Suttons give grandpa reasons to brag

Duke Sutton isn’t a fan of traveling – especially flying.
However, when the grandpa of Blue Springs Rod’s Sports A’s pitcher Bret Sutton and catcher Zach Sutton heard his grandsons were playing in a couple of big tournaments, he hopped on a plane in North Carolina and flew to Blue Springs.
He saw Bret shut down Blue Springs Post 499/Fike 19-3 a week ago Sunday in the Zone 2 championship game at Hidden Valley Park and was on hand Saturday when Bret and the A’s defeated Columbia Post 202 8-3 in Washington, Mo., to claim the second state championship in a row and the fourth in the past six years.
“It was kind of cool, because Grandpa played baseball at Southern Illinois, and some of his old baseball buddies were at the state tournament in Washington,” Zach Sutton said. “They were talking about their playing days and my dad (Shaun) came over and said, ‘That’s going to be you and Bret in 50 or 60 years. Just think of the stories you’re going to have.’ ”
Zach was on the receiving end of both championship wins, sharing perhaps the most special baseball moments the Sutton family has ever experienced.
“And to have Grandpa there made it even more special,” added Zach, “because he was just diagnosed with lung cancer. He had colon cancer and prostate cancer and beat both of them – and he went in for a six-month checkup and found out he had lung cancer.
“The doctor told him to take a couple of weeks to decide what he wants to do. So he came out and watched us play baseball. Because he lives in North Carolina, he’s only seen us play a handful of times – but he’s seen some of our biggest and best games.
“This weekend, the way we dominated, was pretty incredible.”
The A’s swept the tournament, claiming a win against each team – 19-0 over Festus, 7-0 over Carthage and the 8-3 victory over Columbia in the title game. If the A’s can keep it going and win the Central Plains Regional in Minot, N.D., this weekend, they might be headed to Grandpa Sutton’s territory. The American Legion World Series this year will be played in Shelby, N.C.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant or anything,” Zach said, “but over the last two years, we have two state championships and are 110-17 (50-6 this year and 60-11 last summer). My dad and I were talking before the season and I had the chance to play in the MINK (Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas) League, or a wood bat league, but I wanted to come back to the A’s to play with Bret and see if we could defend our state championship.
“When you figure, we lost studs like (Nick) Tepesch (who was The Examiner’s High School Player of the Year) and Andrew (Melanson, The Examiner’s American Legion Player of the Year), it’s pretty impressive that we come back and do what we did.”
And they did it because of the addition of talented newcomers like Sam Guffey, who homered in the championship game; Kyle Seithel, who threw a 3-hit shutout in the opener; and the solid play of veterans like Kyle Barbeck (who threw eight innings of shutout ball and struck out 11 against Carthage), shortstop Bret Schwartz, who had five hits in the series, played flawless defense at shortstop and threw an inning of relief Friday; and the reliable Zach Sutton, who has become a fixture behind the plate.
“We really did win state as a team,” Bret Sutton said. “I didn’t pitch that well, and Guffey hits the home run and the guys score eight runs. Our pitching was amazing. You just know you’re going to win with Barbeck on the mound – and Seithel pitched great, too.
“Our defense is amazing, our hitting is unbelievable and I even like the guy behind the plate.”
When asked about a normal conversation on the mound, Bret chuckled and said, “It’s the typical brother-to-brother conversation. I don’t talk to Zach like I talk to my other teammates and he doesn’t talk to me like he talks to the rest of the guys.
“He talks to me like a brother – and I guess it’s worked. At least, it’s worked the last two championship games. When we have kids, are we ever going to have some great stories to tell them.”
And they’ve provided some pretty good material for a proud grandpa and dad, too.