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PITTSBURG —
When Pittsburg Post 64 pitcher Christian Cedeno finds his groove on the mound, opposing batters have difficulty against the young lefty.
For example, in a Class 3A regional semifinal game against Riverton, Cedeno pitched a three-hit shutout, striking out 14 during a 2-0 Colgan win.
On Saturday in the Pittsburg American Legion Wood Bat Tournament, Cedeno allowed no hits for 5.2 innings and helped Post 64 to a 6-1 win over Springfield Kickapoo at JayCee Ballpark.
“Christian was very good tonight,” Post 64 head coach Mike Watt said. “He was in command, had control of all his pitches from the get-go and he maintained that through six innings. Take that one hit away and he’d have a no-hitter. Those are rare. But he was very close and he did a great job.”
Cedeno walked individual batters in the first and fourth innings and gave up his first hit in the sixth on a hard shot through the infield by Kickapoo shortstop Hunter Kniepfel. Otherwise, Kickapoo struggled to find any runners until pushing across its first run in the seventh on Post 64 reliever V.J. Piccini.
Unlike its first two games against Nevada and Kansas City Ward, Post 64 kept its foot on the accelerator and maintained its lead by scoring four in the third and two in the fifth, committing no errors and surrendering one hit.
Offensively, Dylan Gromer led off the third with an infield single, hustling out a groundball, and Bryce Burdette sacrificed courtesy runner Bryan Wade into scoring position. Nate Grimaldi perfectly timed a bunt on the left side of the infield and reached first easily on a bunt single. Joe Wimmer grounded out to second and Post 64 came through with its four runs after two outs.
Wade scored on a wild pitch on ball four to Sam Gilbert, who took advantage of a somewhat lackadaisical Kickapoo catcher and hustled to second. That play turned out big when cleanup hitter Brett Macary smashed a double scoring both Grimaldi and Gilbert. Cody Grilz followed with a double of his own to score Macary and give Cedeno and Post 64 more than enough run support.
“I thought in the earlier two games, we got a lead and kind of sat on it,” Watt said. “I felt like tonight we were a little more intense and trying to build on it. That inning we scored, boy, Brett Macary a big two-strike hit and then Cody Grilz comes up with another big hit. You know, hitting is contagious and right there, boy, everybody’s feeling pretty good. It was a big inning and I can’t remember how we scored the other ones but we ran the bases well again and we’ve just got to keep getting after it and keep getting better.”
When Pittsburg Post 64 pitcher Christian Cedeno finds his groove on the mound, opposing batters have difficulty against the young lefty.
For example, in a Class 3A regional semifinal game against Riverton, Cedeno pitched a three-hit shutout, striking out 14 during a 2-0 Colgan win.
On Saturday in the Pittsburg American Legion Wood Bat Tournament, Cedeno allowed no hits for 5.2 innings and helped Post 64 to a 6-1 win over Springfield Kickapoo at JayCee Ballpark.
“Christian was very good tonight,” Post 64 head coach Mike Watt said. “He was in command, had control of all his pitches from the get-go and he maintained that through six innings. Take that one hit away and he’d have a no-hitter. Those are rare. But he was very close and he did a great job.”
Cedeno walked individual batters in the first and fourth innings and gave up his first hit in the sixth on a hard shot through the infield by Kickapoo shortstop Hunter Kniepfel. Otherwise, Kickapoo struggled to find any runners until pushing across its first run in the seventh on Post 64 reliever V.J. Piccini.
Unlike its first two games against Nevada and Kansas City Ward, Post 64 kept its foot on the accelerator and maintained its lead by scoring four in the third and two in the fifth, committing no errors and surrendering one hit.
Offensively, Dylan Gromer led off the third with an infield single, hustling out a groundball, and Bryce Burdette sacrificed courtesy runner Bryan Wade into scoring position. Nate Grimaldi perfectly timed a bunt on the left side of the infield and reached first easily on a bunt single. Joe Wimmer grounded out to second and Post 64 came through with its four runs after two outs.
Wade scored on a wild pitch on ball four to Sam Gilbert, who took advantage of a somewhat lackadaisical Kickapoo catcher and hustled to second. That play turned out big when cleanup hitter Brett Macary smashed a double scoring both Grimaldi and Gilbert. Cody Grilz followed with a double of his own to score Macary and give Cedeno and Post 64 more than enough run support.
“I thought in the earlier two games, we got a lead and kind of sat on it,” Watt said. “I felt like tonight we were a little more intense and trying to build on it. That inning we scored, boy, Brett Macary a big two-strike hit and then Cody Grilz comes up with another big hit. You know, hitting is contagious and right there, boy, everybody’s feeling pretty good. It was a big inning and I can’t remember how we scored the other ones but we ran the bases well again and we’ve just got to keep getting after it and keep getting better.”
With two outs in the fifth, Post 64 pieced together a couple more runs. Gilbert and Macary, culprits in the earlier scoring blitz, reached on back-to-back walks. Gilbert scored on a Kickapoo throwing error and Macary came home on a single by high school teammate Blake Vail.
Post 64 (3-0) faces Neosho at 4 p.m. today in the championship game.
“They have a lot of good players,” Watt said. “They’re a very good team. We’re going to have to play well to win.”
Blue Valley West 7, Pittsburg Senior Babe Ruth 4
Pittsburg dug a deep hole for itself by allowing four Blue Valley runs in the first and then additional runs in the second and third innings, trailing 6-0 halfway through its seven-inning contest.
Tully Yoakum and Austin Kratz helped Pittsburg break on through for its first runs with back-to-back singles to start the sixth. Drew Dawson walked and Pittsburg loaded the bases. Yoakum scored on an Anthony McNeely 5-3 groundout (nearly an infield single for McNeely), Kratz scored on a bases-loaded walk by Luke Marquardt, Dawson scored on a bloop single by Drew Casey and Kaleb Hamilton scored on a bases-loaded walk by Colton Gilbert.
Despite its one big scoring rally, Pittsburg left 10 runners on base, including three in the sixth and three in the seventh.
Pittsburg Senior Babe Ruth plays Kansas City Ward today in the second game, following the Show Me State opener between Nevada and Carthage.
Pittsburg American Legion Wood Bat Tournament
Pittsburg Post 64 6, Springfield Kickapoo 1
SK 000 000 1 — 1 1 1
PITT 004 020 X — 6 7 0
Justin Stockham, Austin Tebo (6) and Tebo, Otwell (6). Christian Cedeno, V.J. Piccini (7) and Dylan Gromer. WP: Cedeno. LP: Stockham. 2B: Brett Macary, Cody Grilz. SB: Sam Gilbert 2, Nate Grimaldi, Blake Vail. CS: Matt Standlee. SH: Bryce Burdette. LOB: SK 3, PHS 5.
Blue Valley West 7, Pittsburg Senior Babe Ruth 4
BVW 411 010 0 — 7
PSBR 000 004 0 — 4
Pulido, Wiles (6) and Steinbronn. Drew Casey, Colton Gilbert and Kaleb Hamilton. WP: Pulido. LP: Casey. SB: Gilbert, Anthony McNeely.
Pittsburg American Legion Wood Bat Tournament
Today
Nevada vs. Carthage, 10 a.m.
Kansas City Ward vs. Pittsburg Senior Babe Ruth, 12 Noon
Kickapoo vs. Blue Valley West, 2 p.m.
Pittsburg Post 64 vs. Neosho, 4 p.m.
