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8/1: CNV 4 @ LAX 1 - Benson gave up 4 runs in 6.1 IP in a losing performance. Avila was 2-4 and scored the only run. Ward was 2-3.
8/2: LAX 4 @ BLM 7 - Saunders gave up 6 ER and lasted only 3 innings, taking a loss. Ward was 3-3, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R. Mullins was 2-3 and scored once.
8/3:LAX 11 @ BLM 5 - Martinez sort of struggled, for his standards at least, giving up 4 in 6 innings, but still got the win. Ward homered again, and Avila was 2-5 with 2 runs scored.
8/4: SPR 7 @ LAX 6 - Stritch gave up 7 runs in 6.2 innings. Sharpe was 2-3, scored 2 runs, and had 2 SB's. Rookie catcher and recent call-up Ken McCord went 2-4, HR in his first game.
8/5: SPR 4 @ LAX 0 - Mack had a quality start, giving up 3 ER in 6 IP. Jose Avila was 1-3, but that was our only hit of the game.
8/6: LAX 4 @ IND 2 - Benson got the win, giving up 2 ER in 5 innings. Josh Howard went 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R.
8/7: LAX 7 @ IND 9 - *sigh*... Saunders gave up 6 earned in 4.2 innings. Ward was 3-4, with a HR, RBI, and R. Mullins was 1-3 and scored twice.
8/8: ROC 2 @ LAX 6 - Thank GOD for Javier Martinez. He went 8 IP and gave up 2 runs, striking out 11. Ward was 3-4 and homered twice against his former team, with 4 RBI and 2 R.
8/9: ROC 0 @ LAX 5 - Stritch came through with a well timed shutout! He gave up 0 runs in 8 IP. Avila was 2-4, and had 4 RBI with a run scored. Barnes was 2-3 and scored.
8/11: DAV 4 @ LAX 8 - Roy Mack is now 6-4 after giving up only 2 runs in 6.2 innings. Sharpe was 2-3, scored 3 R, and had 1 SB. Barnes was 4-4, homered, and had a whopping 7 RBI!
8/12: DAV 3 @ LAX 11 - Benson pitched in with a QS, giving up 3 runs over 7 innings. Villa was 3-5, HR, RBI, 3 R, and Avila was 3-4, HR, 3 RBI, 3 R.
8/13: LAX 1 @ WAT 0 - Saunders pitched 6 shutout innings, and got his 7th win. Dennis Phillips was 3-4, and scored a run in the 1st, which was the only run of the game.
8/14: LAX 6 @ WAT 9 - Martinez gave up 7 runs, only 4 earned, in 5.1 innings. He was handed his 3rd loss of the year. Barnes was 2-4 and scored twice, and Phillips hit a 3 run homer.
8/15: EVN 9 @ LAX 2 - Stritch gave up 5 in only 3 innings of work. We had two hits... one was a Ward homer, the other was a RBI single by MR Jesus Portillo.
8/16: EVN 0 @ LAX 3 - Mack has pitched well this month, and had a 7 inning, 2 hit shutout today. He struck out 10. Sharpe was 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R.


La Crosse has had an up and down August so far, but ultimately ended up exactly where they started, 5 games back of St.Cloud. Eau Claire and Appleton have gained a good amount of ground, and could kick La Crosse right out of the playoffs if they don't play well. The Crusaders have a huge series coming up on the 17th and 18th at the Chargers. These two games could very well decide the division. If La Crosse sweeps, they're in a good spot to overcome St. Cloud and take over first. If they get swept, it could throw them out of the playoffs entirely.

Javier Martinez has started to come down to Earth after an incredible first half of the year. He now stands at 13-3 with a 2.51 ERA. The rest of the starting staff has been pretty bad, although Roy Mack is having an excellent August, posting three straight quality starts in the month. Dave LaBelle has brought his ERA down to 3.62 with the Crusaders. Rusty Daniels is still perfect on saves, now 28/28. He has fallen to tied for 3rd in the league in saves, though.

