Weekly Top Five: April 6-April 12

It's a brand new baseball season, and I've decided to use a brand new format for my weekly recaps. This is the Weekly Top Five, and I'll be listing what I think are the five best games, performances, or story lines of the week. Of course, this is just one man's opinion. Feel free to argue in the comments!

So who made the inaugural Weekly Top Five? I considered Jersey's Bobby McClughan, who went 4-for-4 with two home runs on opening day against Cabo San Lucas. I considered Seattle's Salvador Salgado, who went 2-for-3 with two home runs and six runs batted in against Carolina. I considered the Georgia Grays pair of dramatic wins against Maple.

But, in the end, none of these made the cut. Without further ado, the first Weekly Top Five of 2015.

#5: Fuller and Bailey in 1-0 Pitchers' Duel

Joe Fuller

April 12: Jacksonville 1, San Francisco 0. The Jacks' Joe Fuller and the Quakes' Charles Bailey pitch dueling shutouts for seven innings.

In the eighth, a walk, sac bunt, and wild pitch put Jacksonville catcher Michael Coleman on third. Don Beasley singles Coleman in for the game's only run. Bailey strikes out eight while allowing three hits and three walks, but he gets the hard-luck loss.

Fuller (2-0) pounds the strike zone. He walks none, surrenders three hits, strikes out six, and uses only 92 pitches to shutout San Francisco.

Jacksonville is off to a strong start in 2015, winning each of their first two series.

#4: Montreal and Nottinghamshire in 18-Inning Marathon

April 8: Montreal 8, Nottinghamshire 4. The only two teams to have won the ABL World Series square off in the first series of the year. They split the first two games—little did they know that they still had two games to go.

The final game of the three-game set lasts the equivalent of two baseball games: it goes 18 innings, takes nearly six hours to play, and requires 151 at-bats and 586 pitches.

Tim Shields

In the top of the ninth, the Bandits were one strike from defeat. With two outs and runners on the corners, Tim Shields swings on a 2-2 slider and bloops the ball into short left-center. Dan Allen races home, tying the game, 4-4.

In extra innings, the bullpens shut down the offenses. Outlaw closer Oliver Bower enters the game in the 11th and 4 2/3 shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven.

Dan Allen

With the game still tied at four in the 17th, last season's Rookie of the Year, Tim Raines, doubles home Masaki Baba and puts the Bandits ahead, 5-4, but Outlaw Jim Crawford leads off the bottom of the inning with a solo home run, and the game continues.

In the 18th, Allen singles with the bases loaded, scoring two. A sac fly from Raines scores another. A single from Shields scores Allen. The Bandits win, 8-4, and the former World Champs take the series from the current World Champs.

Fortunately, both teams had Thursday off.

#3: Opening Day Comeback in Ann Arbor

Roberto Guzmán

April 6: Minnesota 5, Ann Arbor 6. It's 40 degrees on opening day in Ann Arbor, but 50,000 fans brave the weather to see last year's Lasorda Division winners face their northern rivals, the Minnesota Berserkers.

The Minneapolis nine take a three-run lead into the eighth. The Barn Owls get two men on base, but with two outs, it's left to Roberto Guzmán to get the big hit. He turns on the first pitch, and drives it 461 feet, deep into the right field bleachers.

The Berserkers score another run in the ninth, retaking the lead, 5-4. In the bottom of the ninth, shortstop Rafael Romero homers, sending the game into extras.

In the bottom of the 10th, Guzmán steps to the plate once more. He turns on another fastball, and while it travels 100 feet less than his previous home run, it still travels enough to get over the fence. At home on opening day, and the Barn Owls win on an extra-inning, walk-off home run!

#2: Maurice Gould Hurls Two Shutouts

Maurice Gould

April 6: Kansas City 0, Las Vegas 6. Maurice Gould is pitching on opening day at home against the Tornadoes. After winning the Cy Young Award in 2012 and 2013, Gould had a down year in 2014 and ran second in the voting behind Mile High's Manuel Ruíz. Every Joker fan wants to know if Gould will regain his top-dog status in 2015.

Gould wastes no time. He strikes out the first three batters of the game. He goes on to hurl a two-hit shutout. Both hits are singles. He strikes out 11, including striking out the side in both the first and the sixth innings. He walks one and retires the last 13 batters that he faces.

April 11: Las Vegas 7, Mile High 0. Five days later, Gould (2-0) does it again. Squaring off against Ruíz, Gould makes a statement by striking out 12, walking none, and allowing only five singles.

For those keeping score at home, that's 18 innings, 23 strikeouts, seven hits, and one walk.

The Jokers won the Munson League pennant last season, but they lost the World Series to Nottinghamshire in a seven-game series. As reported on their team blog, their window of opportunity closing, and General Manager Francois Neveu is looking to make 2015 the year of the Joker. They have started this season with a vengeance, winning each of their first seven games.

#1: Anthony Atkinson Pitches a No-Hitter

Anthony
Atkinson

#1. April 8: Eureka 2, Mile High 0. Anthony Atkinson tosses the third no-hitter in ABL history! His trademark cutter and deep mix of off-speed pitches keeps the Mustang hitters off-balance all evening. The 21-year-old Atkinson (1-0) strikes out six and gets twelve groundouts. He walks four.

With Eureka's offense managing to score only two runs, the game was in doubt entering the ninth. However, the tension dissipated quickly as Atkinson got three grounds outs on three pitches.

Eureka drafted Atkinson as a teenager in the fourth round of the inaugural draft, and he instantly became one of the league's top prospects. In 2014, he began to deliver on his promise, going 10-8 with a 4.23 ERA, but his season was cut short when an injury to his shoulder knocked him out in August. It took the entire off-season to rehab, and Hornets fans had openly wondered whether he would make a full recovery.

Eureka went on to sweep the four-game series with Mile High. The Mustangs are galloping in the wrong direction: last year's wild-card team has lost their first seven games.