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PITTSBURG —
Behind the scenes of the American Legion Class AAA Zone at JayCee Ballpark, there was serious doubt whether a game would be played Saturday morning if Lawrence Post 14 took its first loss in the Friday nightcap against Pittsburg Post 64 and exactly how many teams would be able to play in the state tourney next week.
Post 64 head coach Mike Watt straightened it all out Friday night.
“There’s nothing (today),” Watt said. “Actually, neither one of these teams is going. Tonganoxie has three or four kids taking off for vacation so they’re done and these guys (Lawrence) told me basically at the beginning (on Thursday) that they were done. We’re the lone representative.”
Post 64 blew out Tonganoxie 14-2 in the opener and shut down Lawrence 3-0 in the nightcap as Post 64 starting pitchers Blake Vail and Christian Cedeno pitched tough as nails and Post 64 hitters delivered the hits Friday that did not come through on Thursday.
“We had nine innings of no runs and very few hits, then we come out and score seven in the first game,” Watt said. “I was very pleased with the way they bounced back this afternoon. That’s what we talked about last night. We’ve got to come out and play hard.
“It was kind of a reversal from last night. Tonight, Christian was dominant on the mound and he came through and we had a couple guys come through big at the plate. They were almost identical games but we won this one. It was a good win.”
It seemed like every time Lawrence knocked on the door, Cedeno shut it. Lawrence filled the bases in the second after collecting one single and two walks but Cedeno struck out the side — Montana Samuels singled, J.D. Prochaska struck out looking, Corbin Francisco walked, Aaron Waldeck struck out swinging, Landon Hay walked and John Fellers struck out looking.
With two outs in the fifth, Post 64 committed a pair of errors to give Lawrence another chance at plating the first run of the contest. Samuels could not deliver that big run-scoring hit and Post 64 capitalized on its good fortune in the bottom half of the fifth.
Bryce Burdette delivered a critical lead-off single and fellow fleet-of-foot outfielder Nate Grimaldi sacrificed Burdette into scoring position. Grimaldi nearly beat out the bunt for a hit. Then, time came for back-to-back run-scoring hits from the left side of the Post 64 infield.
Behind the scenes of the American Legion Class AAA Zone at JayCee Ballpark, there was serious doubt whether a game would be played Saturday morning if Lawrence Post 14 took its first loss in the Friday nightcap against Pittsburg Post 64 and exactly how many teams would be able to play in the state tourney next week.
Post 64 head coach Mike Watt straightened it all out Friday night.
“There’s nothing (today),” Watt said. “Actually, neither one of these teams is going. Tonganoxie has three or four kids taking off for vacation so they’re done and these guys (Lawrence) told me basically at the beginning (on Thursday) that they were done. We’re the lone representative.”
Post 64 blew out Tonganoxie 14-2 in the opener and shut down Lawrence 3-0 in the nightcap as Post 64 starting pitchers Blake Vail and Christian Cedeno pitched tough as nails and Post 64 hitters delivered the hits Friday that did not come through on Thursday.
“We had nine innings of no runs and very few hits, then we come out and score seven in the first game,” Watt said. “I was very pleased with the way they bounced back this afternoon. That’s what we talked about last night. We’ve got to come out and play hard.
“It was kind of a reversal from last night. Tonight, Christian was dominant on the mound and he came through and we had a couple guys come through big at the plate. They were almost identical games but we won this one. It was a good win.”
It seemed like every time Lawrence knocked on the door, Cedeno shut it. Lawrence filled the bases in the second after collecting one single and two walks but Cedeno struck out the side — Montana Samuels singled, J.D. Prochaska struck out looking, Corbin Francisco walked, Aaron Waldeck struck out swinging, Landon Hay walked and John Fellers struck out looking.
With two outs in the fifth, Post 64 committed a pair of errors to give Lawrence another chance at plating the first run of the contest. Samuels could not deliver that big run-scoring hit and Post 64 capitalized on its good fortune in the bottom half of the fifth.
Bryce Burdette delivered a critical lead-off single and fellow fleet-of-foot outfielder Nate Grimaldi sacrificed Burdette into scoring position. Grimaldi nearly beat out the bunt for a hit. Then, time came for back-to-back run-scoring hits from the left side of the Post 64 infield.
Third baseman Brett Macary lined a single to score Burdette and shortstop Sam Gilbert doubled home Macary, as the left-handed batting Gilbert continued to find success driving the ball to left. Gilbert would then score on a Blake Vail sacrifice fly and three runs proved more than enough run support for Cedeno.
Post 64 retired Lawrence 1-2-3 in the sixth — highlighted by a 5-6-3 groundout as shortstop Gilbert fielded a sharply hit grounder deflected off third baseman Macary’s glove and rifled over to first to record the out.
Cedeno struck out Trent Johnson swinging, Tommy Oswald swinging and C.J. Roush swinging in the seventh — overcoming two Lawrence runners in scoring position. Troy Willoughby doubled but Landon Hay could not score on the hit.
Cedeno finished with 11 strikeouts — one in the first, three in the second, two in the third, none in the fourth, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and three in the seventh. Cedeno pitched a three-hit shutout.
Pittsburg Post 64 14, Tonganoxie Post 41 2: Post 64 third baseman Brett Macary made it obviously clear that it was a brand new day Friday.
With leadoff man Nate Grimaldi on after Grimaldi drew a walk, Macary doubled home Grimaldi, starting a seven-run first inning highlighted by three RBI by Macary on a pair of hits. Sam Gilbert hit a RBI double, Cody Grilz a RBI single and Nick George a RBI sacrifice fly.
Macary added one more RBI in the third for a grand total of four RBI and fellow starters Gilbert and Grilz drove in two apiece. Bench players Nick Vacca and V.J. Piccini delivered RBI hits — Vacca a two-run single in the fourth and Piccini a RBI single in the fifth. Post 64 scored 14 unanswered runs.
“That’s what we’re looking for,” Watt said. “We mixed up our lineup a little bit (Friday) looking to see what happens. To compete, we’ve got to hit well and today we did.”
Meanwhile, Tonganoxie managed only two runs on four hits against Post 64 starter Blake Vail, who claimed his eighth win of the season on the mound.
With its two wins on Friday, Post 64 improves to 29-12 on the season.
2012 American Legion Class AAA Zone Tournament (Pittsburg)
Pittsburg Post 64 3, Lawrence Post 14 0 (7 innings)
LAW 000 000 0 — 0 3 0
PITT 000 030 X — 3 9 2
Montana Samuels, Trent Johnson (5), C.J. Roush (6) and Landon Hay. Christian Cedeno and Dylan Gromer. WP: Cedeno (3-1). LP: Samuels. 2B: Troy Willoughby, Aaron Waldeck; Nate Grimaldi, Sam Gilbert. SH: Bryce Burdette, Grimaldi 2. SF: Blake Vail. LOB: LAW 8, PITT 8.
Pittsburg Post 64 14, Tonganoxie Post 41 2 (5 innings)
PITT 703 31 — 14 15 1
TONG 000 02 — 2 4 1
Blake Vail and Bryan Wade. Austin Horkrider, Jackson Bartlett (4) and Calvin Booth, Wyatt Farris (4). WP: Vail (8-2). LP: Horkrider. 2B: Brett Macary, Sam Gilbert, Bryce Burdette. SB: Nate Grimaldi 2, Cody Grilz, Christian Cedeno, Burdette. CS: Cedeno. SH: Grimaldi. SF: Nick George. LOB: PITT 10, TONG 4.
