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June 1 2009 Check Out previous Blogs
Fighting Mother Nature, and usually losing, MSHSAA State Playoff tournament had several postponements and suspended games prior to determining the Final Four baseball teams in each of the four classes. Many brought along significant stories as they packed their bags for Springfield.
...Down 6-0 going into the bottom of the 7th, NO ONE put away the bats for the Fulton Hornets. The Hornets(15-9) rallied for 6 runs in that 7th against the Duchesne Pioneers (9-16) to send the game into extra innings. Using three walks and four hits, the Hornets stayed alive with this HUGE rally. Brant Masek's clutch two-out two run double was the key blow. In the 9th inning, Darren Jacobs hit a two-out walk off single for the game winner! Fulton advances to face Carl Junction in a Class 3 semifinal on Wednesday.
...speaking of Carl Junction(15-10), the Bulldogs stunned the MO Baseball World by trouncing Webb City Cardinals 13-1 in a 5 inning special. Scorching hot at the plate, the Bulldogs have crossed the plate for 61 runs in the last 5 games ! Right hander Jake Stevenson raised his mark to 5-2 with the 3 hit win. Manager Flave Darnell will lead Carl Junction to its 2nd trip to the Championship series. It happened last in 2000 when the Bulldogs finished in 2nd place to Helias.
...leading 8-1 in the 5th with their Ace on the mound, Eugene felt great about a trip to Springfield--not so fact, Linn scored seven times in the 5th inning to knot up the score as they capitalized on some leaky defense and trumped Eugene by scoring the game winner in the 6th to win a 9-8 decision. Linn (19-8) will enjoy their first trip to the Championship series and open play in Class 2 semifinals against Strafford.
....the wildest game this week saw a slugfest between Lee Summit North (25-6) and Liberty. The North Broncos jumped out on top with 5 runs in the 1st, Liberty answers with 8 runs in the 2nd inning!! The grand salami by Nathan LaBlanc accounted for half the Bluejay runs. After Liberty added a run in the 3rd, North crossed the plate 5 times again in the 4th. Not done yet, the Bluejays tied it up in the bottom of 4th at 10-10. Each team scored single tallies in the 5th inning. Finally, the Bronchos got some separation by plating three more runs to take the lead permanently in the 3+ hour batting marathon 16-11 victory. North will face the DeSoto Dragons in class 4 semifinals on Friday. Defensive gems can be the catalyst to ignite an offense. It happened several times this week. They do come in a myriad of appearances...take a look...
...at Rock Bridge, with the scored tied in the 4th inning against a threatening Nixa Eagles team. A shallow blooper to the outfield by Nixa was caught in spectacular fashion by Coby Gerau. Gerau, bounced up, and doubled up the runner on 1B to end the inning. The Bruins seized the momentum and scored twice in the bottom half of the 4th to take the lead. Rock Bridge "salted it away" with a four run 5th inning and notched an 8-2 win to send them for the first time to the Championship Series. The Bruins will take on the Bulldogs of Ft Zumwalt South.
...using some "D" of their own, FZS had it unfold this way. After a 2 day delay in the bottom of the 2nd inning, DeSmet had runners on 1B & 2B. Trying to shake up things, DeSmet faked the bunt and tried stealing 3B. The throw went wide. Chris Vorbeck, the Spartan courtesy runner, immediately head for home. Mike Macke, FZS, left field threw a rocket home in time to tag out Vobeck easily. FZS offense then came to the plate and pushed across three runs to to gain a lead that they would never relinquish in the 7-2 sectional win. AJ Walkenhorst went the distance for the pitching rich Bulldogs. Doran Briscoe went 4 for 4 with 2 runs, an RBI and double to lead the offense. FZS toppled SLUH in the Quarters to gain their Springfield berth.
...the top ranked Class 1 team will be returning to Springfield to defend their title. Santa Fe cruised to a 12-1 win over Lakeland in the quarters after disposing of Lone Jack 12-3 in the sectional round. The Chiefs are led by Taylor Wesley(8 hr) and Matt Lovercamp(9 HR) in the Alma version of Babe & Lou as they have pounded 30 over the boards as a team! On the bump to lead the Chiefs, ace All-Stater Logan Kirchhoff is 7-0 with a scant 1.17 ERA for the season! A talented Cooter (24-1) paves the way for a tremendous semifinal game on Wednesday in Class 1 action.
Plattsburg has yet to permit a run to cross the plate in the Class 2 STATE Tournament ! After whipping 9-0 in the sectional round, Plattsbur(16-5) whitewashed Lexington 2-0. On tap, however, are the potent bats of Valle Catholic.(22-5) Perennially, a state power, the Warriors upgraded their schedule by facing larger, talented schools and still won. Valle has won both of their tournament games in abbreviated -mercy rule games by handling Saxony Lutheran 11-0 in 6 innings and bouncing Senath- Hornersville 13-0 in just 5 innings. An outstanding 1-2 starting pitching punch, hitting and speed up and down the lineup will make the Warriors tough to handle. Check out that Class 2 semifinals at 10:00am on Wednesday.
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