Bananas charm the Charm City with home runs, girl power, "Hairspray", guest players and an exciting ending.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 : The Firefighters 3(9)TP9 ~ Savannah Bananas 4(9)TP9.
What started with “Good Morning Baltimore”, sung by the talented Princess Potassia turned out to be a wild Saturday evening in the Charm City as the Firefighters come to face The Savannah Bananas in the backyard of the Michi’s birthplace, Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore (yes, the Michi was born up the road in Towson, all those many years ago).
The Bananas would start with Kyle Luigs who has pitched over 42 innings in this year’s World Tour with 35 strikeouts, 14 ball four sprints (B4Ss) and an earned run average (ERA) of 5.53. In the first inning for The Firefighters, Liam Spence and Dalton Cornett would get on with base hit singles to start off the night. Luigs would then send Stephen Cullen swinging for the first out. Logan Lacey comes up to the dish. With a 1-2 count, Spence makes an attempt for third and was nailed down by Danny Holsey for the second out. Lacey would eventually fly out on a DR Meadows backflip trick play.
Bottom of the first, The Firefighters will start Bradford Webb, 11 innings, 11 stikeouts, 4 B4Ss and a 9.26 ERA. DR Meadows, who comes into this game with a .355 batting average would drop one left to get on, only to have it negated by Ty Jackson hitting into a Caden Green trick play double play. Dan Oberst would be caught swinging and the inning ends scoreless.
Firefighters will get a run in the second inning on a pair of B4Ss to Dakota McFadden and Ron Franklin, Jr. In the bottom of second, KJ Jackson pops up into a Caden Green tip-drill Logan Lacey behind the back double trick play (wow, that was a mouthful!).
Bottom of the second, two outs, no one on. Ryan Cox is dealt into a B4S. He attempted for second but was tagged by Noah Bridges on the slide. Coxy points to the base to appeal and the fans challenge the call. This one is very hard to call because of the limited camera angles that Banana Ball has. The view from the center field camera shows Cox’s foot touching the bag but is not clear whether Bridges’ glove was touching his leg. The high home camera view was also not clear, made more difficult because the broadcast was in split screen, the low third camera was blocked by the umpire’s leg. A part of me thinks that Cox did indeed get is foot in there before the tag. Unfortunately, the camera angles did not show anything clear for Biko or Josh to overturn the call and thus the out call at second stands. The Nanners were unable to answer the Firefighters run, so the Firefighters get a point.
Top of the third, Mason Maxwell leads off on a B4S by Luigs and Liam Spence gets a base hit single. On a 1-2 count. Spence hits to third base side field level where a fan was able to reach far out to make a bare-handed catch. There was no dispute that this was a clean catch. Stephen Cullen grounds to Danny Hosley, to Jackson Olson for the force at second then to KJ Jackson at first where the ball gets away scoring Maxwell. Bananas not able to top this and the inning goes to the Firefighters. They are now up 2~0.
Bottom of the fourth, Dan Oberst puts one just over Caden Green to get on. Kyle Jackson puts one over the head of Logan Lacey. Oberst slides into third and is called out. The Bananas challenge the call. The view from the high first angle clearly shows Oberst’s foot was firmly on the bag while the tag was still inches away.
Jesse Cole would then introduce guest player Matt Wieters who played for the Orioles from 2009~2016 and is a 4-time All Star. Wieters wound ground one up the middle off the glove of Isaac Parra bringing Obserst home. The Bananas win the inning and we are now at 2~1, Firefighters.
Top of the fifth with Corelle Prime on the mound, starts with Mason Maxwell hitting a foul ball towards left that was caught by a fan.
Isaac Parra would come up next for the Firefighters. The first two pitches were strikes and Parra was batting right handed. Right before the third pitch, he jumped quickly from a right-handed position to lefty and then he just taps the ball in what appears to be a drag bunt. Parra would beat everyone to the bag. Home plate umpire Vincent Chapman would then eject Parra from the game for bunting. Remember the Banana Ball rule, no bunting because bunting sucks. After the umpires confer with each other, the ejection was overruled and Parra is safe at first. Dalton Cornet gets on with by a B4S advancing Parra to third. Stephen Cullen grounds towards short, the ball is mishandled by Danny Hosley scoring Parra. Parra is the only run for the Firefighters in this inning.
Bottom of the fifth, two outs and Eric Jones Jr. gets a B4S off of reliever Ga’von Wray and he is able to get a second base. Malachi Mitchell will pinch run. Danny Hosley would hit out to center, bringing in Mitchell to score. Dalton Mauldin also sends one to center. This will move Hosley to third and Mauldin in first. Dakota “Stilts” Albritton is brought in to pinch hit. On the second pitch, Stilts would send a high fly ball to Mason Maxwell in right, which he caught bare handed. The inning is a push. Firefighters still up 2~1.
