Eric Schulman drives in 100th run

In a Great Lawn game on Thursday August 30, Eric Schulman became the only SFL player to drive in 100 runs in a season. He broke Cid Rivera's single-season record of 94 the previous Sunday with-- what else-- a sac fly.

The game was a high-scoring affair, won by Jeff Appell 11-9 over Glen Lawrence. Schulman was 3-for-4 with a 2B, 3B, and 3 RBI. Sam Melendez and Alex Lee also added 3 hits, and Melendez scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error in the bottom of the 5th.

Records Update

After yesterday's tripleheader, two more single-season records fell by the wayside. Zach Nilva scored 5 runs, giving him a total of 107 and surpassing Joe Gerber's previous record of 103 in 1995. Ian Parfrey drove in 2 runs, and after reviewing a scoring decision from the Nov. 28 games, was determined to have 93 RBI, breaking Larry Savell's mark of 92, set in 1994.

Zach added to his record total of hits. He now has 153 for the season. Freddie Melendez did not add to his record total of player wins, and still has 50 for the season. Alex Rivera added to his record total of doubles, and now has 36.

Now, with low temperatures forecast for next week, and the Christmas holiday on the following weekend, another game is possible but unlikely. Freddie Melendez's lead in the pennant is now only one game over Don Weiss, Nel Yomtov, and Ian Parfrey, and 1.5 games over Eric Schulman, Zach Nilva, and Phil Ciccone. Any of these players, should we play, and they show up and sweep a tripleheader, could win at least a share of the pennant.

Alex Rivera and Ian Parfrey are tied for the home run lead with 10, after Alex took Adam Garcia deep at the MS 141 field in Riverdale yesterday. Should Alex hit another HR, he will prevent Ian from winning the 4th Triple Crown in SFLOI history. The other winners were Jeff Miller (1991), Carl Weinberg (2002), and Chris Hall (2004).
Alex could also steal Zach's runs record if the season continues. He's only 3 behind, with 104.

Back in January, an informal pact was made between me, Zach, and Alex, to break all the records in the game. Other than triples, walks, pitcher wins, sacrifices, batting average (Larry Savell's .623 seems almost unbreakable), we basically did it.

Game recaps and updated stats to follow whenever my daughter stops sleeping next to the computer.

GAMES AND NOTES OF 10/24

SFLOI record broken! Freddy Melendez won his 44th game of the season in today's Game 3, breaking Joe Gerber's record of 43 wins as a player in 1995. Zach Nilva has 41 wins this season, so it isn't guaranteed that Freddy will keep the record for very long. Freddy currently holds a 1.5 game lead in the pennant standings.

As for the games themselves, Tony Connor and Josh Balsam stacked their side with Riverdale players, but dropped a tripleheader to Ian Parfrey and Havelock Hewes's Brooklyn-Manhattan squad.

Melendez 7, Appell 4
Freddy Melendez (13-8) prevailed in a contest that was tied at 1 after 6 innings. Ian Parfrey's 2-run double to shallow right broke the tie in the top of the 7th, and then the floodgates opened. Melendez's team scored 6 times, and then had to hold on in the bottom of the inning when Sam Magnus smacked a 2-run HR to left-center. Alexander Rodriguez was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI for the winners.

Hewes 2, Martinez 1
Havelock Hewes (12-18) won a pitchers' duel. Parfrey had an RBI single in the 1st, and Alexander Rodriguez tripled to right-center in the 5th, and came around to score on a throwing error. Havelock's only spot of trouble came in the bottom of the 5th, as two singles and an error loaded the bases. Jaime Orochena's groundout drove in a run, a walk to Eric Schulman reloaded the bases, and Sam Magnus grounded out to end the inning.

Rosengard 7, Stoeth 3
Dave Rosengard (5-7) was in control throughout, and didn't allow an earned run. Nel Yomtov's 2-run HR to left in the 5th (on an 0-2 pitch with 2 outs!) broke open a 1-run game, and Rosengard's team scored 3 more times after that, taking advantage of two key outfield errors. Rosengard retired Marvin Cohen and Zach Nilva on grounders to snuff a 7th-inning comeback.