Buchanan named Chukars ‘10 manager

Posted on November 18, 2009 by michaellycklama

Brian Buchanan

For the third year in a row, the Idaho Falls Chukars will have a new manager. But this year’s edition won’t just be new to Idaho. He’ll be new to managing.

This will be the first managing job for Brian Buchanan, who spent the 2009 season playing for the Omaha Royals, Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate.

Carlos Martinez, the Chukars’ pitching coach in 2008, will return while manager Darryl Kennedy will take over the Royals’ Arizona League affiliate.

The New York Yankees drafted Buchanan in the first round, 24th overall, of the 1994 draft as an outfielder. Four years later, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Chuck Knoblauch. And the two years after that, the Twin traded him to San Diego for Jason Bartlett.

Buchanan played five seasons in the Major League, hitting .258 with 32 home runs in 767 at-bats.

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Video scoreboard update

Posted on November 16, 2009 by michaellycklama

Two video screens will adorn the left field scoreboard at Melaleuca Field next summer, but they’re already beginning to take shape.

Each board will measure 12 feet by 22 feet and will have full video capability, featuring video clips, scores from around the league, player photos, sponsor and game information and game schedules.

The support posts for the video board were installed Monday morning and the entire support structure is set to be completed by December. The two video boards will follow in the spring.

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Broadcaster Jim Garchow died Sunday

Posted on September 20, 2009 by michaellycklama
9-20 Jim Garshow file

Jim Garchow in his home before the 2008 Emotion Bowl.

Longtime broadcaster Jim Garchow passed away at approximately 4:45 a.m. Sunday in his home. He was 72.

Garchow, who has called minor league baseball with the same club longer than any other broadcaster in America, succumbed to acute leukemia, the Garchow family said in a news release Sunday afternoon.

“We appreciate the thoughts and prayers as Dad bravely faced the challenges of illness this year,” the Garchow family said in the release. “He was so happy to have completed his 39th season broadcasting the Chukars games on Labor Day. We will miss him everyday.”

KUPI broadcast partner John Balginy said Garchow listened to his grandson, Michael Berger, lead Skyline to an upset of Hillcrest on Friday night.

“He was alert the whole night,” Balginy said. “Then after I signed off, he went downhill.”

Garchow battled numerous health issues over the past year that forced him to leave his role as the voice of Skyline football and basketball. The last high school football game he broadcasted was Sept. 5, 2008.

Poor circulation in his legs forced him from the booth and into the hospital, where he spent three of six months during the winter and spring. Eventually, doctors amputated his right leg eight inches below his right knee.

A bout with pneumonia kept him in the hospital until June 15. But come June 23, he was back in the broadcast booth barring his name at Melaleuca Field, ready for his 39th season of professional baseball.

He started broadcasting baseball in Idaho Falls in 1970 with the Idaho Falls Angels.

Garchow was restricted a wheel chair and oxygen tanks as the season began and then improved enough to switch to a walker. But his health deteriorated as the season went on.

In addition to his broadcast duties at KUPI, Garchow served as the station’s general manager for 37 years.

Garchow was kind enough to share his vast knowledge of Skyline and the Emotion Bowl with the Post Register over the years. To hear his voice again one last time, check out our audio slideshow for last year’s Emotion Bowl as Garchow provides the narration. Or you can read some of the classic Emotion Bowl stories he told me that day (live tigers, gastrointestinal pranks and crowd-control failure) that makes the Emotion Bowl what it is.

Note: Garchow’s name has appeared for years as Garshow because he wanted to helped people pronounce his last name (Gar-SHOW).

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Chukars lose in season finale

Posted on September 12, 2009 by michaellycklama

The Idaho Falls Chukars wrapped up the 2009 Pioneer League baseball season with a 4-3 road loss to the Casper Ghosts on Friday.

Chukars starter Sugar Ray Marimon led with a 3-1 lead after six innings. The big righthander struck out six in six innings.

The lead didn’t last long.

I.F. reliever Ryan Dennick allowed three earned runs in two innings to give Casper the win.

All three of the Chukars’ runs came in the third inning, when Idaho Falls took a 3-1 lead.

The Chukars used four hits and a Ghosts’ error to take the lead. After tying the game in the seventh inning, the Ghosts got a bases-loaded RBI single from David Kandilas in the eighth inning.

Alex Llanos and Wil Myers both went 2 for 4 in the loss. Both of Myers’ hits were doubles.

The Chukars finish the 2009 season with a 43-31 overall record, which is the second best record in the Pioneer League. However, Idaho Falls missed the playoffs.