Top of the sixth. Joe Lytle will lead off for the Firefighters. Lytle will send down to left center to get on. Ron Franklin Jr. would send on very deep left and over with a two run jack. Three more down the order with two out, Mason Maxwell with the count full hits a foul ball towards third which was cleanly caught in the upper deck by a fan. The Bananas were not able to score in the bottom of the sixth. Firefighters now up 3~1 in points.
Things went crazy in the seventh inning for both teams. The Firefighters would get a 2 run homer by Dalton Cornett. During this inning, the Bananas would introduce Kelsie Whitmore to come up to pitch. Kelsie is a member of the U.S. National Women’s Baseball team and has played on several other teams including most recently, the new Oakland Ballers in the Pioneer League. With two out, a runner on second and a full count, Joe Lytle would hit one into the deepest part of center field. Firefighters coach Val Perez would wave Lytle home and two more runs would score on a Lytle inside the park home run.
Bottom of the seventh and the Bananas are faced with a target of four runs, five to win the inning. Ryan Cox will get on with a B4S. Robert Anthony Cruz (RAC) would hit out to deep right and we now have runners on second and third. Jesse Cole then introduces Nick Markakis who played for the O’s from 2006~2014. With the count 2-0, Markakis would pop straight up. Joe Lytle took off his helmet and held it up, apparently attempting to make a trick play by catching it in the helmet. The ball came in too hard and bounced out of the helmet and reached the ground. Since the trick play was attempted in foul territory, it was ruled a foul ball and the count is now 2-1. I don’t think I have ever seen that kind of trick play attempt before. With the count 2-2, Markakis would pop up to Logan Lacey, who misses the trick play to put Markakis. Malachi Mitchell comes in to pinch run.
Dan Hosley will pop up to Lacey who is able to catch it this time; two out. Jackson Olson would hit one to right scoring Cox. The throw from right to catcher Joe Lytle was off kilter and sent out of play scoring RAC. There was some controversy on the call because the Bananas believe that because the ball went out of play (by the Firefighters dugout), the other runners should be able to advance. They keep things as they were originally called, rummers on second and third with two out. DR Meadows bops one out to center scoring Mitchell and Olson and sending DR Meadows to third. As Ty Jackson was coming to the plate, DR Meadows would successfully steal home. The Bananas win the inning 5~4. Firefighters still up 3~2 in points.
The top of the eighth had no score by the Firefighters, but reliever Zack Phillips did hit Noah Bridges. We also must note that even with the plunk, the entire top of the eighth inning was done in only 55 seconds, a very nice MPI and the fastest of the 2025 World Tour so far. The Nanners would get the point through a Dan Oberst B4S and a base hit to left by Reece Alexiades. We are now tied at 3~3 in points as we go to the final inning.
The Firefighters, despite a B4S off of Austin Krzeminski to Liam Spence and a base hit by Logan Lacey, were not able to score in the top of the ninth. Bottom of the ninth starts with Ryan Cox with a fly out to Ron Franklin in center for the first out. Robert Anthony Cruz would then step up and on the second pitch would send it to right center over the 373 sign for the game winning solo home run. The Bananas win the game, 5~4 on points.
Special message from the Michi
After the game had concluded, Michi-chan Sports noticed multiple comments on social media that RAC’s ninth inning game winning home run had hit the head of a young girl. The family of the young girl who was hit did confirm the incident and posted a picture of the girl with Robert Anthony Cruz both giving the thumbs up. I am glad to see that she is in good spirits.
I was very deeply disappointed by the rage comments that I saw all over social media that it was the parents fault and they should have been more responsible. This was an accident and accidents do happen. Yes, they can be avoided, but sometimes the ability to respond to a literal bullet coming at you potentially at 100 miles per hour takes split second instincts. We must acknowledge here that are risks that come with setting in the front rows of outfield seats and families should be aware of. When you attend a game, you must always practice “head’s up” wherever you sit, even behind the netted areas. If you see something coming in your direction, a simple yell of “HEAD’S UP!” could save someone from injury.
I did review the video and I do feel that the person with the blue shirt and the white writing directly above the 373 sign in the front row deserves some recognition. It appears he had a glove and he was trying to stop the ball from hitting her. I may be wrong, but that was my candid observation from the grainy YouTube video that I get. Again, I wish that girl the best.
Savannah Bananas win: The Firefighters 3(9) ~ Savannah Bananas 4(9).
Firefighters trick plays: 9 ~ Parra (2), Cullen (2), Green, Spence, Lacey, Maxwell, Franklin Jr.
Bananas trick plays: 9 ~ Cox (3), Meadows (2), Hosley, Olson, K. Jackson, Cruz
Showman of the Game: Robert Anthony Cruz - Savannah Bananas
Trick play counts for both teams conflict between what was shown in the post game graphic and the official scoresheets. We use the scoresheet values.
All screenshots: Fans First Entertainment. YT @TheSavannahBananas (fair use).
Additional credit: official scoresheets from Josh Talevski (X: @JoshTalevski)