April 15, 2026: Games Recap

On a picture perfect Wednesday night, the latest season of JCC kicked off at Triple Creek Park. Let’s get right to the action.

On Field one we had the “Battle of the New Baby Captains,” Team Wes vs. Team AJ

AJ for the winners:

A great start to the season for Team Orange as we beat Team Wolf 16-8 on Field 1. The
game started out very shaky with errors all over the field on both sides. That resulted in
a Team Wolf 7-3 lead after two innings. Once the rust got shaken off, we slowly chipped
away, capped with a Harry Meisner JCC inside the park home run, and hits from every
single person on the team.
Then in the sixth inning we scored seven runs on hits from Eric Zied, Todd Wasserman,
Michael Heldman, me, Ian Segall, Tyler Stansbury, and Mike Gray. After the big inning
we were able to close out the win on defense, again with contributions from every single
person on the team.

On Field two it was Team Ken vs. Team Marc Simons

Roger for the winners:

TEAM GROH…… 10

TEAM SIMONS…. 5

reported by ROGER ROSENTHAL

TEAM GROH fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning, but rebounded in a BIG way, by plating six runs in the bottom of the frame and never looked back.

“I knew we were OK at the beginning of the game, I have a lot of confidence in our hitting and defense and we settled down,” team captain KEN GROH stated in the winner’s clubhouse after the game.

Everyone got involved in the offense except for DAVID SNYDER, who knew what he was talking about when he said, “I’m hitting like ROGER (ROSENTHAL).”

STAT CORNER…..

Super-sub DAVID WERTHEIM, on loan from TEAM FOGEL, led the offense with two hits including a homerun. Interesting that he hit a home run as he was talking about it before the game……ADAM “COMMISH” CRONSTEIN  had three hits , two runs scored and two rbi’s…..RYAN “ADAM” BAUM had two rbi’s….NICK OBRIEN had a run scored and one rbi…..GROH had a run scored and one rbi and a walk…..BRYCE ANSLINGER had two hits and one run scored and one rbi….CHRIS KUNKEL (NO RELATION TO FORMER XAVIER BASKETBALL STAR, ADAM) had one rbi and one run scored….SAM KLINKOWITZ had one hit…..and finally, after boasting how great a hitter he is, had one run scored and one rbi…..

It should be pointed out that GROH was at his best on the mound and was in control the whole game……

QUOTE OF THE SEASON (so far)……..

“You walk as slow as you run,” JACK COHEN said of ROGER ROSENTHAL……

It should be noted that STU WEINSTEIN (suspended) and ROGER ROSENTHAL (injury), both were in attendance and should be back to playing next week…..

DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME……CAM KIRZNER made two sparkling plays at shortstop in the same inning, the second turned into a double play when he fielded the ball behind the second base bag, stepped on the base and threw to first base to complete the double play…….it was a good enough play that even ROSENTHAL, a BIG Xavier fan applauded the University of Cincinnati super fan KIRZNER……HOW ABOUT THAT?

QUOTES AND MORE QUOTES……

“It’s only one game, but I like the makeup of this team,” GROH said. “We’ve got hitting and defense and of course pitching plus experience (WEINSTEIN and ROSENTHAL) have played a combined 411 years!

Next week….TEAM GROH plalys TEAM KRANTZ with the game being aired on TNT with CHARLES BARKLEY and STEVE ZAWATSKY doing the game and TEAM SIMONS clashes with TEAM GOLDHOFF with the game airing on TBS with BOB COSTAS and GARY ASKIN doing the game…..

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN…….

On Field 3 it was Team Ryan in his return as a captain vs. Team Krantz

Ryan for the winners:

Team Silverman beat Team Krantz 14-4 in 5 innings on Field 3.  The victory for the home team was a complete team effort with every single player contributing with their bat and/or their glove.  Behind the strong pitching of Corey Norris and clean defense all the way around, the team consistently had runners on base with most of the team having at least two base hits.  A special thanks to subs Jeremy Fogel and Scott Friend who both had great games at the plate.  Congratulations to rookie Brian Sugerman on the birth of his first child 10 days ago, who celebrated in grand style by launching a triple to left field.    