Steve Ward has continued to be a huge force in La Crosse's lineup, and is now hitting .333 with 35 HR and 90 RBI on the year. Jose Avila has been quietly having a good year, and is hitting .278 with 42 RBI. The Crusaders' promising future catcher, 21 year old Ken McCord(60/71), was called up on July 28th. He's only played in 3 games in the UBL, but is 3-7, with a HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, and 2 BB. In his All-Star season at AAA Oakville, McCord hit .310 with 32 HR, 97 RBI, and struck out 25% of the time in 100 games. His power ability is promising though, and he's an average defensive catcher.

Evansville has surged into a tie for first with Springfield in the South Division. Those two will have to fight it out for a chance to get a first round bye in round 1 of the playoffs. Bloomington and Independence are still in contention for the 3rd spot. Bloomington has been hot lately though, so Indy may have trouble keeping up. Fishers is playing themselves right out of the hunt.

8/17: LAX 1 @ STC 5 - A big 4 run 8th inning by St. Cloud put the game out of reach. Benson started and gave up 1 run in 5.2 innings. Barnes's solo HR was the only run.
8/18: LAX 2 @ STC 7 - Saunders struggled, giving up 5 ER in 3.2 IP. Offensively, Barnes was 2-4 and knocked in a run. Getting swept by the Chargers isn't cool.
8/19: JEF 3 @ LAX 2 - Martinez only gave up 3 ER in his 6 innings, a quality start, but he was still the losing pitcher. Hugh Kimball was 2-2 after subbing in at 2B for Avila in the 4th.
8/20: JEF 2 @ LAX 3 - Stritch brought his A-game, and gave up only 2 ER in 8 innings. Avila was 1-3 with a 2 run HR.
8/21: LAX 4 @ FSH 6 - Mack gave up 5 ER in 4 IP, and it was too much for the struggling offense to overcome. Ward was 2-4, solo HR, and Howard was 2-4, R.
8/22: LAX 5 @ FSH 8 - Benson gave up 6 in his 5 innings, which was again, too much. La Crosse seems to be falling apart down the stretch.
8/24: AUR 5 @ LAX 10 - Saunders got the win, going 7.1 innings and giving up 4. Phillips, Howard, and Mullins all had 2 RBI. Danny Sharpe scored 2 runs.
8/25: AUR 2 @ LAX 3 - Martinez got back to his winning ways, giving up 2 runs in 7 innings. Steve Ward was 2-3, 3 RBI, including a 2 run go-ahead homer in the 7th.
8/26: FTW 3 @ LAX 4 - Stritch was on again, and gave up only 1 run through 7 innings. However, a clutch walk-off single was needed by Ward(3-5, RBI, R) to win it in the 12th inning.
8/27: FTW 4 @ LAX 1 - Mack allowed 3 runs, going 5 innings, and was handed the loss. Avila was 1-2 in his return after sitting since the 21st due to shoulder soreness.
8/28: LAX 4 @ EAU 5 - Benson gave up 4 runs through 5 innings, but was not given the loss. Ward was 3-3 with a 2 run HR.
8/29: LAX 1 @ EAU 9 - Saunders gave up 5 runs(3 earned) in only 4 innings. Ward saved the embarrassment of a shutout with a solo HR in the 9th. He had 2 of the teams 3 hits.
8/30: APL 3 @ LAX 4 - Martinez was able to come through with a win again, giving up 3 runs over 7 IP. Sharpe, Phillips, and Barnes all hit solo homers in the 1st inning!
8/31: APL 6 @ LAX 9 - Stritch gave up 5 in 6.1 innings, but was supported enough by the offense to avoid the loss. Barnes was 3-5, 4 RBI, including a 3 run walk-off HR in the 10th!

UBL Players of the Month(August 2013)
Hitter- Kevin Adams(Waterloo): .398, 10 HR, 34 RBI, 17 R
Pitcher- Darryl McSwan(Evansville): 6-0, 2.35 ERA, 35 K, 46 IP
Rookie- Ramon Castro(Bloomington): .349, 6 HR, 15 RBI, 20 R


A crucial sweep of Appleton, after being swept by Eau Claire, kept La Crosse in 2nd place in the North Division playoff hunt. With only 8 games left this season, it appears has if St. Cloud has the divisional crown all wrapped up. La Crosse will now be fighting for 2nd place, which will give the home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. However, Eau Claire and Appleton are breathing down the backs of the Crusaders' necks, and will definitely be keeping things close. It appears as if we will have a very exciting finish to the season, with 3 teams vying for 2 playoff spots! La Crosse's remaining schedule is a series @ Coon Valley(49-63), vs. Bloomington(59-53), @ Springfield(66-46), and ending vs. Independence(56-56). They'll be playing some tough teams, and have struggled against their worst opponent, winning 2 out of 6 games against Coon Valley thus far. Hopefully they can retain their 2nd place spot for 8 more games!

