The word of the day was "$hit" as we hear it jokingly throughout the 1st game after Moore ends the inning on the base paths after knocking in our 1st run with a double, McClung doing the same after knocking in another in the 2nd and then Derek Williams getting plunked for the 2nd consecutive time in the 4th.   We then could probably be heard uttering even worse expletives after the day was done as we score 20 runs in Game 1 for an easy victory (Final:  20-2), but give up 22 in the night cap (11-22).   The only team that beat us through the regular season remains the only team to beat us all year, but they do it twice throughout the tourney to knock us out of the loser bracket finals.

We score 8 in the 2nd inning of Game 1 highlighted by Derek Williams' line drive out of yard.   6 more in the 3rd and 5 in the 4th (McClung HR) to finish Game 1 in 5 innings.   Kraus gets his 1st start of the season and earns the Win.   Lewis cleans up in the 5th helping himself with a barehand snag of a toss to 1st to get their speedy lead-off man.

Moore (2009 Meridians Silver Slugger), Parkhurst and Boster (NKU) on base all 4 times scoring 8 of our runs.   Reese, McClung and Soto with 3 hits each.   Multi-hit game for Moore, Cutter and Lewis.   Moore and Boster with 3 runs each.   Reese, McClung, Cutter, Parkhurst, Lewis, Williams and Soto with 2 runs each as well.

We see some of the best pitching all year in Game 2.   The same pitcher who beat us last weekend, but with even better stuff this go-around.   We touch him up for our 11 runs when it's all said and done, but we see 22 cross the plate against us.   All hands on the mound as Jones, Reese and Moore try to stop the bleeding.   We don't help ourselves with some early errors and a mis-matched infield, but still get web gems from Reese at short with a barehand grab and toss on a high, infield chopper while also starting a double play by himself later in the game.   Cutter covers a lot of ground for a ball in right center early in the evening and then again into foul ground in Game 2.   Kraus ends an inning with a diving snag in front of him in left field as well.

Derek Williams leads the way in Game 2 with 2 2Bs (on base all 4 times) and 2 runs.  

Lewis with 2 hits & 2 runs and Boster with 2 runs.

Meridians finish with a 20-3 record as the NKABL Regular Season Champions (17-1), but only go 3-2 in the tournament to end the season on a down note.   Great additions up & down the roster with the return of Chuck Moore (missing since '06), newcomers Tyler Fugate and Chris Wood (Wooster), Ryan Williams full-time this year and RJ (Kentucky State), Derek Reese, James Jones (UC), Stephen Boster and Conor Thomas.

2009: Chuck Moore

Chuck makes a triumphant return to the Meridians in 2009 leading the offense with 3 games on-base after all 4 plate appearances and on-base 3 times in 2 more games.   Moore also led the squad with 6 home runs (including 1 inside-the-parker) and with those, total distance accumulated in baseball traveling distance as most of his bombs journeyed deep into any unfortunate trees that were in the way.

2008: Kevin McClung
2007: Jack Parkhurst
2006: Jim Rack (Summer) and Mike Soto (Fall)
2005: Scott Bush & Jared Cutter (Summer) and K.C. Fread (Fall)
2004: Blain Williams (Summer) and Scott Bush (Fall)
2003: Kevin McClung
2002: Jim Rack

Tyler Fugate (Wooster):  8-0,       Blain Williams:  4-1, Save

Derek Reese:  2-1, Save                Justin Kraus:  1-0

Conor Thomas:  1-0                       Daron Williams:  1-0

Chuck Moore:  Save       Phil Pratt:  1-0       Tedd Schaffer:  1-0       

2009 Meridians Bombers

Chuck Moore (6 includes 1 inside-the-park), Blain Williams (4), Phil Pratt (2)

Ryan Williams (2), Mike Soto (2), Derek Williams (2), Kevin McClung (2)

Bradley Younger (1), Chris Wood (1)

Meridians end up with a 1st round game after all until the call comes Saturday morning that the team that afternoon won't have the players.  We move into Sunday then expecting to see C. White Tile even though they're the #2 seed.  We took the season series (2-1) from them, but the team that beat us in late July is the one that showed up.  They didn't hit quite as well as they did then and we didn't play as quite as poorly as we did then either, but the result (4-10) was the same and we get sent to the loser's bracket.   We bounce right back though and take care of an assembly of Joe's Crab Shack and C. White Tile players in 5 innings (10-0).

