Last Monday, June 7, the Great Lakes Loons used their off-day to hit the links at the beautiful Bucks Run Golf Club with a number of friends from the Great Lakes Bay Region for the second annual ’Swing with the Loons’. The event is one of the Michigan Baseball Foundation’s major fundraisers and pairs each participating group with one Loons player for 18-holes of golf.
The following is a photo recap of the event:
Loons closer Luis Vasquez approaches this steep shot, getting special instructions from Larry Barco, one of his teammates in the MidMichigan Health group.
After a few swings and misses, Vasquez surrenders his club to the group, while laughing at his lack of skill. It’s ok though, because he’s got 11 saves and a 1.54 ERA.
Here, catcher Gorman Erickson and the Fabiano group follow one of their teammates tee-shots at one of the courses four par threes, all of which had a special hole-in-one prize waiting to be claimed.
On the Hole Four tee-box, Bob Rathbun soft tosses a golf ball to Loons slugger Jerry Sands who takes a swing under the beautiful skies. The ball landed in the water, but spirits remained high for the Chemical Bank team, who eventually finished second overall.
Sands wasn’t the only one to set aside wedges and drivers for the more comfortable wooden club, as Brian Ruggiano (above) and Brian Cavazos-Galvez were both sighted with bats.
Starting pitcher Elisaul Pimentel putts from the fringe with the Andrews, Hooper, & Pavlik Team standing by.
A little less focused on the golf was budding wildlife preservationist Edwin Contreras, who holds a 2.08 ERA in two relief appearances for the Loons.
At the end of the day, it was pitcher Jordan Roberts and the Bierlein team who finished the day with the lowest score.
In second place was Jerry Sands and the Chemical Bank Team.
The third place finishers were the Fisher Companies Team, accompanied by Loons DH/1B Jaime Ortiz.
Thanks again to everyone involved in the event, it was a tremendous success!