I don't really feel like doing stats... Not much has changed. Our pitching is pretty bad, save Javier Martinez, Rusty Daniels, and Fred Everett. Steve Ward is hitting .384, 22 HR, 57 RBI, and a .455 OBP in 47 games since being traded to us, compared to .318, 17 HR, 44 RBI with Rochester in 65 games. He may very well be the only reason we're still in this.

Evansville actually passed Springfield in the South this past half month. It should be interesting to see which of those two comes out on top down there. Bloomington should have enough room over Independence to seal the 3rd spot, with only 8 games remaining.

Yay! You made another update!

Yay! Someone showed interest in this!

Whoops... When I said I didn't want to do stats I meant that I didn't want to write a recap. I still meant to post the pics of the stats. So here ya go!

Batting Stats
Pitching Stats
Team Stats

9/1: LAX 5 @ CNV 2 - Mack struck out 5 over 6 innings, allowing 2 runs in the win. Barnes was 2-3, HR, RBI, 2 R. Josh Howard hit a 2 run homer.
9/2: LAX 5 @ CNV 6 - Benson only pitched 1.2 innings, allowing 6 ER in that span, and walking 5. Howard homered again, a 3 run shot in the 8th.
9/3: BLM 3 @ LAX 5 - Saunders pitched a gem, giving up 3 runs, only 1 earned, over 7 innings. Mullins was 2-3, with a solo HR, and Ward had 2 RBI.
9/4: BLM 2 @ LAX 0 - Martinez held the Bluebirds to 1 run over 6 innings, but the offense got nothing, and he was dealt his 5th loss. La Crosse had only 3 hits on the day.
9/6: LAX 0 @ SPR 2 - Stritch gave up 1 run in 5 innings, but took the tough luck loss. The offense was shutout again. Not a good sign. However, Avila and Sharpe both had 2 hits.
9/7: LAX 3 @ SPR 8 - Mack struggled this time, allowing 7 earned runs in 4 innings. One bright spot was the play of rookie catcher Ken McCord, who was 2-3, HR, 3 RBI, R.
9/8: IND 1 @ LAX 2 - La Crosse was in a 3-way tie for 2nd place entering the game, and so they elected to skip Joe Benson's start in favor of a shortly rested Javier Martinez. The move worked perfectly, as Martinez allowed only 1 run on 1 hit, striking out 11 in 7 innings. Steve Ward hit a 2 run homer in the 6th, and that was all the Crusaders needed. However, with both Eau Claire and Appleton winning as well, it will all come down to September 9th against the Chiefs...

And I'm stopping the update here, even though there's one game left in the season.


And this is what the standings look like entering the last day of the season. The Crusaders absolutely need to win this game! Eau Claire will be facing the 45-74 Jefferson City Capitals to end their year. This may be bad news for La Crosse, because the Crusaders have a record of 1-7 against the Badgers this year. Appleton has a much tougher match-up, taking on the divisional champs, St. Cloud. La Crosse is 6-2 against the Robins this year. Matt Saunders and Joe Benson are the only two La Crosse pitchers who are fully rested, and so it appears as if it may be Saunders going in the most important game of La Crosse's season thus far. GO CRUSADERS!!

Oh baby. Things are getting tense up in here!