Reese goes all 7 innings in Game 1 trying to repeat his victory over the same team earlier in August.   Blain goes the 5 innings for the Win in Game 2.   Moore loses his chance to toss again, this time by a McClung walk-off bomb down the line into the playground to invoke the 10-run rule in Game 2.

Blain with 2 runs and 2 doubles (he thought he parked one of them) and McClung with 2 hits and a run in Game 1.   A great attempt by Blain in left center and then the throw from Moore and relay by McClung to get a runner at the plate.   Great snag and tag by Derek Williams who caught all 12 innings.

McClung leads the way in Game 2 with 3 hits, 3 RBI and 3 runs.   Moore with 2 runs including an inside-the-park HR.   RJ with a multi-hit game as well.   Derek Williams with a triple.   Moore and Fread with 2 RBI each.

We send Ryan Williams back to Kentucky State for his Senior season after this regular season finale.   We would love having our lead-off hitter and most dominant pitcher (Fugate - Wooster) for the tournament, but they did their parts in ensuring us our #1 seed going in to the tourney.

Their lefty gifts us 6 walks through two innings and we cruise, scoring 6 runs in the 1st.   Reese gets the Win going 4 innings with 7 K's while helping himself by going 3-3 with 3 runs and 2 stolen bases, all on a bad hammy.   Kraus wraps up the top of 5th before we finish it in the bottom half (Final:  14-4).

Every Meridian hits.   Kraus with 2 BBs, Fread on base all 4 times (H, 2 BBs, HBP).   Cutter (2-3) and Parkhurst (1-2) with 3 RBI each.   Kraus, Lewis, Fread and Moore with 2 runs scored each.   Parkhurst with the game-ending Sac fly that Moore (2 RBI himself) considered sand-bagging in order to be able to hit the mound.

Meridians are NKABL Regular Season Champions finishing league play at 17-1!

Late field change finds us thankfully at newly-renovated Brandon Phillips Field as oppososed to Covington #5 for this make-up match.   Fugate's Meridians finale finds him with 9 K's through just 5 innings earning him his 8-0 record through the summer season.   Blain tosses the final two despite a hurting wing.

Parkhurst colors in the scorebook even more to make sure I didn't miss his 4 RBIs as he goes 2-3 including a Sac fly and an RBI groundout.   Blain contacts NASA in the 4th inning to let them know that a MacGregor baseball was being put into orbit with his 3-run tater.   Cutter makes another cameo and knocks in our 1st of 10 runs on the night and is on base all night with another knock and 2 BBs.   RJ almost goes yard in the 1st smacking the top of the fence (2 hits, 2 runs).   Derek Williams on base 3 times with an RBI.   Stolen bases for Ryan, RJ and Cutter.

Final:  10-7 after getting in a very dark 7th inning.   NKABL regular season wraps up with a final tune-up Saturday evening.   Thanks go out to the Clark Montessori head coach and volunteers to get Brandon Phillips Field in great shape for the game as well as the Kentucky umpires making the trek northward as well.

Derek Reese finally gets a start on the hill after several threats throughout the summer.   Reese scatters 4 hits across 4 innings and then gives way to Chuck Moore for his first appearance on the mound since '06.  He works a perfect 5th with 3 K's as we run away with this one (Final:  13-2 in 5 innings.).   Great bounce back back against the only team that has beat us this year.  Even though we already had the #1 seed in the league tournament locked up, it was good get a quick win from our only blemish this season and we get to do it again this Thursday.

