Hi-Boy Drive In/Post 340 hasn’t had much luck with close games this season, especially ones that go into extra innings.
That luck changed Wednesday afternoon in Post 340’s opener in the American Legion Wood Bat Invitational. Carlos Ramirez poked an RBI single threw a drawn-in infield in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Hi-Boy to a 5-4 victory over Lincoln (Neb.) Post 3 Union Bank at Grain Valley High School.
“We’ve had a lot of bottom-of-the-seventh losses this year, and quite a few where we lost in the other team’s last at-bat in the ninth,” Hi-Boy manager Mike Kline said. “This might be the only one we’ve won in the last inning all season.”
Not only did it put Hi-Boy over the .500 mark for the season at 16-15, it bolstered the players’ confidence for the rest of the tournament.
“It feels good to get a win,” said Ramirez, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, including a key RBI double in a two-run second inning. “I was just trying to find a gap or hit a pop-up – just get it through somewhere. I was happy, excited to see it go through.”
Ramirez’s heroics were set up by Shane Noland’s alert base running. Noland led off the eighth and reached on an error. When James Wade laid down a sacrifice bunt, Noland raced to third when he saw the bag uncovered.
“That was big – we needed that, because we had some other plays that were not so heads-up,” Kline said with a small laugh.
After intentional walks to Parker Jones and Spencer Gearhart loaded the bases, Ramirez delivered the winning hit.
“And he had the big hit in the second (inning), too. He’s one of our young ones, but he’s having a very good year,” Kline said of Ramirez, who was hitting .365 entering the tournament. “He has a good attitude and hustles all the time.”
Hi-Boy failed to take advantage of Spencer Gearhart’s leadoff double in the bottom of the seventh, leaving the bases loaded.
“That was very frustrating, but I liked the way they battled back today,” Kline said. “That’s one thing we’ve tried to instill in them is to never quit.”
That helped in the sixth with Hi-Boy trailing Post 3 Union Bank 4-2 following Jared Sayker’s two-run triple in the fourth.
Landon Norris reached on a bad-hop single with two outs in the sixth and scored from first when Post 3 pitcher Alex Heideman made a throwing error to first on Noland’s infield single. James Wade followed with an RBI single to score Noland with the tying run.
Chad Gordon went all eight innings for the win, walking none and hitting one batter. He retired the last seven batters in a row, including three of his six total strikeouts.
“Chad did a heck of a job,” Kline said. “He knew the (college) scouts were here and didn’t get frustrated. He had good command of the (strike) zone today.”
Ramirez, Jones and Gearhart each finished with two hits, including a double apiece, for Hi-Boy, which plays the St. Peters (Mo.) Central Spartans at 3:30 p.m. today at Crysler Stadium and Warrensburg Post 131 at 8:30 at Hidden Valley Park Field 3.
Sayker was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and a stolen base to lead Post 3 Union Bank (0-1).
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Hi-Boy Drive In/Post 340 hasn’t had much luck with close games this season, especially ones that go into extra innings.
That luck changed Wednesday afternoon in Post 340’s opener in the American Legion Wood Bat Invitational. Carlos Ramirez poked an RBI single threw a drawn-in infield in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Hi-Boy to a 5-4 victory over Lincoln (Neb.) Post 3 Union Bank at Grain Valley High School.
“We’ve had a lot of bottom-of-the-seventh losses this year, and quite a few where we lost in the other team’s last at-bat in the ninth,” Hi-Boy manager Mike Kline said. “This might be the only one we’ve won in the last inning all season.”
Not only did it put Hi-Boy over the .500 mark for the season at 16-15, it bolstered the players’ confidence for the rest of the tournament.
“It feels good to get a win,” said Ramirez, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, including a key RBI double in a two-run second inning. “I was just trying to find a gap or hit a pop-up – just get it through somewhere. I was happy, excited to see it go through.”
Ramirez’s heroics were set up by Shane Noland’s alert base running. Noland led off the eighth and reached on an error. When James Wade laid down a sacrifice bunt, Noland raced to third when he saw the bag uncovered.
“That was big – we needed that, because we had some other plays that were not so heads-up,” Kline said with a small laugh.
After intentional walks to Parker Jones and Spencer Gearhart loaded the bases, Ramirez delivered the winning hit.
“And he had the big hit in the second (inning), too. He’s one of our young ones, but he’s having a very good year,” Kline said of Ramirez, who was hitting .365 entering the tournament. “He has a good attitude and hustles all the time.”
Hi-Boy failed to take advantage of Spencer Gearhart’s leadoff double in the bottom of the seventh, leaving the bases loaded.
“That was very frustrating, but I liked the way they battled back today,” Kline said. “That’s one thing we’ve tried to instill in them is to never quit.”
That helped in the sixth with Hi-Boy trailing Post 3 Union Bank 4-2 following Jared Sayker’s two-run triple in the fourth.
Landon Norris reached on a bad-hop single with two outs in the sixth and scored from first when Post 3 pitcher Alex Heideman made a throwing error to first on Noland’s infield single. James Wade followed with an RBI single to score Noland with the tying run.
Chad Gordon went all eight innings for the win, walking none and hitting one batter. He retired the last seven batters in a row, including three of his six total strikeouts.
“Chad did a heck of a job,” Kline said. “He knew the (college) scouts were here and didn’t get frustrated. He had good command of the (strike) zone today.”
Ramirez, Jones and Gearhart each finished with two hits, including a double apiece, for Hi-Boy, which plays the St. Peters (Mo.) Central Spartans at 3:30 p.m. today at Crysler Stadium and Warrensburg Post 131 at 8:30 at Hidden Valley Park Field 3.
Sayker was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and a stolen base to lead Post 3 Union Bank (0-1).