Independence Chiefs(57-62) @ La Crosse Crusaders(66-53)
September 9th, 2013- What a wild finish! Independence came into this game looking to crush La Crosse's hopes of a playoff bid, while La Crosse needed a win to secure a playoff spot. Neither team had their ace going, as La Crosse really couldn't due to Javier Martinez pitching the day before. Instead, it was a battle of two youngsters, 25 year old Matt Saunders for the Crusaders, and the top prospect in the UBL, 25 year old lefty, Roy Walton for the Chiefs. Neither had been exactly stellar coming in, with Walton posting a 4.98 ERA, along with a 5-10 record. Saunders wasn't much better, going 9-9 with a 4.58 ERA.

After Saunders worked through a 1-2-3 1st inning, Danny Sharpe led the game off with a double for the Crusaders. After being advanced to 3rd on a sac fly from Dennis Phillips, Sharpe was able to score with Ward at the plate on a balk by Walton! It was a huge, hear-breaking mistake for the young pitcher, but it gave La Crosse an early 1-0 lead. La Crosse struck again in the next inning, as Brian Villa, starting in RF, hit a 378 foot solo homer to start the inning. That pushed their lead to 2-0. In the top of the 3rd, the Chiefs picked up some momentum, with a 2-out single by Kamesh Manas, and then a walk to former Crusader, Cecil Newton. Casey Donnelly drove in Manas with a single, bringing the score to 2-1. Saunders then walked Melvin Bowman to load the bases. However, he was able to strikeout James Washington to escape the jam. Heading to the bottom of the 3rd, Matt Saunders and Danny Sharpe both led off with singles. Walton was called for another costly balk, which moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd, with no outs. Phillips advanced the runners with an out, again, this time grounding out to score Saunders and move Sharpe to 3rd. Steve Ward was up next, and did what he's been doing all season long, driving in Sharpe with a single to make it 4-1, La Crosse. In the top of the 4th, the Chiefs pulled Roy Walton after just 3 innings of work. His pinch hitter, Mauro Colon, doubled with 2 outs. Saunders worked through it, striking out Carl Morris, his 5th of the day, to get out of the inning. La Crosse kept at it in the 4th, with a double by Brian Villa, single by Jose Avila, and then another double by Ross Mullins to score Villa, all with no outs. An intentional walk of the next batter, the catcher Jim Thompson, loaded the bases for Matt Saunders. Another Independence miscue allowed the Crusaders to score, this time being a passed ball, plating Avila and allowing all runners to advance. Saunders lifted a lazy fly to left, but it was deep enough to score Mullins from 3rd, and make the score 7-1. The game was quickly turning into a laugher. With Danny Sharpe at the plate, the Chiefs were called for another balk, this time the pitcher being Robert Brandt. Thompson advanced over to 3rd, but wasn't there long, as he scored on Sharpe's grounder to second.

There was nothing major to report from the 5th, but in the top of the 6th the Chiefs' first baseman Dennis Morgan drew a leadoff walk, stole 2nd, and then proceeded to take 3rd on a passed ball, all with no outs. Howard Gunn then singled to drive him in, tacking on run for Indy. Saunders then issued his 6th walk of the day to Arthur Hawkins, and then allowed another run to score on a RBI single to Carl Morris, closing the lead to 5. That ended his day, and Brit Hewitt came on in relief. Hewitt gave up another run, inherited from Saunders, allowing Hawkins to score and Morris to advance to 3rd on a groundout to first, making the game 8-4. However, Hewitt got Donnelly to pop out to shortstop to stop the bleeding.

Lefty Stu Clark pitched a scoreless 7th and 8th innings, and Fred Everett worked through the 9th allowing nothing to seal the win for La Crosse. Which, also sealed a playoff spot for La Crosse! That's right, the La Crosse Crusaders are headed for the UBL Playoffs!



W: Matt Saunders(10-9) L: Roy Walton(5-11) S: ----- HR: Brian Villa(9)

D. Sharpe: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R
B. Villa: 2-4, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R
R. Mullins: 2-4, 2B, RBI, R
M. Saunders: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 6 K, 4.69 ERA

C. Morris: 2-5, RBI
C. Donnelly: 3-5, 2B, RBI
C. Bowman: 2-3, 2 BB
R. Walton: 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 5.21 ERA

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In other news, Eau Claire beat Jefferson City 10-4 while St. Cloud beat Appleton 4-1, knocking the Robins out of the playoffs. This means that St. Cloud will take a first round bye, while the Badgers take on our Crusaders in the first round of the Northern Division playoffs. In the South, Springfield clinched the first round bye, leaving Evansville to face off against Bloomington in the first round. This first round is set up in a 2-2-1 format, so La Crosse will play in Eau Claire twice, home twice, and then once more in Eau Claire if necessary. The match-ups are also posted below.

