Comedy of errors: Station House laughs all the way to 25-5 drubbing of Beacons

ROLLINSFORD -- The All-star break couldn't have come at a better time for the Beacons after the team dropped its second game, 25-5, to Station House on May 18 at GoldStar Park.
The Beacons were never in this one and repeatedly beat themselves with shoddy defensive play, a lack of offense and no less than seven walks to a host of Station House batters.
According to the official scorebook, the Beacons made no less than 10 errors. In several cases, what should have been easy outs ended up as Station House singles and doubles courtesy of dropped fly balls in the outfield, errant throws and dropped balls in the infield.
Dover Adult Co-League umpires invoked the mercy rule at the end of the 5th inning after Station House ran up the score to 25-5.
Neither Beacons pitchers Bob Cook or Darryl Cauchon could throw consistent strikes and suffered from control problems the entire game. In short, whatever could go wrong went wrong.
"In golf when you have a bad shot off the tee, you can take a Mulligan. That's what this game is for us, our Mulligan," said Beacons Coach Bob Cook. "For whatever reason, we just couldn't get it going today."
Cauchon, who lived up to his nickname, "X-Treme Cauchon" once again, agreed.
"I felt I got squeezed a lot by the ump. A lot of those balls were strikes. I have never had a game like that before."
Cook decided not to hold any team practices or do anything differently during the two-week break. The team will resume its season on Sunday, June 1, when it plays Post 47 at 3:30 p.m. at GoldStar Park.
"I still like our team very much and I don't think we need to make any significant changes," Cook said. "We just need to hang in there, play the game and get used to playing with each other. That will happen as the season goes on. We just have to be patient."

Access denied: Beacons drop season opener, 13-8

ROLLINSFORD -- Undermanned and out-gunned, the Beacons battled Access down to the last inning Wednesday at GoldStar Park before dropping the season opener, 13-8.
Early on, Access hitters jumped all over Beacons pitcher Bob Cook and touched him up for a six-run second inning to jump out to a 7-1 lead. The offensive explosion was capped by a deep homerun to left that was blasted well over the left field fence.
But the Beacons battled back, scoring four runs with two out in the fourth inning. Left-fielder Sonny Ecker got things started with a double to the left-center field gap following by sharp singles stroked by Beacons catcher Matthew Duprey and Cook before stand-out centerfielder Jason Claffey scored the team's fourth run.
Beacons reliever Darryl "Extreme" Cauchon ran into some trouble in the fifth inning when he struggled with his control, walked a few batters and loaded the bases. Access took advantage and plated another five runs to jump out to a commanding 12-5 lead.
Beacons hitters scored another three runs in the top of the sixth to close to gap to 13-8, but that was all the offense could muster. Because the Beacons had three female players instead of the required four needed to play in the field, the team also had to take an automatic out in two of the seven innings played.
"All in all, I was really pleased with the effort we put out tonight," said Beacons Coach Bob Cook. "Everyone really battled and made it a fun game to play. If we had a few breaks go our way here and there, we might have been able to pull out a win."
The Beacons also displayed some flashes of good defense highlighted by the strike thrown by Ecker to Duprey to nail an Access runner at the plate. Rookie center fielder Jason Claffey also tracked down several towering fly balls.
The Beacons next game is on Sunday versue Station House at GoldStar Park at 6 p.m.