Michael Oros tied the TCL record for starts in a season on Monday night
In the Victoria Generals three seasons in the Texas Collegiate League, only one name has stood the test of time: Michael Oros. Oros is the only player that has been with the club all three seasons. And in his final home start at Riverside Stadium in Victoria, he turned in his best performance in a Generals uniform.
Oros pitched eight innings on Monday night against the Alexandria Aces without allowing a run. He hardly even allowed a hit for that matter. Oros only gave up two base hits on the night as he struck out seven batters on his way to his third win of the season.
If it were not for the TCL's rule that states that no pitcher can start an inning with more than 100 pitches, Oros most likely would have thrown a complete game, which would have been his first ever. Oros threw 108 pitches on the night, 73 for strikes. Oros went back out to the mound to warm up for the ninth inning before Generals' head coach Ryan Wagner walked to the mound to take Oros out of the ballgame. Oros left to a standing ovation as the Generals' faithful honored their three-year veteran.
While Oros continued to put up zeros on the scoreboard all game long, the Generals offense did the exact opposite. The Generals scored runs in all but two innings during the game on their way to a 12-0 victory over the Aces.
In the bottom of the first inning, Chad Kruse scored on a bases loaded walk by Trace Knoblauch. Knoblauch, who played for the Generals last season in 2010, was making his first start of the summer for the club.
In the second inning, Cody Abraham drilled his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, over the right field fence to put the Generals ahead 3-0.
Freddy Villalobos then led off the third inning with a solo home run to left field. It was Villalobos's team-leading sixth home run of the season.
In the fourth, Cory Hunt doubled, stole third base, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0 Generals.
The Generals then tacked on six runs in the sixth inning. Cory Hunt and Jake Runte got things started with back-to-back doubles. After a single by Kruse, Villalobos doubled to the left-centerfield gap to score two runs. Ryan Dalton then drew a walk before Knoblauch hit a towering home run down the right field line that snuck just inside of the foul pole for a three-run shot.
The Generals final run of the ballgame came in the eighth inning when Brad Shankle was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Dalton.
Several Generals made impacts on the TCL record books during Monday night's game. Michael Oros tied the TCL single-season record for starts in a season as he made his 12th of the year. Chad Kruse, who broke the TCL record for hits in a season last week, added two more hits to up his total to 77 on the year. Kruse also now has 226 at bats on the season, which is also a TCL record. Freddy Villalobos now has 15 doubles on the year, which puts him tied for third place all-time in the category. The record is 17. Villalobos is now leading the league in RBIs at 38, just three shy of the record of 41 in a season.
With tonight's win over the Aces, the Generals pulled back even with the Brazos Valley Bombers in the standings as the Bombers lost to the East Texas Pump Jacks on Monday night. The Generals and Bombers are fighting for the fourth and final playoff spot in the TCL post-season. Both teams are now 27-29 overall with three games left to play
The Generals and Aces will meet again on Tuesday night in the Generals final home game of the regular season. The contest will start at 7:05pm at Riverside Stadium in Victoria.
The Generals will then head to Brazos Valley on Wednesday and Thursday nights to take on the Bombers in the final two games of the regular season.
If the Generals are able to clinch the fourth seed in the post-season, they will play the East Texas Pump Jacks in the first round of the playoffs. The Generals would host game one of the series on Friday night at Riverside Stadium at 7:05pm. Game two would be Saturday night in Kilgore and game three, if needed, would be in Kilgore as well on Sunday night.
Box Score:
http://tcl-generals.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=60637
Video:
http://crossroadstoday.com/Generals-Hosting-Aces/10573512
Article:
http://www.advosports.com/news/2011/aug/08/generals_080911_148317/
Video:
http://crossroadstoday.com/Generals-Talk-About-What-its-Going-to-Take-to-be-S/10545351