Finally on Field 4 it was Team Marc Brafman vs. Team Stu

Stu for the winners:

Kade “Drivin in my” Carlyle drove in five runs on three hits to lead Team Solomon past Team Brafman 15-5 on Wednesday at field 4. Carlyle hit a grand slam in the fifth inning, scoring four runs, and singled in the second inning, scoring one.

Team Solomon got on the board in the top of the first inning after Stuart “Little” Solomon doubled, scoring two runs, and Jimmy “Neutron” Lefton singled, scoring one run.

Team Solomon extended their early lead with three runs in the top of the second thanks to RBI singles by Carlyle and James “Quit Looking at Me” Swan.

Team Solomon added two more runs in the top of the third inning on three hits. Alex “Sauer” Kraus hit a solo home run, and Zach ‘Albert” Michelson (Albert Michelson was an astrophysicist who helped us measure the speed of light)  doubled, scoring one run.

Team Solomon added five more runs in the top of the fifth inning on six hits. Carlyle hit a grand slam into the trees, and Scott ” #1 medical Professional on our Team” Raskin doubled, scoring one run.

Team Solomon accumulated 20 hits in the game. Carlyle, Solomon, and Michelson each collected three hits for Team Solomon. Kraus, Adam “Mr. Ale 8” Heldman, Raskin, and Lefton each collected multiple hits for Team Solomon

Capt. Brafman would like to congratulate rookies Spencer “Flat and” Scruggs and Ethan Zinn on their first hits in the JCC league. Lots more to come..

League notes

I’ve been pretty hard on the Reds drafts over the years since for about 20 years they mostly stunk. But you have to give them credit for Elly, Sal Stewart, Chase Burns and Lowder. Of course constantly picking in the top 10 has a lot to do with that but at least none of them seem to be like Mr. Tin Nick Senzel..

I will mention it again but is there anything dumber than NFL draft talk? 

It was great to get out and play last night wasnt it? Watching Jacob play so many games I was itching to get out there. 

If Howie has played every year since he was 16 his first year in the league would have been 1964. Think about that for a second..Amazing that he is still out here playing we can all be so lucky.

While keeping my scorebook last night Joel Buckley mentioned that he likes to keep steals as a stat. I informed him that he is many steals away from Scott “Hungry Like a” Wolf the self proclaimed JCC steals leader. And who are we to dispute that fact?

I walked past a recent UC basketball recruit who is 7-3. I’m pretty sure I came up to his hip (maybe).

I know grass is hard to come by in Clifton but it amuses me to know end that UC students bring blankets and towels to Nippert and sun tan on the field. If this is a tradition I am just finding it out but nothing compares to the great first snow of the year tradition of drawing a giant penis on the field in snow each year. I laugh every year like I’m Jacob’s age. 

I read today that the new Spaceballs movie is coming out next year. I hope it’s as good as the first one. More amazing is that Mel Brooks who is 100 wrote it and is going to be in it. 

Finally in “What is Roger Selling this Week.” He has a lot of Travis Steele XU gear for sale. For 4 years he couldn’t give it away…now it’s his best seller.. He’s hoping that all the Miami fans buy it up. And if anyone wants some Butch Jones game programs autographed I found a bunch of them.

I’ll do better next week.

Marc

November 11, 2025: Offseason

Good snowy day today guys,

It’s days like today that make me think of hot days on Wednesday nights. Last night we had our postseason dinner and awards night. Big thanks to Mike and Rick at the JCC for making it all happen. Below are the winners of all of the awards. Congrats to everyone who was nominated. 

Ron Rose Rookie of the Year – Ian Segall

MVP – Griffin Harris

Offensive Player of the Year – Cam Kirzner

Defensive Player of the Year – David Wertheim

Comeback Player of the Year – Jimmy Lefton

Tournament MVP – Dan McGrath

All-Star Game MVP – AJ Goldhoff and Stu Solomon

Frank Harkavy Goodwill Ambassador – Ryan Silverman

Marcus Kruke Sportsmanship Award- Bob Pelberg

League Champion – Team Goldhoff

Post-Season Tournament Champion – Team Solomon

On top of that we had a nice Q&A with former JCC Blue Jays player, Charlie Goldsmith. He was very informative on what it’s like to cover the Reds and Bengals.  A couple of the highlights were talking about how the Bengals have denied all the Bengals beat writers the chance to talk to Duke Tobin, that they will continue to operate the way they see fit, wins and losses be damned, and that first round pick Shemar Stewart is currently the worst player on the Bengals, which is saying something.

