Miami Cops n Robbers win 2010 Miami Open Championship 8-7 over Orlando Thunder!

Tournament Flash – Day Three:  Championship Recap: The Miami Cops n Robbers survived the showdown with the Orlando Thunder winning the 2010 Miami Open championship by a final score of 8-7 in 10 innings. Down 7-6 in the bottom of the eighth, Orlando came through in the clutch, staging a two-out & nobody-on-base rally to tie the game 7-7 off Miami starter Alvaro Gomez. After shutting down the Miami team in the ninth, the Thunder loaded the bases on Miami reliever Luis Cabral only to be denied by a spectacular ESPN highlight play by the Miami thirdbaseman Willie Misrahi. That’s all the motivation the Miami Cops n Robbers needed as they led of the top of the 10th with back-to-back base hits.

Aaron Marcinkoski led off with a sharp single to right and Alvaro Gomez smashed the first pitch he saw against the fence to set the table. Moments later Miami got their go-ahead RBI with two out when Alex Delgado smacked a single up the middle.  Delgado had previously smashed a two-run home run to help Miami stake their early lead. Miami skipper Albert Jardines chipped in going 3-for-4 with two doubles. However, just to make it interesting, the Orlando Thunder did it again – after suffering two quick outs, they loaded the bases and then, anticipating a comeback win, watched as their final batter took a full count swing and miss to end the game.

In the semi-final game, the Miami Cops n Robbers cruised to a 9-4 win over the Fort Myers Marlins.  In what was a day of frustration, the Fort Myers Marlins wasted way too many opportunities to score.  Miami reliever, Jorge Gomez, kept the Marlins off balance and closed out the game with easy outs.  The Cops n Robbers continued on their scoring tear after getting shut out by Orlando’s ace in the tournament’s first game, scoring 34 runs in their subsequent three games.

Tournament Flash – Day Two:  The Orlando Thunder, led by skipper Jorge Munoz,  scored early and often on the Miami Red Sox, winning their third round game handily 12-3. The Miami Cops n Robbers, managed by Albert Jardines, showed no mercy destroying the Fort Myers Marlins 16-1 before eliminating the Miami Red Sox 10-4 to finish as the number two seed.  The Fort Myers Marlins wound up as the three seed after the qualification round. The quarterfinals and championship games will play on Memorial Day. 

Tournament Flash – Day One:  In somewhat of a surprise, the third seed in the tournament, the Fort Myers Marlins, managed by Ron Torres, manned up in Day One of the tournament, beating down the Miami Red Sox 11-2 and the Orlando Thunder 5-4 to end the day in first place. The Orlando Thunder, which had won the Florida Hardball championship in 2008, had previously shut out the Miami Cops n Robbers 6-0 earlier in the day.  In the final afternoon game of the day, the Miami Cops n Robbers were leading the Miami Red Sox 5-2 in the top the the third before being suspended due to rain.  The Cops n Robbers were cruising 4-0 behind Brett Preshong’sgrand slam and shutout pitching heroics before the Red Sox stormed back with back-to-back bombs by Carlos Mata and Nick Geary off reliever Pepe Martinez to close the gap….and then the rain hit. The suspended game will be completed on Sunday right after the morning games. Rock and Roll!!

Playoff Seedings

Number 1 Seed = Orlando Thunder (via tie breaker fewest runs allowed)
Number 2 Seed = Miami Cops n Robbers
Number 3 Seed = Fort Myers Marlins
Miami Red Sox = eliminated

 

Tournament Standings – Qualification Round

American Division:

Team W L T Points R Allowed R Scored Net Runs
Miami Cops n Robbers 2 1 0 4 11 26 +15
Miami Red Sox 0 3 0 0 33 9 -24

National Division:

Team W L T Points R Allowed R Scored Net Runs
Orlando Thunder 2 1 0 4 8 22 +14
Fort Myers Marlins 2 1 0 4 22 17 -5

Tournament Brackets

AMERICAN NATIONAL
Miami Cops n Robbers Orlando Thunder
Miami Red Sox Fort Myers Marlins

 

Tournament Schedule

American Division:

Miami Cops n Robbers

Day Date Time Field Opponent Home/Vis Score
Saturday May 29, 2010 900am Braddock Orlando Thunder Home L 0-6
Saturday May 29, 2010 115pm Braddock Miami Red Sox Visitors 5-2 suspended
Sunday May 30, 2010 830am Braddock Fort Myers Marlins Home W 16-1
Sunday May 30, 2010 1215am Braddock Miami Red Sox Home W 10-4

Miami Red Sox

Day Date Time Field Opponent Home/Vis Score
Saturday May 29, 2010 900am Coral Gables Fort Myers Marlins Visitors L 2-11
Saturday May 29, 2010 115pm Braddock Miami Cops n Robbers Home 2-5 suspended
Sunday May 30, 2010 830am Coral Gables Orlando Thunder Visitors L 3-12
Saturday May 29, 2010 1215pm Braddock Miami Cops n Robbers Home L 4-10

