Trick plays, a local legend and "SCANDAL!" made for a FUN night at Busch.
July 18, 2025: Party Animals 2(6) ~ Savannah Bananas 4(6).
The Savannah Bananas and the Party Animals are doing a two-game series in St. Louis at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. These games were originally scheduled on April 4 and 5 but were postponed due to predicted heavy rain and inclement weather. This is also the first time since June 21 that the Bananas have faced the Animals. About 44,000 fans in the Gateway City congregated on the Busch getting ready for a night of Banana Ball and surprises that is very fans first.
The Bananas start with Noah Niznik on the mound. The inning starts with a trick play out to Reese Alexiades. Then Robert Anthony Cruz (RAC) would do his own trick play in left off of Armando Bacerra. With two outs, Andy Cosgrove would hit one out to left for a double and Noah Fisher would get a single out to right bringing in Cosgrove. Bryson Bloomer would then hit one out to right field for a two run homer bringing the Animals to 3 runs for the inning. In the bottom of the first, the Animals would start with Garrett Delano. On the first pitch, DR Meadows would hit a foul ball to left which was cleanly caught by a fan. A strikeout to Reese Alexiades and a ground out to Ryan Cox would end the inning for the Nanners and the Party Animals pick up the first point of the game.
Bottom of the second, RAC would reach first on a ball four sprint and advances to second on a wild pitch to Kyle (KJ) Jackson. On the second pitch, he would hit out to shallow right center bringing RAC around for the inning winning run. Game now tied at 1 point each.
Top of the fourth inning starts with Noah Fisher leading off with a double, followed by a pair of trick plays by DR Meadows and Jackson Olson. With two outs, Jason Swan would pick up a ball four sprint scoring Fisher; then Bronsom Balholm picks up a sprint to score Swan. Dustin Baber would hit a double out to right to bring in Balholm. The half ends on a trick play by DR Meadows, his second on the night. The Party Animals has set the bar at 3.
After some “Hey Baby” and a very happy daughter, we move to the bottom of the fourth. After Jackson Olson flies out to center, DR Meadows would hit to shallow left which one umpire called foul and the other fair. They would give Meadows second base, but that was challenged by the Party Animals. My view of the replay from the high home camera angle shows the ball right on the line, which would be a fair ball. The two BTV camera angles were not able to show anything to overturn the call. Dan Oberst would then foul out to a fan in the third deck. Reece Alexiades would reach first on a trick play missed by Jason Swan bringing Meadows home. Dalton Mauldin, pinch hitting for Ryan Cox pops a fly to right to end the inning. With three runs, the Party Animals wins the inning and they are up 2~1.
Bottom of the fifth, Robert Anthony Cruz would pop up into a Jason Swan trick play. Kyle Jackson would knock one out to right to get on first. Corelle Prime would then knock one to deep left to win the inning for the Bananas. We are level again at 2~2. Stilts was brought in to pitch in the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Eric Jones Jr. and Jackson Olson will get on through a pair of trick plays missed to Reece Hampton. A DR Meadows RBI to center would bring in pinch runner Malachi Mitchell to win the inning. Bananas now up 3~2.
The seventh inning got very interesting. The Bananas would bring in reliever Ryan Kellogg to take over for Jared Donalson. Dustin Baber flies out to left, Sal Jacobo gets on with a single to right. Reece Hampton would strike out to Kellogg and Becerra would single to right. With two on and two out, Jesse Cole announces the guest pitcher, two-time Gold Glove winner Adam Wainright, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2005~2023. Wainwright would face Armando Bacerra who rolls one to right and gets on base. We now have two on for the Animals. Wainwright then faces Andy Cosgrove that flies out to DR Meadows glove tip trick play, 102 for the DR this year.
Bottom of the seventh went 1-2-3 for the Bananas, but what happened afterwards is what everyone is still talking about. The Bananas are always known for jumping on trends and memes, and then capitalizing on them with Bananaland grace. With the recent story about the CEO who was caught with their mistress at a Coldplay concert, we saw the Man Nanas on the kiss cam and then it cuts to.. wait! WHAT!!! PHARTY AND PRINCESS POTASSIA!!! Say it isn’t so! Once our lovely princess noticed the jumbotron, she did not want to have anything to do with it!
Despite all of this, we still have a Banana Ball game to finish. Top of the eighth, Noah Fisher flies out to left, Bloomer Bottom of the 8th, after RAC pops out to Reese Hampton, Bryson Bloomer hits into a Kyle Jackson/Eric Jones double trick play. A double to right would put Tanner Thomas on base, but the inning would end with Jason Swan flying out to right fielder Reese Alexiades.
Bottom of the eighth would start with a RAC fly out to center with a spectacular catch made by Reece Hampton. Kyle Jackson would come on a ball four sprint. Corelle Prime takes one out to right center to get on base. Runners on first and second. Eric Jones Jr. sends one to right to load up the bases. With the inning winning run 90 feet away, Bill LeRoy grounds to Bryson Bloomer who takes the force at home. Two out and bases still loaded. Jackson Olson would then get hit by a pitch to give the inning to the Nanners. Bananas now up 4~2 points.
Top of the ninth, the Bananas have Danny Hosley on the mound and strikes out DH Bronson Balholm. Dustin Baber would ground one to the glove magician Ryan Cox, who pulls “the professor” to get Baber out at first. This is Coxy’s 135th trick play on the season. With two out, Noah Fisher comes in as the golden batter and grounds to Jackson Olson, between the legs trick play to Eric Jones to end the half and the game. Bananas win.
Bananas are now 27-23 on the season and the Party Animals are 32-19. The Bananas had a total of 16 trick plays and the Animals had 3. DR Meadows was declared the Showman of the Night with, among other things, 4 trick play.
The Bananas and the Party Animals take to Busch Stadium again tonight (July 19, 2025) starting at 7PM CDT (8PM EDT) for another great night of Banana Ball action. Let’s see if they can outdo the off-field “action” that took place at this game. And to Princess Potassia, you are still my favorite princess and I still believe in you.
I spent way too many hours writing this one today. It’s almost game time again! I guess I could only end this with modifying one of my old roller derby slogans and say…
HIT HARD
TRICK PLAYS
MICHI-CHAN
BANANA LOVE…
1-2-3 FANS FIRST!
Good day Bananaland!
All screenshots: Fans First Entertainment. YT @TheSavannahBananas (fair use).
Additional credit: official scoresheets from Josh Talevski (X: @JoshTalevski)