You name it, the Blue Springs Rod’s Sports Athletics did it in two must-win games Thursday in the 21st annual American Legion Wood Bat Invitational.
Following an uncharacteristic 12-0 loss to the Ada (Okla.) Post 72 Braves in their opener Wednesday, the A’s rebounded with an 8-0 victory over Washington (Mo.) Post 218 at Blue Springs High School and a 6-3 win against the Shawnee Mission Stags of Overland Park, Kan., at Hidden Valley Park.
The two wins leave the A’s with a 2-1 mark in the National League North Division. They must beat the 3-0 Associated Fire Titans from Springfield, Neb., today to have any chance of advancing to Saturday’s championship bracket games.
“We’ve given up 15 runs, which is a lot of runs for wood bat, but if we win tomorrow afternoon (at 12:30 p.m. at Blue Springs High School) we at least have a chance,” A’s manager Mike Rooney said.
The Ada Braves are 1-1 and play two games today.
“The one thing I’m most pleased with is that the kids looked like they wanted to be out there today, and they had some fun,” Rooney said. “They didn’t even look like they wanted to play in that opening loss.
“I didn’t know what to expect today – but I sure liked what I saw.”
Play began with Andrew Rider throwing a three-hit shutout in the 8-0, six-inning spread victory.
“We had to come back strong after what happened to us against the team from Oklahoma,” said Rider, who improved to 2-0 on the season. “I just wanted to throw strikes and keep us in the game.”
It was close for a while, but the A’s blew it open with three runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
A’s second baseman Greg Wisner made a sensational diving play behind the bag to prevent Post 218 from scoring a first-inning run and right fielder Matt McHenry gunned down a base runner at home in the fourth inning to help the A’s maintain an early 2-0 lead.
“We don’t have sluggers we’ve had in years past,” said McHenry, who drove home two first-inning runs with a triple down the right-field line, “so we have to make the great defensive plays and play error free ball. We made so many mistakes in the opener (10 of the 12 runs allowed were unearned). We just can’t do that and expect to win.”
The A’s followed that shutout with a near no-hitter by Tyler Reed, who took his bid into the sixth inning.
Leading 6-0, he allowed a one-out double to David Collins and the Stags followed with two more hits and three runs before Kyle Seithel came in to record the last two outs.
“I got a little tired and I was mad at myself when I gave up the hit,” said Reed (3-1). “We needed two wins today, and we were able to get them.”
Wisner again made two sensational defensive gems at second and center fielder Jordan Martinez helped preserve the no-hitter at the time with a diving grab of Joe Solar’s liner in the sixth inning.
Wisner also starred at the plate, collecting four hits in a game for the first time this season.
“This was a good day,” Wisner said. “Everybody contributed to this win.”
Tyler Barth drove home the first two runs for the A’s with a home run that hit the top of the left-field fence and bounced over.
As he was cleaning up the A’s dugout, McHenry approached Barth and said, “Keep this ball separate from all the other ones. It’s your homer.”
Barth looked stunned.
“I couldn’t believe Matt did that,” said Barth, who has three home runs this season. “I don’t know how he got it, but I’m glad he did.”
McHenry said a fan retrieved the ball and gave it to him in the dugout.
“Tyler deserves that all,” McHenry said. “He got us going with that home run.”
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You name it, the Blue Springs Rod’s Sports Athletics did it in two must-win games Thursday in the 21st annual American Legion Wood Bat Invitational.
Following an uncharacteristic 12-0 loss to the Ada (Okla.) Post 72 Braves in their opener Wednesday, the A’s rebounded with an 8-0 victory over Washington (Mo.) Post 218 at Blue Springs High School and a 6-3 win against the Shawnee Mission Stags of Overland Park, Kan., at Hidden Valley Park.
The two wins leave the A’s with a 2-1 mark in the National League North Division. They must beat the 3-0 Associated Fire Titans from Springfield, Neb., today to have any chance of advancing to Saturday’s championship bracket games.
“We’ve given up 15 runs, which is a lot of runs for wood bat, but if we win tomorrow afternoon (at 12:30 p.m. at Blue Springs High School) we at least have a chance,” A’s manager Mike Rooney said.
The Ada Braves are 1-1 and play two games today.
“The one thing I’m most pleased with is that the kids looked like they wanted to be out there today, and they had some fun,” Rooney said. “They didn’t even look like they wanted to play in that opening loss.
“I didn’t know what to expect today – but I sure liked what I saw.”
Play began with Andrew Rider throwing a three-hit shutout in the 8-0, six-inning spread victory.
“We had to come back strong after what happened to us against the team from Oklahoma,” said Rider, who improved to 2-0 on the season. “I just wanted to throw strikes and keep us in the game.”
It was close for a while, but the A’s blew it open with three runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
A’s second baseman Greg Wisner made a sensational diving play behind the bag to prevent Post 218 from scoring a first-inning run and right fielder Matt McHenry gunned down a base runner at home in the fourth inning to help the A’s maintain an early 2-0 lead.
“We don’t have sluggers we’ve had in years past,” said McHenry, who drove home two first-inning runs with a triple down the right-field line, “so we have to make the great defensive plays and play error free ball. We made so many mistakes in the opener (10 of the 12 runs allowed were unearned). We just can’t do that and expect to win.”
The A’s followed that shutout with a near no-hitter by Tyler Reed, who took his bid into the sixth inning.
Leading 6-0, he allowed a one-out double to David Collins and the Stags followed with two more hits and three runs before Kyle Seithel came in to record the last two outs.
“I got a little tired and I was mad at myself when I gave up the hit,” said Reed (3-1). “We needed two wins today, and we were able to get them.”
Wisner again made two sensational defensive gems at second and center fielder Jordan Martinez helped preserve the no-hitter at the time with a diving grab of Joe Solar’s liner in the sixth inning.
Wisner also starred at the plate, collecting four hits in a game for the first time this season.
“This was a good day,” Wisner said. “Everybody contributed to this win.”
Tyler Barth drove home the first two runs for the A’s with a home run that hit the top of the left-field fence and bounced over.
As he was cleaning up the A’s dugout, McHenry approached Barth and said, “Keep this ball separate from all the other ones. It’s your homer.”
Barth looked stunned.
“I couldn’t believe Matt did that,” said Barth, who has three home runs this season. “I don’t know how he got it, but I’m glad he did.”
McHenry said a fan retrieved the ball and gave it to him in the dugout.
“Tyler deserves that all,” McHenry said. “He got us going with that home run.”
WOOD BAT NOTEBOOK
SORENSON GOES BEHIND THE PLATE: Brett Sorensen, the first baseball player elected to the Grain Valley Hall of Fame and a perennial member of The Examiner’s All-Area Baseball teams, was behind the plate umpiring in the A’s 8-0 victory.
Over a four-day span he will umpire 11 games (he was scheduled for 12, but one was canceled because a team pulled out of the tournament) and play in four Ban Johnson League games for his Milgrim’s team.
“It’s good money and I love baseball,” Sorensen said. “It’s funny watching these guys try to hit with a wood bat, though. It’s like they’re trying to hit underwater – they just aren’t used to hitting with wood.”
EARLY PREP WORK: Travis Graham, manager of the Ada Braves team that beat the A’s 12-0, had his team hit with wood bats two weeks before the start of this tournament.
“We wanted them to be ready,” Graham said. “They’re doing pretty well, and we hope to keep hitting the ball like we did in the first game.”