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Chukars top Casper 5-4 in second to last game

Posted on September 10, 2009 by michaellycklama
Deivy Batista

Deivy Batista

A night after a single error cost the Chukars in the bottom of the ninth, Idaho Falls took advantage of a Casper error for the game-winning run in a 5-4 win.

Tied 4-4 in the fifth, Idaho Falls’ Alex Llanos reached on a fielding error from Casper shortstop David Hernandez. A pair of wild pitches allowed Llanos to advance to third and he scored the deciding run on a Deivy Batista sacrifice fly.

The sacrifice fly completed the comeback from an early 4-0 deficit. Casper struck in the bottom of the first with a three-run Jared Clark home run before adding another run in the third off starter Santiago Garrido.

Idaho Falls answered right back in the top of the fourth, dragging four runs across the plate thanks to RBI singles from Wil Myers and Tito Espinosa, and a two-run Malcom Culver single.

Garrido retired Casper in order in the bottom of the fifth after Idaho Falls took the lead and reliever Richard Folmer faced two over the minimum through the final three innings to record his eighth save of the season. The eighth save ties him for second in the league in that category.

The win moves Idaho Falls to 23-14 (.622) in the second half of the season, but still leaves it eight games behind the Orem Owlz, who won again Thursday. At 43-30 (.589), Idaho Falls has the second best overall record in the Pioneer League heading into the season’s final day.

The Chukars wrap up the 2009 season starting at 7:05 p.m. today in Casper.

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15 Chukars headed to Fall Instructional

Posted on September 10, 2009 by michaellycklama

With the season two days from its end, the Royals have announced the players that will participate in its Falls Instructional League. Of the 56 players invited, 15 played with the Chukars this summer.

That list includes:

Patrick Keating, RHP
Scott Kelley, RHP
Brendan Lafferty, LHP
Chris Dwyer, LHP
Cole White, RHP
Sugar Ray Marimon, RHP
Santiago Garrido, RHP
Eric Basurto, RHP
Salvador Perez, C
Ben Theriot, C
Wil Myers, C
Joey Lewis, 1B
Deivy Batista, SS
Hilton Richardson, OF
Carlo Testa, OF

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Franco’s error costs Chukars

Posted on September 9, 2009 by michaellycklama

Casper committed seven errors Wednesday, but it was the one the Chukars committed that handed Casper a 6-5 win.

With two outs in a 5-5 game in the bottom of the ninth, Idaho Falls second baseman Angel Franco had a groundball bounce off his glove and into center field. Instead of Casper’s Avery Barnes ending the game on a routine groundout, he stood at second base.

“He went to second due to the grass being real thick,” Chukars manager Darryl Kennedy said. “The ball really died.”

In came Casper pinch hitter Jared Clark and he singled into right field off reliever to Mitch Hodge. With Barnes, who is second in the league in stolen bases, at second, it was enough for him to score.

While the lone error hurt, most costly was Idaho Falls’ inability to take advantage of seven Casper errors. Of its five runs, only three were unearned.

“We had our chances early in the game,” Kennedy said. “Second and third, nobody out, bases loaded, nobody out. And out of those situations, we got one run. That’s what cost us the ball game. We let them off the hook early in the game. We should have scored more than five runs.”

Catcher Wil Myers continued his torrid a night after going 0-for-4. He went 2-for-3 Wednesday.

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Chukars win opener in Casper 4-2

Posted on September 8, 2009 by zachkyle

The Idaho Falls Chukars opened their season-ending, four-game series with a 4-2 road win over the Casper Ghosts on Tuesday.

The Chukars led throughout, as starter Bryan Paukovits (4-3) pitched five scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Paukovits struck out six batters, walked one and scattered four hits.
The Chukars took an early lead in the second inning when Joey Lewis scored on a bunt single by Malcom Culver.

Casper starter Jonathan Vargas was taken out of the game before throwing a pitch in the third inning.

His replacement, Billy Vopinek, didn’t fare much better, serving up a solo homer to Deivy Batista to give the Chukars a 2-0 lead.
Batista leads the Chukars with 13 homers on the season, tying him for fifth in the Pioneer League.

The Chukars tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh inning with a little two-out lightning when Alex Llanos ripped an RBI double before coming home on Angel Franco’s single.

Franco and Salvador Perez each had three hits for Idaho Falls and Derek Rodriguez had two.

The Chukars called on reliever Richard Folmer to wrap up the game in the ninth. With a 4-1 lead, Folmer worked himself into some trouble, thanks in part to his own throwing error. Folmer gave up two hits, a walk and a run to pull Casper within 4-2, but he struck out Casper leadoff hitter Avery Barnes to escape further damage and collect his seventh save.

