Around the ABL: April 7-April 20

April 7: Montreal 1, Dallas 4. The Montreal Bandits, seeking their third consecutive ABL Championship, get mowed down by Rich Bussell. Bussell (1-0) strikes out nine and allows only one hit over seven shutout innings. The Texans go on to sweep the three-game series with the Bandits. The absence of Tom Becker looms large as Montreal scores only four runs in those three games.

Colin St. John

April 9: Eureka 2, Las Vegas 9. Colin St. John wastes no time silencing the skeptics. In 2012, he won the 2012 Silver Slugger Award and led his Las Vegas Jokers to the World Series. In June of 2013, he suffered a concussion and was lost for the rest of the season. At 32 years old, everyone wondered whether he would be the same player.

Well, everyone except St. John. "Imma gonna tear the cover off 'a that ball," the New Jersey native said, "You got a problem with that?"

And tear the cover off the ball he has. Today he goes 4-for-4 with a home run and three runs-batted-in. Over the next six games, he will rack up 15 hits in 26 at-bats with four home runs and 11 RBIs. And you can bet that if St. John is back, then the Jokers are back to contend for Sparky Anderson Division crown.

Orlando
Carranzo

April 10: Eureka 11, Las Vegas 6. The Hornets' Orlando Carranzo hits for the cycle! He triples and scores in the second, singles in the fourth, and doubles in the fifth. In the sixth, with two men on, he completes the cycle with a three-run home run to deep center field. The 26-year-old left fielder has exploded out of the gate in 2014, batting .395 with four home runs in his first 12 games.

April 10: San Francisco 15, Cabo San Lucas 14. In a wild, wild game, the Quakes take a big lead, 12-3, but the Toreros come all the way back. Clarence Sutton hits a grand slam in the fifth: he goes 3-for-6 with eight RBI. Boring Dan Smith's two-run double in the seventh puts the Toreros ahead. In the ninth, Austin McCabe hits a sac fly that scores Tom Klein to tie the game, 14-14. Speed wins the game for in the 10th. Backup outfielder Lawrence Buchanan singles, then steals second. When the catcher's throw sails in to center, he races to third. Marvin Welch, acquired in the offseason, singles Buchanan home.

April 12: Mile High 9, Las Vegas 10. Did I mention that Colin St. John is hot? Tonight he comes to the plate in the ninth with two outs, two on, and the Jokers trailing by three. St. John lines a home run down the first-base line that just clears the fence, tying the game. In the 10th, Lou Gibson hits a walk-off home run to win the game for the Jokers.

Adam Thomas

April 13: Maple 1, Boston 3. One of the league's better developing rivalries is the one between the Cardinals and Marauders. The two teams have met in the playoffs each of the past two seasons, with Maple coming out on top last year. This weekend, Boston takes two of three behind stellar pitching from Jimmy Drake and Adam Thomas. Yesterday, Drake (1-0) pitches seven shutout innings. Boston wins, 6-0. Tonight, Thomas (1-1) pitches seven shutout innings, striking out nine and allowing only one hit.

Tom Becker

April 16: Washington 9, Minnesota 6. Tom Becker—2013 MVP and World Series Champion—arrived in Washington with the greatest of expectations. Could he single-handedly turn around a team that lost over 100 games a year ago? His 2014 started slowly, hitting his first home run yesterday, in the ninth game of the season. Today, Horseface reminds the league why he is the most explosive hitter in baseball. He goes 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI.

April 17: Jersey 5, Maple 8. Anthony Lewis hits a three-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the 11th to win the game for the Marauders.

Jim Crawford

April 18: Seattle 5,  Nottinghamshire 8. The Sasquatch take a lead into the ninth, 5-2, but the Outlaws load the bases with one out. Dane Moore bobbles an easy groundball to short, scoring one run. A ground-out scores a second, and a Jim Crawford single drives in the tying and winning runs. Crawford has been red hot: in 53 at-bats, he is batting .340 with five doubles and three home runs.

April 19: South Carolina 0, San Francisco 1. Bomber Jeremy Rogers (0-1) gets out of a first-inning jam while allowing a single run—Valentín Cabrera singles in Artie Sanders—and he settles down to pitch eight strong innings. But Brian Hudson (1-2) pitches eight shutout innings,