United Kingdom wins 1st ever Burby World Cup

UK are World Cup Champs from left..Joe Callahan,Jason Darby, Rob Scotland, Robert Irvine (absent Scott Baker)

 

2 Weeks ago these words were uttered by UK manager Rob Scotland…"This version of the United Kingdom will be a tough test when clicking on all cylinders. Callaghan and Baker throwing up 0’s, Darby and Scotland spraying hits all over the field and Irvine sending the ball into orbit….On March 21st....The UK will rise again!!”

 

6 Crews representing 6 regions of the world took to the field on a cold/wet day of burby. The Hood and Diplomatico turned into Morse St. Public School and Diplomatico….the long way, due to poor conditions. This made for two compelling and different styles of game at each park. The west bracket at The Dip was home to CanAm, Caribbean and the UK, and Morse St. played host to Eastern Block, Far East and the Mediterranean

The action began bright and early as Eastern Block would get a surprising challenge from Far East, who tied the game in the 7th inning only to see Greg Majster launch a walkoff HR to win the game. In the west, a shorthanded Caribbean team fought hard but came up on the losing end of a 7-0 game thanks to Robert Irvine’s 4 RBI and a shutdown effort from 4 UK pitchers.

 

Next up we saw the vast CanAm roster arrive at The Dip to challenge the UK. Another lockdown pitching effort including Joe Callaghans arrival to the tourney would lead the UK to a 5-0 win. In the East, the Mediterraneans were giving the Eastern Block all they could handle jumping out from 7-3….only to watch it fall apart in the 7th as EB escapes with another hard earned victory.

The time came for Nations to be sent home. CanAm and the Caribbean did battle in the final game to be hosted out west, and CanAm would get in the win column and send home a 3 man Caribbean squad that showed a lot of heart in their 2 games. Far East and Mediterranean would lock horns in the east and it was epic. This game needed a huge 7th inning strikeout from Tom Haivarlis on Ian Ariza to get into extras where the Meds were just too much on this day. Far East almost shocked the world, twice...and the new Cedarbrae team looks promising.

Semi-Finals - The Meds would stay on the field and square off against a UK squad with red hot bats, however now minus Baker and Callaghan the pitching was a concern. With a 5 spot in the 1st including a Rob Scotland grand slam, the UK had a much needed cushion. The Meds would hang tough and tally up 8 runs, scoring off all 3 UK arms but Darby/Irvine/Scotland back2back2back jacks sealed this one. 13-8 final in a truly fun and entertaining slugfest. The Eastern Block was now down Greg Majsters bat and as Adrian Golombek led teams tend to do, they found ways to get it done. CanAm was never truly out of this game but could never get the offense clicking and the innings went by as Skasko and Heard led EB to the 4-1 win.

Robert Irvine of the UK crushes a pitch from The Mediteranians Gino Collura in semi final action

Finals - EB vs UK was a great finals matchup pitting the 2 winningest managers in TBL history against one another. Scotland and Skasko got the nod and neither looked too good in the early going. There was some hope that Callaghan might be back, but it was doubtful…sure enough in true unpredictable Joe fashion there he was waltzing onto the field right as his turn to bat came in the 1st inning. The UK was fired up and stormed out to a big lead on several hits and capitalized on a key error to have a big inning. Irvine was in full beast mode with 2 more HR this game and a relatively fresh Joe Callaghan would take the reins and pitch 5 innings of 2 run ball in the freezing cold to lead the UK to the first ever Burby World Cup!

Fantastic day of games from a bunch of true burby diehards. Everyone fought their ass off and in the end it was a full team effort from the UK to take the victory. Baker locked it down on the mound in the early games, Scotland the Darby were steady bats and arms throughout, Irvine went insane with 4 HR and 14 RBI on the day and Callaghan did Callaghan type stuff with pesky at bats, big hits and 5 innings in the finals. Thanks to everyone who made this possible, we look forward to defending our crown next year!