Reese helps himself with 3 hits (line drive screamers in the scorebook) and 3 runs scored to lead the way.   McClung with 2 RBI, 2 runs - Moore with 2 runs and RJ with 2 hits.   Derek Williams with 2 hits and 2 RBI.   Parkhurst was robbed of a 2nd hit by a great play up the middle, but got 2 RBI by cranking a double down the line in the 1st.   Reese, McClung, Moore, Derek Williams and Ryan Williams each swipe a bag although D. Williams should have been out before he even slid.

We go down easily right away in the top of the 1st with a good pitcher on the mound and then they push 2 runs across in the bottom half, but Blain Williams wakes us all up with a laser over the right-centerfield fence that got out very quickly.   Moore scores on that after a HBP and then comes through with a big 2-out, 2-RBI base hit in the 3rd after they force 2 more across.   Blain holds them there through the 6th and then helps himself again launching the game winner to right-center again (very high, but not too high as it gets lost midway up the tree line).   Reese comes in for the Save.

Two double plays (always tough on Meinken's infield) started by Fread and Ryan Williams with turns by McClung and Ryan.   Soto takes one off the glove, wrist and face, but gets the put out.   2 hits for Ryan and 2 BBs for Derek Williams.   Best contest of the year so far in the NKABL as the Meridians move to 14-1.

Meridians reach the 100 win mark!   A great maiden voyage in the NKABL sees us at 13-1 after our first August game (8/2) of the summer.   After a rain-shortened 2007 season (5 games played), the Meridians get back to it in 2008 and then dominate most of 2009 so far in the new league.

With a shutout and enforcing the 10-run rule in the same game, the Meridians reach 75 wins in the final game (10/15) of the 2006 season.   We play in only 1 tournament and average less than 20 league games per year so a good feat in 5 short seasons.

5/29/05: With a 2-1 victory over the Hilltoppers on our Opening Day (5/22) and sweeping the Outlaws the next weekend (5/29), the Meridians hit 50 wins early in the 2005 season.

We haven't seen them since May, but for some reason we struggle a bit against this squad (their "pitching" induces 9 Meridians pop-outs).   A 1-1 tie gets broken up by big base knocks from Blain Williams and Moore in the 4th.  Just like our first meeting - we let them score a few in the last inning, but after Moore's 2-run launch in the top of the 7th - there wasn't much to worry about.   Final:  7-3.

Fugate goes all 7 for the Win.   Conor Thomas sees his first plate appearance since the summer before college and tries to stretch it into a double (but we told him to go though...) and then gets plunked next time up.   Multi-hit days for Ryan, Chuck and Ralph - 2 runs each from Blain and Chuck.   Ryan and Blain both barrel roll into 2nd base before RJ figures out to slide around the crater there.   Lewis tries to get picked off/doubled up about 4 times, but smiles his way out of it each time.

Moore keeps bringing the 1st base mitt (just in case) and does a great job with a leaping snag on a liner and a good dig from across the diamond.   Derek tries to put a hole through RJ at 3rd guiding missiles down there including after the 3rd out of an inning.   Great job on getting things started with coach delayed (thanks Kraus)!

Ryan Williams leads off the game with home run to straight away center as we get 2 in the first and 2 in the 2nd before running away with it adding 6 in the 6th (1 in the 4th as well).   Tyler Fugate comes back very strong after 2 weeks off and goes the distance.  Our scorebook error lets us play all 7 innings as Tyler only gives up 1 run (Final 11-1).   Great bounce back after Saturday's first loss for us.   Chris Wood joins the bash party with a solo shot in the 4th and after a laser double in the 5th, Chuck Moore comes into dugout and calls his shot that he delivers in the 6th up in the trees in right center.

