Bats Lose Two at Home
By Mark Fagan, 8:07PM, Mon. Jan. 22, 2007
Oh my. After losing to Laredo Friday and Corpus Christi Saturday in the cozy, chilly confines of the Bat Cave, the Ice Bats have some real soul searching to do to get back on the playoff path. They came out strong and played well vs. the Bucks but couldn't convert on their scoring chances and failed in all 11 of their power-play opportunities losing 3-1. That's right, zero for 11. The Bats entered Friday's game with a 9.9% success rate on the power play. That figure needs to double for the Bats to stay in playoff contention. The Bats also came up short on the power play Sunday going zero for four vs. the Rayz.
Tony "new guy" Quesada got his second and third start (and second and third loss) for the Bats over the weekend and once again played well but didn't get any goal support from his teammates. Bats points leader John McNabb tied the game at 6:25 into the third period but Austin fell behind for good less than six minutes later with Laredo's Chris Korchinski slipping one past Quesada. Jeff Bes of the Bucks had two goals, one on the power play and an empty-netter with three seconds remaining.
The Murchison Middle School girls choir sang the pregame anthem and did a wonderful job. As they filtered past me to get to their seats one of the girls professed her love for me. I'm sure it was a dare to mess with the creepy, unshaven, fat guy; but hell, I'll take it as a compliment.
Hopefully referee Tom Sterns had a police escort following the game. After calling a four-minute penalty (slashing, unsportsmanlike conduct) on Austin's John Ronan 14 minutes into the third, the Bats fans mercilessly tore into him (verbally) for the remainder of the game. Apparently, he's both a bozo and a loser.
On Saturday the Bats started out with a one-goal lead but then gave up four unanswered to lose to the Corpus Christi Rayz 4-1. Austin only picked up one of a possible eight points in their four-game homestand and will certainly need to figure out how to get out of this dreadful scoring slump. Two goals in two nights at home is not gonna cut it.
The Bats play three on the road before returning home Sunday, January 28 at 4pm to host the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.
Sept. 4, 2018
