Darrell Allen Early Bird Tournament Team Co-MVP ---------- Kelvin Foreman Early Bird Tournament Team Co-MVP ---------- John Sholhead Early Bird Tournament Team Co-MVP ----------

Pre-season has finally come to an end! The regular season for both the Free Traders and the U.S. Exporters was supposed to begin on April 22 and April 23 respectively, but wet fields caused postponements. Indeed, the Early Bird Tournament was supposed to conclude on April 20, but rain caused the double elimination part of the games to be played on April 27. Poifect! The U.S. Exporters/Free Traders team performed very well and placed third in the tournament. Some oustanding individual performances included Pat Drury's and Kelvin Foreman's pitching on the Saturday games. If Kelvin had had more hitting support, he would have won both of his games. U.S. Exporters/Free Traders Tournament MVPs: Darrell Allen, Kelvin Foreman, and John Sholhead Team MVP John Sholhead hustled his butt off all week and showed some of the younger pups what it was like to compete! Darrell Allen had a splendid tournament, both at the plate and anchoring second base. Kelvin Foreman, despite a sore back, pitched two fine games that he should have won if his team had scored some runs for him! Congratulations, guys! ON THE HORIZON: Barring any new rainfall, the Free Traders season will begin on Monday April 29 and the U.S. Exporters will begin on April 30. I will miss the April 30 games due to a previous engagement. Kelvin Foreman and Tom Meldrum will be running the team in my absence. I will also miss the May 13 Free Traders games and the May 14 U.S. Exporters games. See Early Bird Tournament scores and the final pre-season stats below! Let's play ball!

U.S. Exporters/Free Traders EARLY BIRD TOURNAMENT
Day  Date   Time    Field            Opponent              Results

TUE  4/16   8:30    JENNIE DEAN      KPMG SMACKDOWN        (W, 13- 5)

TUE  4/16   9:30    JENNIE DEAN      SIMPSON'S HOMERS      (L, 13-18)

WED  4/17   6:30    JENNIE DEAN      CCSP-SARVER           (W, 10- 4)

SAT  4/20  9:00am   JENNIE DEAN      CHAMPPS GIANTS        Ppd. Wet Field

SUN  4/21  9:00am   JENNIE DEAN      CHAMPPS GIANTS        Ppd. Wet Field

SAT  4/27  9:00am   JENNIE DEAN      CHAMPPS GIANTS        (W, 23-15)

SAT  4/27 11:00am   JENNIE DEAN      RHINOS                (W, 12- 7)

SAT  4/27  2:00     JENNIE DEAN      CCSP-SARVER           (L, 12-13)

SAT  4/27  4:00     JENNIE DEAN      RHINOS                (L,  8-10)

