CYCLONES WIN AGAIN
40+ Cyclones streak now at 6, have won 7 of 9 on the season
 

IF BJ Galvan awaits the pitch during game vs. Panthers during Fall 2021 Season

Dec 1, 2021 - When the Cyclones moved from the 30+ division to the 40+ division, it was with the hopes that they would improve their roster enough to break out of the doldrums of continuous losing seasons.  The hope was to build off their draft and add players that would make a difference.  That plan has worked almost to perfection.  While the season didn't start as planned, dropping 2 out of the first 3 games, things have since turned around and steady pitching and improved defense have put the 40+ Cyclones on a 6 game win streak and atop their division for the first time since the Spring 2019 season.

Last night was another example of the team's improvement as they took on the first place Hurricanes in a battle for the division lead.  Mgr. Dean Cosme started on the mound for the Cyclones and kept the Hurricanes off balance for most of the night.  Although he ultimately gave up 7 runs, it never felt as though he was in any danger of blowing the lead the offense gave him.  Speaking of the offense, they quickly jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning on hits by Pedro Garcia and Ray Mariano.  The Hurricanes starting pitcher's wildness didn't help their cause as he allowed 2 of the 4 runs in the inning to score via wild pitches.

After tagging the Hurricanes starter for 6 runs, the Hurricanes changed pitchers in hopes of stopping the bleeding but the Cyclones jumped on him and tagged their reliever for another 4 runs to make it 10-0 heading into the bottom of the 3rd inning.  The Hurricanes answered back with 4 of their own runs in the bottom 3rd before Cosme shut the door on their rally.  Three innings later, with Cosme beginning to tire, he allowed 3 runs to score before giving way to reliever Sam Garza who quickly snuffed the rally and secured the 10-7 victory for Cosme and the Cyclones.

THE HUNT CONTINUES
35+ Cyclones top Expos 6-3 to reach finals.
 

3B Kyle Keena defends his position vs. Expos Nov 14, 2021

Nov 15, 2021 - Mgr Dean Cosme asked his starting pitcher Justin Putnal how we was feeling after completing his half inning in the 6th. Justin's response was "I'm good". The original plan was to have Justin pitch 6 innings, handing the ball over to Dean for the 7th and then to Andy Murrell to close it out in the 8th and 9th innings. In the middle of the 7th, Cosme asked Putnal again and his response was "I'll go one more." After coming off the mound in the 8th, Putnal said "I'm finishing this." And so the plans changed.

Putnal pitched to a complete game 6-3 victory propelling the 35+ Houston Cyclones into the 35+ Division finals. Putnal also contributed on offense with 2 hits.  But the big blows on offense came from Kyle Keena whose 1st inning single gave the Cyclones the early lead and Andy Murrell who had 3 hits including 2 doubles an RBI and 2 runs scored.

The Cyclones have come a long way from the 1 victory season just this past Spring. But they await their rival Houston Hurricanes to see who brings home the title for the Fall 2021 Season.

WIN STREAKS CONTINUES
35+ Cyclones won 4 in a row before tying, 40+ Cyclones extend streak to 4
 

P Justin Putnal winds up to deliver the pitch vs. Marauders Oct 24, 2021

Nov 1, 2021 - What a difference a season makes.  The Houston Cyclones 30+ and 35+ teams were laughingstocks of the league as they were both struggling teams looking for players to help turn their luck around.  The 30+ team folded and reformed as 40+ and the 35+ team regrouped and restocked their roster.  For the 35+ team, 7 original players along with 5 mid season pickups from the Spring season returned to help form the nucleus while 3 newly acquired players helped fill out the roster.  Add in the comfortability factor to that and this team has finally began to gel.

This weekend the 35+ Cyclones played a double header.  Game 1 was started by Justin Putnal and completed by Justin Putnal.  Justin pitched 8 innings, striking out 10, walking 1 and allowing 4 runs of which only 2 were earned. He kept the Expos off balance throughout the game to keep them at bay while the Cyclones offense took advantage of walks and miscues offered by the Expos.  In the end, it was an 8-4 victory good guys!

Game 2 was started by Mgr Dean Cosme and finished by Dean as well. This time facing the winless Marauders, Cosme looked to get back on track himself after some disappointing games out in Phoenix for the MSBL World Series.  Back on track he got as tossed 9 innings allowing 3 runs of which only 1 was earned, while striking out 3 and allowing 3 walks.  The Cyclones pitching and defense kept the Marauders off the board for 7 innings but finally allowed a run to score in the 8th.  But in the 9th, the defense broke and a few miscues allowed the Marauders to creep back into the game.  After allowing a run to make it 3-2, Cosme, looking for his first out of the inning , with a man on 3rd base, thought he had struck out the batter on a foul tip ,but instead of being caught, the ball was caught by the catcher's chest protector and an odd rule was enforced properly which allowed the tying run to score.  From there, the Cyclones were able to get out of the inning and end the game in a 3-3 tie.

