Win Some, Lose Some: PCF/HH Remain at .500 Through Roller Coaster Season

Above: Veteran PCF outfielder Carlos Sagastume does his best A-Rod

pose during one of his four successful at-bats last week.

Sagastume went 4-for-4 in PCF/HH's victory over RR/DBB.

Below: Pitcher Juan Monahan collides with RR/DBB's first baseman.

(Photos: Stuart Philips)

Momentum continues to swing like a pendulum in the 2008 S.L.A.M. season, as the combined team of Pei Cobb Freed/Hart Howerton fought for a compelling 12-4 victory over Ronnette Riley/Davis Brody Bond last week. The victory was just two weeks separated from a 12-2 thumping the Red and Black took from SOM/Swanke/Cooper.

PCF/HH and RR/DBB met on the fields of North Meadow for their match-up on July 15. Leading off as the visiting team, the Red and Black catapulted themselves into an early 5-1 lead, scoring their first five batters in the first inning. Though RR/DBB closed it to 5-2 in the third, PCF/HH piled on 4 more runs in the fourth, 1 in the fifth, and 2 in the seventh for the complete-game, 12-4 victory.

Pei Cobb Freed veteran Carlos Sagastume and Hart Howerton outfielder Mike Copeland led the offense for PCF/HH. Sagastume went 4-for-4 with 2 doubles, 1 RBI, and 3 runs scored. Mike Copeland batted an equally impressive 1.000 on the day, going 3-for-3 with a triple, 1 walk, 5 RBI, and 2 runs scored. J. Strong remained a rock of consistency for his team, batting 2-for-4 with 1 RBI and 1 run. Both PCF's Dwidson Metayer and HH's Steven Peterson equaled Strong's 2-for-4, with Peterson contributing 2 runs scored and Metayer driving in 1. Hart Howerton's Carl Pearson was 1-for-2 on the day, scoring once and driving in 1.

Pearson, Copeland, and Strong have proven to be the new leaders of the team, each registering a mind-blowing batting average greater than .600 (minimum 10 at-bats). Pearson leads the team with a .692 batting average (9-for-13 on the year). Copeland leads the team with 11 base hits and a third-best .632 average while Strong has driven in a team-high 10 runs while batting .684 from the heart of the lineup all season. Sagastume isn't far behind, batting .588 and leading the team in extra-base hits with 6 in his seven appearances this season.

Defensively, PCF/HH held tight though the game by making a number of outs with RR/DBB runners on the base path. Strong turned an unassisted double play at first base in the second, while the catcher Metayer tagged a runner out at the plate off relay throws from left fielder Sagastume and second basewoman Cate Foster (0-for-3). Black and Red fielders made outs at each of the bases at least once in the game. Pitcher Juan Monahan threw the complete game, surrendering 12 hits and 4 runs while walking 1 and striking out 1.

It was a marked improvement over the team's ghastly 12-2 drubbing at the hands of SSC two weeks earlier. Their July 30 meeting was a game they'll soon try to forget, as it proved to be impossible to develop any kind of consistency on either end of the field. Left fielder Doug Chu (1-for-2, playing in only his second game with the team) and extra hitter Yusuke Okabayashi (2-for-3) scored the only runs of the game. RBI were provided by Strong (2-for-3) and Kenneth Wiland (0-for-2 with a fielder's choice RBI in the second). SSC scored a trio of runs in four different innings to put the game at Central Park's Great Lawn out of reach.

PCF/HH (4-4 on the season) will continue this season's Vegas crap shoot Thursday, when they try their collective luck against a very difficult Gensler team (7-2). Game time is 5:30 p.m. on Hecksher Field 1.