pit the first place Edinburg Coyotes facing the rest of the league -- the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings, the Laredo Broncos, the San Angelo Colts, the Amarillo Dillas and the Alexandria Aces.

"There will be many other activities surrounding the All-Star game, beginning on Tuesday, July 11," promises Byron Pierce, the league's chief operating officer. More on this in next week's column.

They're back -- the ULB leading Edinburg Coyotes, after losing four games, came back to win five in a row, including sweeping a three-game series with second-place San Angelo's Colts.

A couple of those comeback wins were by one run, one against the Colts and one against the Laredo Broncos.

The Broncos stopped the Coyotes Saturday night, 6-3 to break the winning spree, but the Coyotes won Sunday, 7-6.

Meanwhile, the hard-hitting Colts and the equally hard-hitting Alexandria Aces had a tough series. With the teams deadlocked for second place, the Colts won the first two games (Friday and Saturday), both by coming from behind in the ninth inning, then took the third game (Sunday), 4-2.

In the first game, the Colts, down 9-6 going into the bottom of the ninth, rallied and iced the game on a home run by Jason Crosland, to win by 10-9. Then in the second game, on Saturday, the Colts again came from behind in the ninth to win 5-4.

In the last 10 games, ending Sunday, the Coyotes, the Amarillo Dillas and San Angelo were 6-4 and Alexandria was 5-5 and the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings and the Laredo Broncos were each 3-7.

One thing is certain from the play by the six teams is that they are balancing out well after the Coyotes took off early in the season with 17 wins before getting beaten by the Colts.

The WhiteWings were the only club that had not defeated the Coyotes, going into their game on Monday (June 26). They finally pulled it off by a 9-3 score.

San Angelo's dynamic duo - Kevin Bass and John Anderson, continue to lead the league in hitting. Bass has a .400 batting average, while Anderson, whose 31-consecutive games hitting streak set a record for independent leagues, is hitting .372.

That was quite a feat. Anderson had at least one hit in every game the Colts played through the first 31 games. The previous record was 30 games, set by three players, Michael Robertson of River City, Frontier League in 2001; Mike Galloway, Florence of the Frontier League, 2005; and Desi Wilson, Surprise, Ariz., Golden League, in 2005.

Amarillo's Carlos Figueroa is third (.371), Keto Anderson of Alexandria is fourth (.364) and Edinburg's Eddie Lara is fifth (.348.

Others in the top 10 (minimum of 94 plate appearances) are Edward Maldonado, Laredo, .347; Jose Salas, Laredo, .344; Luis Guance, Alexandria, .328; Adam Bonner, Alexandria, .323; and Bryce Morris, .320.

The Coyotes have shown that pitching wins lots of ballgames, with three players among the five lowest in ERA averages. The top five are (minimum of 28 innings) Kip Pridgen, San Angelo, 1.57, 0-0; Julio Ruiz, Edinburg, 1.93, 4-0; Fontello Jones, Alexandria, 2.40, 5-0; Meomar Flores, Edinburg, 2.98, 5-0; and Eric Montoya, Edinburg, 3.22, 5-1.

San Angelo's Jason Crosland leads the ULB in home runs with 13 and with RBIs, 41. Other home run hitters include Jose OLmeda of Edinburg, Brian Baker, San Angelo, each with 10 and WhiteWings' Antoin Gray, with eight.

Other players leading with RBIs are Erick Mejia, Edinburg, 38; Gray, 34 and Baker, 33.

Teamwise, Alexandria was edging San Angelo in hitting, .300 to .299; Edinburg is third at .287; followed by Amarillo, .279; Rio Grande Valley, .275 and Laredo, .253.

Be sure to attend some of these ballgames, it's good baseball, good entertainment and good prices. You won't be sorry.

Jerry Deal is director of Media Relations for the United League Baseball. He can be contacted at dealhrlngn@aol.com.



United League Baseball Stories from June 27, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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