Throughout the year, Hi-Boy Drive In/Post 340 struggled. Then, the Wood Bat Invitational came around.
Maybe Hi-Boy should hit with wood more often.
Hi-Boy improved to 3-0 in this year’s Wood Bat tournament, winning 11-8 in five innings over Post 131 of Warrensburg. That followed a 2-0 victory over the St. Peters (Mo.) Central Spartans earlier in the day.
The game against Warrensburg was called after the bottom of the fifth, exceeding the two-hour time limit on all pool games in the tournament.
Hi-Boy manager Mike Kline is pleased with his team’s performance and attitude change.
“We struggled early on. I’ll admit that,” he said. “Part of that is new coaching, a new philosophy. A lot of kids didn’t get to play a lot of school ball.
“But we’ve really come together as a team. It’s not me, me, me. It’s about us.”
The players have noticed the change, too, including Zack Jungmeyer, who had a double and triple against Warrensburg.
“We’ve really grown as a team,” he said. “We’re playing great ball.”
Hi-Boy had to play catch-up for pretty much the entire beginning of the game. Hi-Boy grabbed one run in the top of the first, but Post 131 answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, and got two more in the second, and another three in the third.
Hi-Boy’s bats then crashed the party, scoring four runs in the third and fourth innings and salting the game away in the fifth with another two.
Cole Caruthers started the game for Hi-Boy but was pulled in the first after giving up a few walks. He was replaced by Bryer Carpenter, who went into the third before giving up a few runs of his own. Landon Norris then came in and stopped the bleeding, pitching three scoreless innings to finish out the game. Norris only gave up one walk, but the pitching staff as a whole gave up seven for the game.
“We started off rough, but once we allowed our defense to work, we let our offense come back,” Kline said. “Landon threw a nice game and allowed us to get back into the game.”
Jungmeyer said the team just forged on throughout the game.
“We never gave up. We just kept our heads in it,” he said.
With the win, Hi-Boy is assured a spot in the championship bracket quarterfinals. Kline said he’ll keep his rotation, but “try to get everybody in” today’s 5:30 p.m. pool play finale against Post 411 Cavalry of Lansing, Kan., which is 1-2 in the tournament.
“We’re just taking this one game at a time,” Kline said. “In this tournament, it’s going to come down to pitching depth and defense. I think we can compete with most teams in this tournament.”
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Throughout the year, Hi-Boy Drive In/Post 340 struggled. Then, the Wood Bat Invitational came around.
Maybe Hi-Boy should hit with wood more often.
Hi-Boy improved to 3-0 in this year’s Wood Bat tournament, winning 11-8 in five innings over Post 131 of Warrensburg. That followed a 2-0 victory over the St. Peters (Mo.) Central Spartans earlier in the day.
The game against Warrensburg was called after the bottom of the fifth, exceeding the two-hour time limit on all pool games in the tournament.
Hi-Boy manager Mike Kline is pleased with his team’s performance and attitude change.
“We struggled early on. I’ll admit that,” he said. “Part of that is new coaching, a new philosophy. A lot of kids didn’t get to play a lot of school ball.
“But we’ve really come together as a team. It’s not me, me, me. It’s about us.”
The players have noticed the change, too, including Zack Jungmeyer, who had a double and triple against Warrensburg.
“We’ve really grown as a team,” he said. “We’re playing great ball.”
Hi-Boy had to play catch-up for pretty much the entire beginning of the game. Hi-Boy grabbed one run in the top of the first, but Post 131 answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, and got two more in the second, and another three in the third.
Hi-Boy’s bats then crashed the party, scoring four runs in the third and fourth innings and salting the game away in the fifth with another two.
Cole Caruthers started the game for Hi-Boy but was pulled in the first after giving up a few walks. He was replaced by Bryer Carpenter, who went into the third before giving up a few runs of his own. Landon Norris then came in and stopped the bleeding, pitching three scoreless innings to finish out the game. Norris only gave up one walk, but the pitching staff as a whole gave up seven for the game.
“We started off rough, but once we allowed our defense to work, we let our offense come back,” Kline said. “Landon threw a nice game and allowed us to get back into the game.”
Jungmeyer said the team just forged on throughout the game.
“We never gave up. We just kept our heads in it,” he said.
With the win, Hi-Boy is assured a spot in the championship bracket quarterfinals. Kline said he’ll keep his rotation, but “try to get everybody in” today’s 5:30 p.m. pool play finale against Post 411 Cavalry of Lansing, Kan., which is 1-2 in the tournament.
“We’re just taking this one game at a time,” Kline said. “In this tournament, it’s going to come down to pitching depth and defense. I think we can compete with most teams in this tournament.”