On the Reds front, he didn’t have an answer for why the Reds won’t spend more money on payroll, that Banana Bob loves the Reds so much he meddles in the front office (but not enough to actually spend money on a winner) and that he agrees with me that the Reds should trade Cam Collier because he has no place to play and won’t be on the Reds for at least two more years. He is worried about the lockout, unfortunately. If he didn’t stop questions I think we (I) would have kept him there all night. 

Finally, he said he knew Mike Youkilis and it was fun to talk to Tito Francona about his connection to him when he was hired. That was very cool to hear..

League notes:

Thanks to all of you who came out for the Oy Vey 5K yesterday. Yes, it was cold but that didn’t stop Adam from defending his title of fastest 5K runner in the league. I beg/implore all of you to come out and try to beat him next year. Once again, ALL of the money goes back to the Blue Jays and softball and basketball league. 

Happy birthday to the following:

Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz

Mark Weisser

Steve Z (and get better from your shoulder surgery) 

If I missed your birthday since the end of the season, sorry.

Happy anniversary to Rick and Betsy Lefton

And Congrats to Ryan “The One Man Gang” Marcus on getting married

While OSU looks like the best team in football it will be interesting to see if their schedule and total lack of playing any teams any good (which is a 100% reflection on the lousy Big 10) and not at all on OSU) will come back to bite them in the tournament. I’m not sure what I would like more. to see Bama and UGA struggle to beat teams in the meat grinder of the SEC or to be OSU and just crush everyone without playing as hard a schedule. Again this is not to take anything away from the Buckeyes. You play who you play, but are they as good as the top of the SEC? In a few weeks we will find out. 

After two games, I have no clue if UC is good in basketball. I can tell you I haven’t seen a player like Baba Miller on UC maybe ever. The dude is 6-9 or so, can dribble like a point guard and can throw it down like a power forward. He might be the best player on the team or it could be that they play Little Sisters of the Poor for the first month. Just like with the Buckeyes, we will find out soon if UC and Miller are legit.

I started watching the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame concert the other night. They opened it with a tribute to Sly and the Family Stone (Sly Stone died earlier this year), with Stevie Wonder, Joe Perry, Beck, Flea, Questlove, some other R&B guy and Jennifer Hudson all in the band they didn’t hold a candle to prime Sly. Not even close. One of the greatest bands ever.

On the other hand, Bryan Adams rocked it fronting a couple of Bad Company songs. 

I have not confirmed that Roger camped out over night at Skyline Chili to get the Bengals bobbleheads first but I wouldn’t put it past him.

Stay warm out there. April isn’t that far away, right?

Marc

September 28, 2025: All-Star Game

A big shout out to Brad Wagner for his help with the recap of the ASG which was two Sundays ago. Sorry for the delay in getting it out to all of you:

Brad, take it away:

JCC All-Star Game Recap – September 28th at Grooms Field

Under perfect fall skies, Team Wagner defeated Team Grefer 17–8 in this year’s JCC All-Star Game.

Jimmy Lefton took the mound for Team Wagner and battled through a challenging first inning as Team Grefer jumped out to an early lead. Team Wagner’s offense came alive in the middle innings—plating two runs in the third and exploding for nine runs in the fourth to seize control of the game.

Stu Solomon entered in relief and delivered four outstanding innings, allowing just one run and helping secure the victory.

Leading Hitters for Team Wagner:

  • Zach Mayer: 3 hits
  • AJ Goldhoff: 3 hits
  • Joel Fogel: 3 hits
  • Ken Groh: 3 hits

Defensive Standouts:
David Wertheim, Jeremy Fogel, Brad Wagner, and Matt Brodoff each made key plays in the field that kept Team Grefer’s offense in check.

Co-MVPs:
AJ Goldhoff and Stu Solomon

Attendance was strong, with the ticket booth noting it was the most well-attended All-Star Game in many years.

A big thank-you to all players, fans, and families who made the evening such a success. We look forward to celebrating together at the upcoming banquet!