 

National Division:

Orlando Thunder

Day Date Time Field Opponent Home/Vis Score
Saturday May 29, 2010 900am Braddock Miami Cops n Robbers Visitors W 6-0
Sunday May 29, 2010 115pm Coral Gables Fort Myers Marlins Home L 4-5
Sunday May 30, 2010 830am Coral Gables Miami Red Sox Home W 12-3

Fort Myers Marlins

Day Date Time Field Opponent Home/Vis Score
Saturday May 29, 2010 900am Coral Gables Miami Red Sox Home W 11-2
Sunday May 29, 2010 115pm Coral Gables Orlando Thunder Visitors W 5-4
Sunday May 30, 2010 830am Braddock Miami Cops n Robbers Visitors L 1-16

Playoffs – Semi-finals

Day Date Time Field Winner Loser Score
Monday May 31, 2010 900pm Braddock Miami Cops n Robbers Fort Myers Marlins 9-4

2009 Miami Open Championship Game

Day Date Time Field Winner Loser Score
Monday May 31, 2010 1230pm Braddock Miami Cops n Robbers Orlando Thunder 8-7 10 inn.

Tournament Locations

 

The Miami Open will be played at (Links to Yahoo Maps):

Coral Gables Senior High School

Braddock Senior High School

 

Tournament Summary

 

Florida Hardball  is proud to present the 13th Annual Miami Open Baseball Challenge. This tournament, which is open to any and all teams in the region regardless of affiliation, takes place in Miami, Florida on Memorial Day weekend, May 29 – 31, 2010. The tournament features some of the best competition in Florida with teams coming from various leagues including the South Florida Baseball League, Fort Myers Hardball, the Orlando – Central Florida Baseball League, the Federal League and the Liga Nica. The winner-take-all tournament is highlighted by a tournament trophy for the championship team. The registration fee is $850 per team, regardless of player count. The deadline for team registration is Saturday, May 22, 2009. All interested teams and players are urged to contact the tournament director immediately.

 

Tournament Contact Number – 305.663.2521 – Mickey Filippucci

 

  Tournament Teams

Seeding Team
1 Miami Cops n Robbers
2 Orlando Thunder
3 Fort Myers Marlins
4 Miami Red Sox

 

Tournament Format

 

The tournament will be limited to 6 -10 teams using an open-division format (18+). All teams are guaranteed a minimum of three games played in round robin format against teams within their respective division. Two games are played on Saturday, May 29 with the third game played on Sunday morning, May 30.

 

The top three teams with the most points after the 3-game elimination round will advance to the playoffs. All ties are resolved based on tie-breaker rules listed below.

 

Playoff Qualifiers: Teams qualify for the playoffs based on the following point system:

 

Points:    Win = 2 points, Tie = 1 point, Loss = 0 points.

 

Tie Breaker Rules: Tie breakers are applied in the following order:

1.  Head-to-head result

2.  Fewest Runs Allowed: If no head-to-head result, the team with the fewest runs allowed will win the second tie breaker.

3.  Net Runs: In case of another tie, an equation of net runs will be employed and the team with the greatest number of net runs wins the third tie breaker.  Net Runs = (Runs Scored – Runs Allowed).

4.  Coin Toss:  In case of a third tie, a best-of-three coin toss will determine the final tie breaker.

 

Playoffs: The semifinal game between the number three seed and the number two seed is scheduled to play Sunday afternoon, May 30.  The number one seed will get an automatic bye. The winner of the semi-final game advances to the championship game to be play the number one seed on Monday morning, May 31.
 

Tournament Rules

 

The Miami Open is played under the rules undertaken by the South Florida Baseball League.  A copy of the SFBL Official Rules and Regulations will be provided to each participating team.  To access the rules immediately, click on the underlined reference.  Some imperative rules are as follows:

 

1.  In each team’s offensive line-up, a minimum 10 batters must be used.  You may add to this minimum at any time during the game but you may not shrink the line-up once expanded.

 

2.  Free defensive substitution.  As implied, no restrictions on defensive changes except for the pitcher re-entry rule.

 

3.  Pitcher re-entry rule:  In the case of a pitching change, once a pitcher is removed, he can only be re-entered as a pitcher after one complete inning  has been played.  This move can only be done once per game.

 

4.  No deliberate physical contact between base runners and defensive players, i.e. NO BARRELING INTO THE CATCHER, SECOND BASEMAN, etc.  Automatic ejection penalty.

 

5.  Elimination round games are subject to a 3 hour time limit = no inning shall start after 3 hours has elapsed.  Tie games are permitted – see tie breaker rules.  However, all playoff games will play without time limits.

 

6.  In case of rain, official game only after 5 full innings completed.  Games started but not registering 5 complete innings will be suspended and completed later.  Offensive line-ups remain frozen and the suspended game must pick up where it left off.

7.  All team managers must call in game results – win or lose- to the SFBL office 305.663.2521 within 10 minutes of game completion or suspension.  All results will be posted to this website page live throughout the tournament.