Final Pre-Season Batting Stats
                    G AB  R  H D T HR RBI BB OE S  AVG  OB%  SLG GW SO DP PA
Aker, Mike          1  3  2  3 0 0  0   0  1  0 0 1000 1000 1000  0  0  0  4 
Allen, Darrell     12 32 11 19 2 2  2  13  1  1 2  594  647  969  0  1  0 34 
Boyd, Alan          7 20 14 12 3 0  2  15  4  2 1  600  654 1050  0  0  0 26 
Buttner, Dave      10 38 18 24 0 0  0  10  1  0 4  632  744  632  1  0  0 39 
Cammarota, Dave     2  0  2  0 0 0  0   0  0  0 0    0    0    0  0  0  0  0 
Chapin, Brian       5 12  3  6 0 0  0   7  0  0 2  500  667  500  0  0  0 12 
Cohen, Aaron       12 32 16 19 1 1  4  22  3  1 0  594  611 1063  3  1  0 36 
Daunt, John (J.D.)  4  8  4  4 1 0  0   5  1  0 0  500  556  625  0  0  0  9 
Donald, Jeff        8 18  8  6 0 1  0  12  1  1 2  333  450  444  0  0  1 20 
Drury, Pat         10 27 12 17 1 1  0   8  3  0 0  630  667  741  0  0  0 30 
Duffy, Jim         12 35 19 18 3 1  2  13  5  0 3  514  650  829  1  0  0 40 
Foreman, Kelvin     7 22 12 13 2 3  0  11  1  1 0  591  583  955  1  0  2 24 
Frank, Ed           8 16  7  8 1 0  2  13  3  2 0  500  524  938  0  1  0 21 
Gulisano, John     12 23  5  8 0 0  0   6  1  0 0  348  375  348  1  0  0 24 
Hargreaves, Barry  10 26  8 11 2 0  1  11  0  3 3  423  483  615  0  0  0 29 
Hatfield, Jay       1  1  0  0 0 0  0   0  0  0 0    0    0    0  0  0  0  1 
Haydasz, Greg       1  3  0  1 0 0  0   0  0  0 0  333  333  333  0  0  0  3 
Huckleberry, Chris 12 38 18 19 4 2  1  19  1  1 2  500  550  789  0  0  0 40 
Kaufman, Seth       6 18  6  6 2 0  0   4  0  0 1  333  389  444  0  0  0 18 
Keough, Matt        3 10  8  7 0 0  1   6  1  1 1  700  750 1000  0  0  0 12 
Kessler, Andrew     5 15  6  9 0 1  0   7  0  0 0  600  600  733  0  0  0 15 
Lundquist, Erik     4  8  5  5 0 0  0   3  1  0 0  625  667  625  0  0  0  9 
Mattoon, Mike       4  8  3  5 3 0  1   4  0  0 0  625  625 1375  1  0  0  8 
Mecher, Greg       12 22 15 10 1 1  0  10 11  2 2  455  657  591  0  0  0 35 
Meldrum, Tom        6 12  5  3 0 0  0   3  2  1 0  250  333  250  0  0  0 15 
Morse, Roger       12 28 15 15 2 3  0   9  6  0 0  536  618  821  0  0  1 34 
Peterson, Alan      4 12  6  7 3 0  1   7  0  0 0  583  583 1083  0  0  1 12 
Rodriguez, Jim      3  6  3  1 0 0  0   1  0  0 1  167  333  167  0  0  0  6 
Schneider, Alan     5 14  3  8 2 0  0   5  1  0 0  571  600  714  0  0  0 15 
Scott, Wes          6 15  6  8 1 0  1  11  0  2 2  533  588  800  0  0  0 17 
Sholhead, John     10 37 16 20 7 2  3  24  0  0 2  541  595 1081  0  2  0 37 
Sims, Kenny        10 24  9 11 2 0  0   9  2  0 2  458  577  542  1  0  0 26 
Ulrich, Mark        6 16  7  9 0 1  0   5  2  1 1  563  632  688  1  0  0 19 
Zimmer, Marc        5 17  7  7 2 1  0   6  0  0 2  412  529  647  0  0  0 17 
                   

Final Pre-Season Pitching Stats
               GP   IN    R ER BB  H  SO  W  L  T   ERA SH WIN% HR  GS CG
Aker, Mike      1  2.00   1  1 0   3  0   0  0  0  3.50  0    0  0   0  0 
Drury, Pat      7 35.00  75 59 2 105  2   5  1  0 11.80  0  833  6   7  6 
Foreman, Kelvin 2 12.00  23 20 1  30  2   0  2  0 11.67  0    0  2   2  2 
Haydasz, Greg   1  5.00   3  3 1   6  0   1  0  0  4.20  0 1000  0   1  0 
Kaufman, Seth   3 11.00  43 37 9  31  3   0  2  0 23.55  0    0  7   3  1 
Keough, Matt    3 15.00  19 16 7  28  1   2  1  0  7.47  0  667  2   2  2 
Meldrum, Tom    4 16.00  52 36 5  63  0   2  2  0 15.75  0  500  5   3  3 
Peterson, Alan  1  1.00   7  7 1   7  1   0  0  0 49.00  0    0  0   0  0