League notes:

A lot of birthdays since the end of the season

Evan Gildenblatt

Nick DePiano

“the Special One” Mike Rothstein

Brandon LeBeau 

Brad Wagner

Zach Mayer

Bryce Anslinger

Speaking of Bryce big props to him for rooting on the Redlegs from Milwaukee last weekend. I did not plan ahead and missed the boat on that. 

As for the Reds, I know the Dodgers are the Dodgers and it would have been tough sledding no matter what but man I just can’t figure out why we did what we did with the pitching staff. If Nick Lodolo was good enough to pitch two+ innings in game two, why did he not start or at the very least come in for the 4th inning on Wednesday night. Tito made some really bad moves both on Sunday vs. the Brewers and in game 2 vs. the Dodgers. Would it have mattered? Who knows, but I don’t think he gave us the best chance to win and that is surprising. 

I have nothing to add about the Bengals other than it’s like watching the Lost Decade all over again. 

If any of you guys come down for a UC game let me know. An open invite to our tailgate. Cam, AJ, Brad and Corey Norris have all come by to say hi. Just let me know before hand and I’ll send you the map to where it is. We aren’t OSU but UC is having a nice season thus far, so I hope to see ya at a game.

Reminder the Oy Vey 5K is coming up the week of the Bungles bye week. Please sign up.

We will announce the date and time of the banquet soon so keep your eyes open.

Finally, join us for a special event, a behind-the-scenes look at the Israeli Olympic Baseball team, Israel Swings for Gold, at UC on Friday, October 24.

The event will take place at 7:30 PM in Lindner Center Room 450 and will include the following:

7:30 PM: Shabbat candle lighting (pending approval for real candles; otherwise, we’ll use fake tea lights)

7:45 PM: Film screening (approximately 78 minutes)

Following the film: Q&A with Nate Fish, CEO of Israel Baseball Americas and Israel National Team Manager, and potentially Kevin Youkilis.

Marc

September 10, 2025: Tournament Championship

On another picture perfect night for softball, we crowned our 2025 Youk Post season tournament champ. Once again it was Team Stu vs. Team Ken

Stu with the recap:

Stu Solomon walked off the mound and looked up into the sun-kissed sky tracking an infield pop-up. After the ball landed in the first baseman’s glove for the final out, Stu took off his pitcher’s mask and squatted as his teammates ambushed him from all angles.

Team Solomon powered past Team Groh for the 11-10 win to capture the 2025 Youk Award in thrilling fashion Wednesday night on Field 2 at Triple Creek.

Stu’s Blues were the visitors in every postseason game, and we came out swinging every time. Lead off man Cam “Run” Kirzner, Jeremy “Strong” Dock and Captain Stu got aboard and scored early, then Will “The Thrill” Coleman brought in 3 more on a JCC triple-turned-home run to right center.

Six runs on 7 hits is a great way to start out the championship game, but it was no walk in the park from there. Groh’s guy got a few hits, then a sequence of walks loaded the bases and plated their first 2 runs. 

After each team went down in order the second inning and we got one more run in the third, our opponents in orange wasted no time cutting in our lead. Four runs in the bottom half, including a no-doubt shot over the fence from “Pistol Pete” Soltesz, and all of a sudden it’s a one-run game.

Dock got on and scored his second of three runs to make it 8-6, then Kirzner and Coleman turned a crucial 6-3 double play across the infield with the tying run at the plate to end the fifth inning. Dan “The Man” McGrath and “Buffalo Ben” Charlton were anchors for us in left and right center as they have been all season.

Our defensive heroics could only last for so long as Groh’s bats came alive once more in the sixth to flip the game on its head, scoring 4 runs to give them a 10-8 lead and a chance to close it out in the top of the seventh. Down to our final out with Jeremy on base, Stu put the team on his back and extended the game with an RBI single. Dan added another hit to advance Stu, then Ben knocked them both in on the go-ahead two-out base hit to make it 11-10.

We made three quick outs, including an ultra clutch running grab from Eli “Ghost” Gould in shallow right field, to hang on for the dramatic one-run win. Team Solomon won 10 of its final 12 games to rebound from a 2-6 first half and finish the season on top.