NORTH DIVISION

#1)St. Cloud Chargers(77-43)- BYE
#3)La Crosse Crusaders(67-53, 1-7 vs. Eau Claire) @ #2)Eau Claire Badgers(67-53, 7-1 vs. La Crosse)

SOUTH DIVISION

#1)Springfield Heroes(73-47)- BYE
#3)Bloomington Bluebirds(64-56, 2-6 vs. Evansville) @ #2)Evansville Brawlers(71-49, 6-2 vs. Bloomington)

God dammit La Crosse

Considering the way we've been playing against Eau Claire so far, our season may just as well be over.

Input time for anyone: How would you like to see me update the playoff games? I could do them as I have been doing all the rest of the games so far(except for that last one against Indy), but I feel as if that's under-valuing the playoff experience. Another option is to maybe take a page from dish's book, and do an update like his(box-score, notable performances), but maybe with a little more detail. Or, I could do the games like I did that last Indy game, and write a full-out recap, sparing no detail.

So, which do you want to see?

I'm biased and want to see how you can improve on my style.

I'm gonna be honest and say you shouldn't do it like Dish. I really don't like his update style

Well those two votes pretty much cancel each other out.

I was leaning towards doing the PPJ style we'll call it(like that last game) because it's the playoffs now, and I feel like if you're someone who just wants to look at notable stats and the score of the game, which is what's found in all my other updates, you can. But if you are someone who wants to know how the game went down, you can read the description portion and find out what happened. So I would say this option is best, because it would(I think) please the whole audience.

La Crosse Crusaders 2013 Season Recap
With the playoffs starting tomorrow, we will be using this off-day to go over some of the stats from the Crusaders' first season.


St. Cloud dominated the North Division, ending the season with a 10 game lead. They will be a tough team to stop from reaching the Championship Series. Our Crusaders ending up squeaking into the playoffs as the 3rd seed, posting a 67-53 record on the year, and will be facing the Eau Claire Badgers in the first round. La Crosse's success may have been a bit of a surprise, due to the fact that they were predicted to go 60-60, and miss the playoffs. Another slight surprise is that the Crusaders led the UBL in attendance, drawing in a total of over 2.6 million fans on the year, and an average of 44,142 per game. Looking ahead, they've struggled against Eau Claire so far this season, but hopefully they'll be able to turn it around when it counts. Appleton took a tough loss on the last day of the season that pushed them out of the playoffs by 1 game. Waterloo got off to a slow start, but ended up finishing 5th in the division. Rochester, Coon Valley, and Davenport all struggled through most of the season.

La Crosse's offense ended up doing surprisingly well, finish 4th in the league in total runs scored and 6th in batting average, OBP, and home runs. Acquiring 1B Steve Ward at the trade deadline was a huge plus, as Ward has been carrying the offense ever since. Ward was doing really well with Rochester, but did great with La Crosse, posting a .318 average for the Raiders but .358 for the Crusaders. Ward ended up finishing just out of reach of a Triple Crown, ending up 2nd in each category(batting average, homers, RBI's). Below are the Crusaders' individual stats. A number in parentheses behind a stat denotes that player's finish in the league leaders. Yes, that sounds confusing. For example, for Steve Ward, for Steve Ward it says .336(2), 40 HR(2), 106 RBI(2), .651 SLG(1), and 69 XBH(1). That means that he was 2nd in the league in batting average, homers, and RBI, and 1st in the league in slugging percentage and extra base hits.