The teams play game 2 of their series at 7:05 tonight.

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Richardson named an all-star

Posted on September 6, 2009 by michaellycklama
Hilton Richardson

Hilton Richardson

He may not be in the league anymore, but former Chukars outfielder Hilton Richardson was named to the Pioneer League’s All-Star team on Sunday.

In 48 games with the Chukars (he was promoted to Low-A Burlington, Iowa on Aug. 27), Richardson hit .313/.392/.428 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) while going 20-for-21 in stolen base attempts. The 2009 season marked a 180 degree turnaround for the seventh-round pick from 2007. In his first two professional seasons, he hit 201/.302/.333.

In seven games in Iowa, Richardson is hitting .136 with two stolen bases.

The all-star teams features eight position players, five pitchers and a manager along with honorable mentions. Six Chukars earned an honorable mention, including shortstop Deivy Batista (.270/.321/.504), catcher Salvador Perez (.313/.362/.436), relief pitcher Patrick Keating (1.78 ERA, 3.0 BB/9, 13.6 K/9), starting pitcher John Lamb (3.70 ERA, 2.4 BB/9, 10.0 K/9), pitcher Brendan Lafferty (3.04 ERA, 2.7 BB/9, 7.9 K/9) and manager Darryl Kennedy.

Ogden outfielder Brian Cavazos-Galvez earned the MVP award while Casper pitcher Chris Balcom-Miller was the league’s pitcher of the year. Orem manager Tom Kotchman was tabbed the all-star team’s manager.

The full team is as follows:

MVP: Brian Cavazos-Galvez, Ogden
Pitcher of the year: Chris Balcom-Miller, Casper
Manager: Tom Kotchman, Orem

C: Gorman Erickson, Ogden
1B: Dillon Baird, Orem
2B: David Nick, Missoula
3B: Brian Ruggiano, Ogden
SS: Mariekson Gregorius, Billings
OF: Brian Cavazos-Galvez, Ogden
OF: Jerry Sands, Ogden
OF: Hilton Richardson, Idaho Falls
P: Chris Balcom-Miller, Casper
P: Terry Doyle, Great Falls
P: Brandon Kloess, Great Falls
P: Matt Wickswat, Great Falls
P: Nicholas Bucci, Helena

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Chukars split doubleheader with Casper

Posted on September 5, 2009 by zachkyle

The Idaho Falls Chukars split a doubleheader with the Casper Ghosts Saturday at Melaleuca Field, losing 4-3 in the opener before taking a 2-0 win in the nightcap.

In Game 2, the Chukars’ entire run production came in the first inning. Casper starter Juan Gonzalez struggled with his command early, walking the first two Chukars he faced. That opened the door for Tito Espinosa’s RBI single and Ryan Stovall to beat out an infield single that brought home another Chukars run.

That gave the Chukars a 2-0 lead after one, a score that stood the span of the seven-inning game.

Chukars manager Darryl Kennedy said he felt fortunate to win a game when his offense collected just four hits.
“We got a win,” Kennedy said. “Both teams are eliminated from the playoffs, but I thought both teams played outstanding. Those were two good ballgames.”

Chukars starter Nick Wooley pitched two perfect innings, but he was pulled because the Chukars training staff is being cautious with an ongoing shoulder injury. Piggyback starter Pernell Halliman kept the shutout going for three innings to pick up the win, and Mitch Hodge pitched two shutout innings to earn the save.

The trio gave up just three hits and combined to strike out five batters while walking one.

Kennedy said the Chukars’ pitchers helped the team by pitching well because the staff is banged up and on short rest.

“Wooley was limited because his shoulder has been stiff,” Kennedy said. “Halliman did a good job, but we had to cut him short because he’s going to turn around and start on three days rest. We’re kind of limited with our pitching. We have to be real cautious how we use these guys from here on out.”

In Game 1, the Chukars carried a 3-2 lead into the final, seventh inning. However, reliever Richard Folmer struggled, giving up a single and a walk with no outs. A fielding error by third baseman Malcom Culver scored the tying run. After intentionally walking Chandler Laurent to set up the double play, Folmer walked Brandon Whitby on four pitches to surrender the lead and blow the save.

Both the Chukars (19-13 in the second half, 39-29 overall) and Casper (14-17, 26-41) have been eliminated from the playoffs. Kennedy said he and his coaching staff have to stay on the players to keep the intensity level up.

“Both teams did an outstanding job playing the game hard and fighting for something,” Kennedy said. “We need to keep stressing that. We have a chance to come in with the second best record in the league, and that would stand a lot for what we’ve done this year.”

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