Wood with 3 hits and 3 runs including a HR, Ryan Williams with 2 hits including a HR and 2 runs.   Reese, Ehrhardt (2 runs) and Moore with multi-hit days.   Great diving attempt and crazy throw from R. Williams at short and a great diving attempt in right center from Wood.  Double play up the middle slowed down by Fugate with Ehrhardt and then Ryan on the turn.   Great stretches at 1st by Reese on the first play of the game from Soto's backhanded play down the 3rd base line and an Ehrhardt backhand up the middle.

Every Meridian hits again as we finish it up in 5 innings (Final:  11-0).   Fugate dominates again allowing only 1 (infield) hit while striking out 8 in 4 innings.   Conor makes his return and works the 5th coaxing a double play.

Reese leads the way with 3 knocks (2 with a strained hamstring), scoring 3 times and on-base all 4 times.   Moore, Ryan Williams (both on-base 3 times) and Fugate with multi-hit days as well.   Ryan stretches just enough for his triple while both Fugate and Kraus (2 BBs) score twice each.   Fugate steals two bags and Kraus even steals one!   Ryan, Parkhurst and Lewis each with 2 RBI on the day.   Reese, Ryan, Moore and Parkhurst all take balls to the outfield wall.

Even for the NKABL, this was one of the widest strike zones ever known to mankind, and yet somehow we still earn 7 walks.   Parkhurst gets hit by a pitch with blood to prove it and almost gets rung up anyway.   Field umpire laughs right along with us watching the strike zone get abused with bouncing strikes and lost balls.

The rains don't pound the field enough to keep us from playing and all the guys make their way to the park through the local downpours including the Williams brothers battery all the way from Wilmington.   Blain tosses a beauty as he only allows 4 hits and we give him plenty of support.  The biggest backing didn't come from the usual suspects of Moore, McClung and B. Williams as the 3 bombs come from Ryan Williams, Soto and Younger.   Each of them go yard for the first time this season with Ryan saying it was his 1st home run ever.  (He then tries to steal the team doughnut after the game.)

All 10 Meridians hit with R. Williams, Moore and Soto each collecting 3 hits a piece.   McClung, D. Williams and Lewis have multi-hit days with R. Williams, McClung, Moore, D. Williams, Parkhurst, Soto and Younger each scoring twice.

Great play up the middle by McClung on the only ball hit to him all day.  We see more shorts working their way into our opposition's uniform assortments with the ultimate in right field for them in both shorts and a muscle shirt.   This kid Blain buckles twice during the same pitch.   Moore wasn't satisfied with being on base 4 times so in his spare time he takes out the back window of the resident umpire's car with a foul ball.  Moore then gets tossed in the top of the 6th inning for his actions (we only played 5...).   Final:  17-2

Daron Williams makes an '09 cameo just days before he ships out to Iraq on July 5th.   The Meridians' #2 Starter from 2008 enlisted last fall and will be serving a one-year tour training the Iraqi Police as an MP.  We wish Daron the best on his adventure and we were glad to have the 3 Williams brothers on the field at the same time once this year.

Not getting much work in during basic and his initial service in Hawaii, Daron comes out a bit rusty and one run does come across against us, but no more as he works hard through 6 innings.   Big brother Blain closes the door in the 7th.

We start our scoring in the 2nd despite hard-hit balls in the 1st by Fread and Moore.   Lead-off walks come around to score on knocks by Derek Williams, Chris Wood (1st Meridians' hit), Coutre (2 hits, from Kraus' Wed. night team) and Blain Williams.   The 3rd starts off with some early fireworks as Chuck Moore loses one in the trees well past the centerfield fence.   Blain (2 hits) follows suit in the 4th with a laser in the same direction for his 1st home run of '09.   Younger brother Derek (2 hits, 2 runs) follows with a moon shot of his own to left in the 5th (his 1st '09 bomb).

Every Meridian has a hit or a walk - B. Williams, Fread, Moore, Cutter and Wood with both.

Meridians move to 9-0 in league play with the 9-1 final.

But I guess we all don't wear pants...   We see both the starting pitcher and closer toe the hill sporting shorts in this one, but they also show us the best competition in the NKABL so far with their pitching and hitting.   Tyler earns his toughest Win of the year going all 7 innings and helping himself with a 2-out, 2-run triple in the 3rd.

