Kalamazoo Kings Season Recap

September 16, 2009 - Frontier League (FL)
Kalamazoo Kings News Release


The Kalamazoo Kings finished their ninth Frontier League season on Monday September 14th when they were defeated at home in Game 5 of their first round playoff series against the Lake Erie Crushers.

Throughout the regular season, the Kings were one of the most consistent teams in the Frontier League. They were never too high or too low, never winning or losing more than six games in a row. This helped them achieve a League best record of 58-38, win their second straight East Division Championship, and have nine All-Stars.

The team mainly relied on its pitching staff to navigate its season, finishing with the League's best team ERA of 4.18. The staff also stepped up on the road, finishing with the League's best team ERA on the road of 3.77. Staff ace John Brownell followed up his breakthrough 2008 season with another top level performance in 2009. John won 11 games again (5th best) this year while increasing his innings pitched and strikeouts as well as lowering his ERA (3.48, 6th best), batting average against, and home runs allowed. The staff also had two eight game winners in Dan Baerlocher and Joe DiPietro and six of the eleven pitchers on the staff had ERA's under four.

The offense was balanced and incredibly adept at timely hitting. Led by All Star 2B Joe Ramos, the team had six regular players hit .280 or better and four players hit 12 or more homeruns. Ramos finished the season with another great all-around year as he had a .315 average while leading the team in games played, hits, runs scored, and RBI. As starters in center, right, and behind the plate went down with injuries, replacements stepped up and seized their opportunity by hitting a combined .315 with an All Star nomination for Catcher Jett Ruiz and a near batting title for OF Josh Short.

As with any baseball season there are many quirks and interesting nights at the ballpark. Due to a three hour rain delay, one game in late May did not start until 10:05pm and finished at 1:00am with roughly a dozen fans left in the stadium. About a week later, one of the greatest ninth innings in baseball history was played. The Kings entered the ninth inning with a 5-1 lead, then saw the Southern Illinois Miners score 10 runs to take an 11-5 lead. However, the Kings stormed back with an 8 run inning of their own which climaxed with a 2 run walk off homerun by Jett Ruiz for a 13-11 win. This was the first of what turned out to be ten walk off wins for the Kings.

2010 looks just as bright for the Kings as they will bring back at least seven of their nine everyday players, potentially all five starting pitchers and their closer.



Frontier League Stories from September 16, 2009


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