COMEBACK KIDS
Cyclones upend Expos with 9 run 7th inning, win 10-7 on Sunday, walk-off 40+ Panthers on Wednesday night 7-6
 

P Andy Murrell unleashes a pitch vs. Expos Oct 10, 2021

Oct 14, 2021 - In stark contrast to a season ago, the Houston Cyclones, both 35+ and 40+ squads are showing they have fight in them.  On Sunday, the 35+ Cyclones jumped to an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning against the Expos.  But errors once again reared its ugly head and the Cyclones found themselves down 7-1 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning. With a renewed sense of urgency, the Cyclones first 2 batters had reached base when outfielder Andy Murrell smacked a 3 run HR to right field to being the Cyclones within 3 runs of tying the game. However, the fun didn't stop there.  In fact, it didn't stop for almost 30 minutes as the Cyclones scored 9 straight runs (including the 3-run HR) before recording an out. The inning would end with the Cyclones ahead 10-7 and would stay there are HR hero Andy Murrell, took the mound on the final inning to close out the victory.

Fast forward to Wednesday night, the 40+ Cyclones faced off against a short-handed Panthers team desperately looking for their first win.  Mgr Dean Cosme started on the mound for the Cyclones and was sharp early but ran into trouble in the 3rd inning as he lost his location for some pitches and his defense lost it's location of the ball near their gloves.  Now after 3 innings, the Cyclones maintained their lead 5-3 over the Panthers. Using this outing as a tune-up for the MSBL World Series tournament in Phoenix, Cosme came out after 5 innings with the same 5-3 lead. 

In the 6th inning, Chris Bussard took the mound and had a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th.  But in the 7th, Chris got the first out of the inning before running into trouble not all his own making.  A soft liner to LF was dropped setting up 4 consecutive hits to surrender the lead to the Panthers 6-5. After a pitching change, Jose de los Reyes came on and got the final out of the inning to keep the Cyclones within a run.  Sensing that it may be the final inning, knew they needed to score. Chris Bussard walked to lead of the inning.  A wild pitch allowed him to go to 2nd and another to 3rd.  Herb Goodwin walked to put 2 on with no one out. After a strikeout, Dean Cosme attempted a squeeze play bunt, similar to the one that sparked a Cyclones rally 2 weeks ago.  This time however, the bunt was to much at the pitcher and the Panthers were able to get the runner out at home.  Now with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 1st, Pedro Garcia came to the plate with one thing in mind,  hit the ball deep and far and drive in the winning runs.  And that he did as Pedro cracked a ball past the left fielder that reached all the way to the left field fence.  Herb easily scored, but it was Dean and his freight train dragging behind him that made hte play at home close, but without a slide, Cosme was able to score the winning run.

FRESHLY SQUEEZED!!!
Perfectly executed squeeze play breaks tie, ignites Cyclones past Marauders 7-6
 

SS Justin Putnal singles vs. Marauders Sep 26, 2021

Sep 27, 2021 - In the bottom of the 6th inning, with the game tied 4-4, with one out and a runner on third, Cyclones manager Dean Cosme was coaching 3rd base when he realized the batter was about to draw a walk.  Cosme walked up to IF Matt Barber, who was on deck at the time and asked him a question. With affirmation of his question, Cosme walked back to the 3rd base coaches box and looked on as the batter, 1B Chip Davison drew his walk and trotted to 1st base. Before the next pitch was thrown, Cosme leaned over to OF Herb Goodwin, who was beginning to take his lead at 3rd and whispered "safety squeeze". What transpired next was a thing of beauty. A perfectly executed squeeze play that broke the 4-4 tie and would lead the Cyclones to add 2 more runs to go ahead 7-4. 

The game would finish with a 7-6 score as Cosme, who started on the mound for the Cyclones would remove himself after loading the bases with no out and bring on Andy Murrell to close the game and secure the victory. It was the first victory of the season for Cosme and the Cyclones and hopefully the start of something good.

40+ CYCLONES TOPPLE PANTHERS 14-5
Dominant Cyclones performance capped in final inning by 3 run Home Run
 

3B BJ Galvan stands in for his at bat vs. Panthers Sep 9, 2021

Sep 10, 2021 - After a rough opening to the season against the 40+ Hurricanes, the Cyclones were able to rebound and secure a victory over the 40+ Panthers 13-5 at Anderson Park on Thursday night.

CYCLONES MOVE TO 40+
New division, new rivals, similar results?

Sep 1 , 2021 - Since the Spring Cyclones captured the Spring 2019 HHL Championship, things haven't gone that smoothly for the Cyclones, to say the least.  After 6 years and 12 seasons played in the 30+ Division, the Cyclones moved to the 40+ Division for the Fall 2021 season and beyond. The 40+ Houston Cyclones look forward to the new teams, new rivals and new friends that will be made as a result of this move.

With that said, the first opponent for the 40+ Cyclones were the 40+ Hurricanes, whom the Cyclones are familiar with from the 35+ Division which was an additional team for Mgr Dean Cosme and the Cyclones. The Hurricanes quickly jumped ahead on the Cyclones in the 1st inning and tacked on 1 run in the 2nd and 3rd innings as well. In the 5th inning however, things broke down for the Cyclones as the humidity began to take it's toll on some of the players. The Cyclones allowed 8 runs to score to make the game 11-1. 

Most of the evening, the Cyclones were unable to muster much of an offense.  It wasn't until the final inning where the Cyclones would mount their comeback. Down 11-1, the Cyclones scored 8 runs in the final inning off of walks, errors and timely hits to get within 2 runs. With the bases loaded and 2 out and 2 runs down, the final out was recorded as a strikeout and the game was over.