McClung tries to get the scoring started in the first off of Derek Williams' shot through the middle, but is cut down at the plate.  We do get the tally started in the 2nd though with a 2-out double by Soto, BB by Ryan Williams and 2-run triple by RJ.

The flood gates open in the 3rd then as they come by way of the infield sprinklers which felt great at first, but then hosed down our dugout before they were turned off.   Everyone quickly decides to play through it though and we again find 2-outs to our liking.   Tyler's triple scores Moore (on base 3 times) and D. Williams (ditto) followed by a Soto single, 4 BBs and 2 HBPs to see the Meridians cross the plate 7 more times.

McClung is on base all 4 times, Soto with 3 hits and R. Wiiliams with 2 key, 2-out walks as both he and Soto score twice each.   Smooth 5-4-3 double play from RJ through Ryan and a great effort in center from Wood (Wooster) who almost comes up with a great, diving catch (I thought the ground couldn't cause a fumble...).

Soto, McClung and R. Williams each get a knock off of Derrik Moeves (mavis), released last March from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and career strikeouts leader at NKU (259).   Moeves (fastball in the high 80s that you could hear from the dugout) strikes out 8 in his 3 innings of work, but yes - he was other one wearing shorts...   Final: 9-6 and the Meridians move to 8-0 in the NKABL.

After starting recruiting on Thursday, we finally find 9 at the yard for a double dip Saturday night.   We get 2 outs right away in the 1st, but are then gifted a few baserunners followed by a couple of knocks to hit through the order in the top of 1.   Fugate was very stingy all day and the only worry was how long he was sitting down in between innings as we follow-up a 5-run 1st with a 7-run 2nd.   Very sloppy play on their end turned this one into a laugher very quickly.   4 more in the 3rd, a quiet 4th, but then 8 more in the 5th.   We finish in 5 innings with a score of 24-1.

Fugate dominates again while working his slider on all counts along with old #1 and his curve (unfair).   4 runs each by Lewis, Cutter and Soto - 4 hits by Soto after switching to wood (along with Tedd Schaffer) after their 1st two at-bats, 3 hits by Lewis and multi-hit game for Ryan, Jack, Tedd, Tyler and RJ.

Game 2 was back to good baseball with a much-improved NKy Mavericks squad.   Fugate comes up big with 2 of of his 3, 2-out RBI knocks on the day to get our first runs in the nightcap.   Game 2 slated starter can't make it so the Schaffer cameo continues as he fills in nicely going the full 7 innings for the Win.   Fugate with 2 runs, 2 hits - Ryan, Jack and RJ (3 hits, 2 runs - great pick-up Ryan!) also have multi-hit Game 2's (Final 9-3).

Web gem to Weinewuth (borrowed fron the Hobbs' Yankees) on the bare-hand bunt pick-up and toss with Schaffer nabbing a comebacker and Lewis coming in hard for a few in center.   Soto catches all 12 innings (and then another 7 for the Hobbs game the next morning).

Phil asks for a "real" baseball and then proceeds to put it out (opposite field no less) in his last game with the Meridians.   As Phil heads southeast to North Carolina (southern Virginia is his home) for a greener employment opportunity, the Meridians extend their winning streak in the NKABL (5-0).

Conor Thomas stifles the opposition with slow curve balls and then proceeds to throw them even slower getting the Win in the rain-shortened 5 inning contest (9-2).   We score 7 in the first and cruise from there until Meinken Field washes into our dugout and finds Phil's returned jersey in its muddy current for a moment.

Pratt scores 2 runs including the one all by himself, Fugate makes his hitting debut with 2 hits & 2 runs while Fread keeps his hot bat cooking with a multi-hit day as well.

