San José Giants Capture 2017 World Series Father/Son American Title
The San Josझ Giants Father/Son team won their 4th Title in the top American Division at the 30th MSBL World Series Oct 26-29, 2017.
San José defended their 2016 Title in convincing fashion by sweeping through the round robin and playoffs with a 6-0 record featuring great pitching and defense and timely hitting throughout the tourney.
We began the tourney with back-to-back shutouts on Saturday. In Game one vs the Pro Bat Yankees at beautiful Sloan Park (home of the Cubs), San José prevailed 4-0. Mike Denevi started and went 4 shutout innings before Hayden Hibberd went 4 more shutout innings and rookie Connor Villanueva shut down the Yankees in the 9th. The offense was led by John Cruse who put SJ on the board with a single and later scored on a sac fly from Donnie Chambers in the 4th. He scored the 2nd run in the 6th reaching on a HBP and scoring after stealing 3rd and advancing on the throwing error by the catcher. Chris Chambers and Nick Caravelli finished the scoring in the 7th by advancing home on wild pitches.
Game 2 vs the Motor City Firebirds was similar in that John Yandle started and pitched 4 shutout innings allowing only 1 hit. His son Jack followed his dad with another 4 shutout innings with Phillip Thrappas closing it out in the ninth securing the 5-0 victory. The offense was led by Chris Chambers with 3 hits, Nick Caravelli with an RBI triple in the first, Mikey Denevi with an RBI single in the second and Chris Denevi with a 2 RBI triple in the sixth.
On Friday SJ played a tough Capitals of Sacramento. The Giants powered to a 10-8 victory as big Kraig Constantino was 3-4 with a 400'+ game winning 2-run homer in the 8th to secure a win. He also opened the scoring by driving in Don Chambers (2-3 with 3 runs on the game) in the first. Vets Rich Zuvella and Huck Hibberd added 2 hits each in the win. Nellie Villanueva pitched 4 father innings, Mikey Denevi surprised with 4 stellar relief innings giving up 1 run striking out 4 and Nick Caravelli Jr closed the game in the ninth.
In the Friday nightcap vs a very good Kansas City A's team, SJ prevailed 4-2 as Houston Hibberd started on the mound and K'd 3 in 2 innings followed by Connor Villanueva's 2 innings 1 run relief then Donnie Chambers gave us 4 big Dad innings giving just one run followed by Nick Caravelli Jr who closed his second game of the day. The offense once again was led by big Kraig Constantino's 3-3 with a booming 400' double to the cf wall and RBI singles from Mike Denevi, Phillip Thrappas and RBI grounder by John Cruse. Chris Chambers also chipped in with a double and single.
In Saturday's semi final 6-2 hard fought victory over long time rival LA Athletics, John Yandle started and went 4 strong innings giving up 2 runs, one earned. The Giants tied the game at 2 in the fourth on singles by Mike Denevi and Phillip Thrappas followed by a safety squeeze from Rich Zuvella and an RBI single by Hayden Hibberd. In the fifth, John Cruse led with a single, was sacrificed by Murray Brown, stole third and scored on Matt Zuvella's base hit as the Giants took the lead. In the meantime, Hayden Hibberd pitched shutout ball the 5th thru the 8th with 7 K's and Chris Chambers closed out the A's in the ninth. The Giants added on a run in the 6th with a single by N Caravelli Jr, a sac from M Denevi and a big RBI single by the red hot Kraig Constantino. N Caravelli Sr topped off the Giants scoring with a 2-run single plating Hayden Hibberd and Scott Cruse in the 7th.
Sunday's final was a repeat of last year's game with the talented 5-0 Capital City Cardinals. Mike Denevi started and pitched 4 innings of 2-hit no-run ball. The Giants put a run on the board in the bottom of the first when Chris Chambers tripled to right and Nick Caravelli singled him home. We added 3 in the third on a couple of walks and singles by C Chambers and Kraig Constantino who drove home two more. Single runs were tacked on by the Giants in each of the 5th on a R Zuvella single, 6th on a John Cruse FC, 7th on a N Caravelli Jr single and 8th on a massive solo home run from Kris Kamperman! Houston Hibberd pitched the final 5 innings striking out 9 to finish the 8-2 victory.
Coaches Rich Zuvella and Mike Denevi enjoyed this great group of fathers and sons who have been like family and played such great team baseball in winning titles in 2013, 2016 and 2017. Kraig Constantino was named tourney MVP while going 11-15 for the weekend! Chris Chambers was the Championship game MVP and Nick Caravelli was also outstanding in the final with his 2-3, 3 RBI performance. The pitching staff only gave up 12 runs in the 6 games and the defense was solid throughout including some highlights by Phillip Thrappas at SS and 2B. All 28 members of the squad made valuable contributions including a couple of great team building activities at the SCOTTSDALE YARD HOUSE and TOP GOLF at Talking Stick! We all look forward to returning and defending again next year.