So there you have it. Congrats to Team Stu and the guys. After they whooped Team Brafman last week, Captain Brafman told them he thought they were one of the better teams he’d seen over the last couple of years and they proved him right. 

Thanks to everyone for another great season. Please be on the lookout for the ASG announcement coming up soon and word on the end-of-the-year banquet.

League notes 

Happy birthday to Ryan “The One Man Gang” Marcus. Looking forward to having you back next year.

The Oy Vey 5K is back. please sign up here: Oy Vey 5K

Somehow the Reds are still in the playoff hunt. (Well that somehow is that the 300 million dollar Mets are going into the tank). Elly could be the second coming of Willie Mays and I won’t sign him or anyone to Juan Soto money. At least the Reds are keeping it interesting. But one has to wonder how many games they would be up in the wildcard or even the NL Central if management had signed a bat in the offseason like we all knew they needed. The Reds, when healthy, have 3 legit aces plus Singer who has been fantastic the second half and yet they are only 2 games over 500. Maybe they will pull it off, but again it’s on the front office this offseason to for once go all in (smartly) and get us some bats.

If you need New Years plans I’m sure that Roger will be happy to celebrate with you at the Cintas Center as it was announced yesterday that XU will host UCONN on Dec. 31. Who doesn’t want to ring in the New Year with Roger and the Muskies?

September 7, 2025: Game Recap

On a sun-splashed Sunday morning Team Solomon took on Team Brafman on Field 2 for a chance to face Ken Groh in the finals.

Unfortunately for me, Captain Stu for the winners:

Team Solomon made JCC Softball history Sunday on Field 2 when we defeated Team Brafman 18-8, advancing to our second championship game of the season.

The winning recipe has been simple for us this year: score early and often. We led off the top of the first inning with five straight hits and runs, capped by an inside the park homer from Dan “Marino” McGrath. Team Brafman returned the favor with 3 runs in the bottom half and 1 in the second before we jumped on Jimmy “Garoppolo” Lefton again with 4 runs to open the third. Stu “King” Solomon showed off his speed around the basepaths on a fourth inning JCC home run, and Will “Keon” Coleman brought in 2 insurance runs on a big fifth inning triple. Matt “Stafford” Brodof, Jeremy “Duck Duck” Dock and Alex “Sauer” Kraus added three hits each in the wire-to-wire win.

Shoutout to Brafman’s Corey “Flying Squirrel” Myers for going full extension in foul territory beyond the left field fence line to come down with an unbelievable diving catch despite being ruled out of play. Captain Brafman would add “this was the single best catch I have seen in my 8+ years in the league, even if it didn’t count.” 

Team Solomon returns to Field 2 on Wednesday at 6pm to meet Groh in the postseason title game.

I’d like to thank my team for a great season. Coming off an 0-16 regular season last year it was great to play and win a lot of games this year. Kudos to Jimmy Lefton for coming back strong from surgery last year to both pitch and finally hit like we know he can. Also good luck to Stu and Kenny this Wednesday.

So there you have it guys. It’s down to Capt. Groh vs. Capt. Solomon for the Youk award on Wednesday night. If you want to come out and watch, please remember it starts at 6:00.

Brief league notes

Happy birthday to:

JCC legend Jeff Cohen

Super-mom Barb Fogel

David “Slim Shady” Wertheim did some research on my claim that OSU had not been #1 in the country in a long time. They have been ranked #1 in the CFP rankings BUT not #1 in the AP poll until last week. So we were both right. Also it’s a shame that colleges charge all of us money to watch OSU play Grambling and Bama play La-Monroe. 

A crazy thing happened yesterday (Sunday) at about 3:45. I was at the Reds game while listening to the Bengals game. When Elly made his 25 E in the top of the 9th and the Bengals went 3 and out again with 2+ minutes to go. I thought I was going to A) see the Reds blow it in the 9th and B) the Bengals lose on a last second FG. Instead you guys know what happened and both teams pulled out the W in a very non-Cincy-Sports-fan way. Do I care that the Bengals played terribly or were “lucky” to win? Nope, not for one second. No such thing as style points in the NFL. And while the Reds are hanging on by a thread, at least we know that Hunter Green is an ace.

Hope to see everyone on Wednesday night at 6PM.