Meridians see a pitching change before our 1st hitter in the top of the first, but get the scoring started right away despite the distraction.   Only 2 runs in the 1st and 2 in the 2nd keep it closer than we wanted, but the game was never in question with Fugate throwing 4 strong innings, 2 by Thomas and the capper by Reese.   Ryan Williams (3), Blain Williams (3, with a triple & 2 doubles), Soto, Derek Williams & Derek Reese with multi-hit days while Fread tries to put a hole through their left fielder with two shots right at him.   2 runs scored each by Ryan and each of the Dereks.  

Fugate takes a comebacker off the shin, but makes the play and finishes the inning.   Ryan takes a bad hop with his bare hand for a play and D. Williams barehands a foul off the backstop over his head without moving an inch.   Pratt cuts down another runner at the plate with a relay by Reese and Blain goes "Statue of Liberty" for a long shot into center.

Meridians' debuts of Tyler Fugate and Conor Thomas lead a squad of 14 to victory.   Fugate dominates 4 scoreless inninngs followed by 2 by Thomas before we get a bit sloppy in the 7th allowing all of their runs (Final:  7-4).   Fread & McClung with 2 hits and 2 runs each, Parkhurst with 2 hits.

Update:   With the win, the Meridians take sole possession of 1st place in the NKABL (3-0).

Meridians call in most of the rest of the roster for the Memorial weekend game and see hot bats right away.   I turned in a score of 13-9, but it might have been 16 actually.   Great start to the season and on the hill for Blain Williams who gets the Win with Derek Reese making his Meridians debut getting the 3 inning Save.   Both help their own causes with multi-hit days along with Moore (3 with 2 HR & HBP), Parkhurst (4, taking bases at will and forcing two plays at the plate), Soto, D. Wiiliams and Clim.

Offensive highlights were Moore's two moon shots and Pratt's bomb.   Both hit their first Meridians' home runs after each having a season each of wood bat play with us under them.   Pratt didn't even "get" his, but still got it out easily and Moore's 2nd shot had both 1st class and coach passengers on it.

We get sloppy in the middle and at the end of the game giving up some runs, but a web gem in the shortstop hole by Ryan Wiiliams with a diving snare and throw.   Pratt plays 3 positions, but finds himself in right field in time for a perfect throw to cut down a runner at home.

Meridians scramble to start the season a little earlier than expected in new league.   We go in with no healthy pitchers, but a willing thrower in Pratt with a winter season of rest.   Phil tosses his arm off in an excellent effort as the Meridians are gifted 5 runs in the 1st and add 9 more wrapping it up in 6 innings (going with their book's final of 14-4).   McClung, Pratt and Clim score twice each with lasers off the metal bats of McClung and Yokley in particular (they both also picked off a runner each on the basepaths).   Fread and Clim each walk twice and McClung knuckles his way through the final inning.

The Meridians welcome its newest team member, Ava Grace McClung, who was 2 months old on our 2009 Opening Day!

Ralph Lewis represented the Meridians by himself this year along with some of the Murfreesboro Mudcats and some new characters to get to the Championship game only to see it washed out after 1 inning.

Members of Meridians with Mid-South Blues are 2008 Bama Bash Champions!

3 members of the Meridians (Mike Soto, Jack Parkhurst & Ralph Lewis) come back as champions as the Mid-South Blues win the (Birmingham) Bama Bash 35+ conference for the second straight year!   Lewis led the Meridians' contingent with a .529 average and Soto came in at an even .400 (both in the top 4 for the team).  Parkhurst makes his '08 debut on the mound.   5 games in the last 24 hours of the weekend (5/2 - 5/4).   Soto (as a 33 year-old age exception) scores the championship run in walk-off fashion from the bat of Brian Lee (also hit an even .400).   Lee, along with other current/former Murfreesboro Mudcats Soto, Lewis, Delbert Cagle, Edwin Magras and a local Birmingham contingent help form the Blues tournament team out of Memphis, TN.   Soto (2nd in back), Lee (last in front) and Cagle (4th in back) also 2007 Roy Hobbs World Series champions in picture on Meridians News page.