BATTING STATS
LF D. Sharpe: .244, 16 HR, 47 RBI, 93 R(2), .367 OBP, 34/45 SB(2),
SS D. Phillips: .251, 12 HR, 50 RBI, 75 R, .338 OBP, 10/18 SB,
1B S. Ward: .336(2), 40 HR(2), 106 RBI(2), 85 R, .651 SLG(1), 69 XBH(1),
3B M. Barnes: .229, 23 HR, 73 RBI, 58 R, 125 K(3)
RF J. Howard: .237, 10 HR, 59 RBI, 35 R
2B J. Avila: .275, 10 HR, 45 RBI, 68 R, 38 2B(3)
CF R. Mullins: .267, 7 HR, 36 RBI, 43 R, 32 2B(T-6)
C J. Thompson: .213, 6 HR, 45 RBI, 36 R
RF B. Villa: .287, 9 HR, 29 RBI, 28 R

LF/RF S. Miller: .287(27/94), 5 HR, 22 RBI, 20 R, .368 OBP
2B/SS H. Kimball: .216(11/51), 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R
C K. McCord: .250(6/24), 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R
IF B. Lang: .143(2/14), 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R

Unfortunately for the Crusaders, it seemed as if it was the pitching(which was supposed to be their strong suit) that struggled. Javier Martinez was great, but the rest of the rotation left something to be desired. Martinez ended up in the top 6 of nearly every pitching category. There were also a few names in the bullpen who were expected to do better than they did. However, there are still some bright pitching prospects in the minors, and hopefully next year we will see a few new faces on the mound.

PITCHING STATS
J. Martinez: 16-5(2), 2.56 ERA(5), 168.2 IP, 192 K(1), 1.00 WHIP(6)
D. Stritch: 7-8, 4.61 ERA, 123 IP, 88 K, 1.43 WHIP
R. Mack: 8-7, 4.79 ERA, 141 IP, 112 K, 1.47 WHIP
J. Benson: 7-10, 5.95 ERA, 124 IP, 149 K, 1.61 WHIP, 72 BB(T-4)
M. Saunders: 10-9, 4.69 ERA, 119 IP, 86 K, 1.57 WHIP

J. Portillo: 1-0, 7.03 ERA, 15 G, 24.1 IP, 24 K, 1.68 WHIP
B. Hewitt: 1-1, 4.84 ERA, 34 G, 44.2 IP, 39 K, 1.25 WHIP
L. Ewing: 4-2, 4.76 ERA, 49 G, 68 IP, 50 K, 1.21 WHIP
S. Clark: 3-3, 4.08 ERA, 58 G, 70.2 IP, 69 K, 1.40 WHIP
D. LaBelle: 4-4, 3.63 ERA, 63 G(T-4), 62 IP, 79 K, 1.40 WHIP
F. Everett: 4-3, 2.00 ERA, 63 G(T-4), 63 IP, 90 K(4), 1.06 WHIP
R. Daniels: 2-2, 33/33 SV(5), 1.95 ERA, 50 G, 50.2 IP, 66 K, 0.93 WHIP

La Crosse's minor league teams struggled a little this year overall, as none of them made the playoffs, but there were definitely some bright players. Hopefully these young prospects continue to improve, and someday help out the big league club. La Crosse started the season with the 2nd ranked minor league system, and ended with the best after trades and such throughout the year.

MINOR LEAGUE TEAMS
AAA Oakville Norsemen: 68-73, 7th place
AA Wildwood Defenders: 68-72, 4th place
A Elkader Lightning: 71-69, 4th place

NOTABLE MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS
AAA SP Alejandro Reyes(20/61): 6-5, 3.59 ERA
AAA SP Dave Blankenship(43/69): 8-5, 4.72 ERA
AAA 2B Randy Jennings(43/74): .264, 11 HR, 57 RBI, 110 R, 16/22 SB
AAA C Ken McCord(62/70): .310, 32 HR, 97 RBI, 74 R, .619 SLG
AAA 2B/SS Archie Godden(34/42): .300, 9 HR, 70 RBI, 83 R, .372 OBP
AAA SS Jose Carranza(34/45): .324, 15 HR, 60 RBI, 66 R, .404 OBP
AAA OF Andrew Leonard(29/36): .274, 12 HR, 62 RBI, 68 R, 14/19 SB
AA OF Jose Reyna(29/43): .291, 8 HR, 73 RBI, 66 R, 14/23 SB

And that about sums up the minor leaguers who did well and may have a shot at sneaking into the big leagues.