KTCU claims Intermediate title

One thing is for sure ... no lead is ever safe in the game of baseball.
Taking a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning, Commerce Bank gave up five runs on three hits and committed two errors as Kansas Teacher’s Credit Union (KTCU) won the JL Hutchinson Intermediate League tournament title 6-4 Tuesday night at JayCee Ballpark.
“We knew that four was not going to be enough most likely,” said Commerce Bank head coach Jeff Elliott. “They did a nice job of hanging in there.”
Prior to the fifth, KTCU had troubles getting hits as they notched just two before the offensively productive fifth.
“We just wanted our kids to play baseball,” said KTCU head coach Steve Angermayer. “Not get emotionally too high or too low and we just wanted them to stay focused on the game and on the fundamentals.”
In the fifth, Cody Burlingham led off the inning with his second consecutive walk. He did so in the third inning and that led to a run for KTCU.
After the Burlingham walk, Andy Farmer took a single to left field then Joe Wimmer loaded the bases after reaching on an error by Commerce’s second baseman.
With the bases loaded, Brad Markley drilled a bases-clearing, three-run double to left field to tie the game 4-4.
“I finally got a pitch to hit and I hit it ... that was about it,” Markley said. “I was tired of being walked and I wanted a hit.”
But, KTCU was not done yet.
The next batter, Robert Seward, took ahold of a Matt Clark fastball to right field, scoring Markley and giving KTCU a 5-4 lead.
“He just threw it down the middle and I was able to take it to left,” Seward said.
Seward scored the last run of the inning when Blake Vail grounded out allowing Seward to score from third.
All-in-all, Clark was tagged for five runs on three hits in the inning.
“Matt did a good job and he stayed with it,” said Jeff Elliott. “He was tired and I was going to put Jordan (Elliott) back in but I tried to hang on and it didn’t work.
“We have to keep those balls in front of us and keep them singles but we let them get behind us and they turned into doubles and triples,” said Jeff Elliott. “You cannot let balls get behind you in the outfield like that.”
Jeff Elliott said that it was the lead-off batter getting on base that made the difference. Clark had difficulties throwing to Burlingham, who stands just over 4-feet tall.
“That is a tough strike zone,” said Jeff Elliott. “He scores two runs and that is the difference in the game but he gets on base and scores when he gets on and that is a nice job.”
But, leading off with Burlingham played right into the strategy for KTCU.
“He is a young man that we have not seen before but he really does a nice job,” said Steve Angermayer. “Because of his height pitchers have a hard time throwing to him and he has a very high on-base percentage.”
But, the five-run inning caused quite the excitement for KTCU.
“I was excited when it happened and baseball is an unpredictable sport as you well know so we were very excited about it,” said Steve Angermayer. “I am a little hoarse because I was yelling so much during that inning.”
For Commerce, they picked up the early lead in the first inning after Clark led off with a walk and Jordan Elliott singled. Charley Hensley flew out to right field to score Clark and Austin Haake grounded out to short allowing Jordan Elliott to score.
Commerce scored two more runs in the top of the fourth after Haake grounded into a fielder’s choice and Spencer Berhardt walked. Haake scored on three straight wild pitches and Taylor Brinegar hit an RBI single to score Bernhardt that gave Commerce a 4-1 lead.
That was before KTCU’s big inning.
“We really got the bats going and got focused,” said Steve Angermayer. “The good thing was that all of our kids got their bats on the ball and they did a nice job at the plate.”
After the fourth, offense came to a screeching halt for Commerce and they were able to collect just one hit over the last three innings of the game.
“We didn’t keep enough pressure on their defense and when they got their big inning, we did not make some plays and it all snowballed,” said Jeff Elliott.
KTCU finished in a tie for the league title and Commerce won their regular season title to close out the Intermediate League season.

JL Hutchinson
Intermediate League Tournament
at JayCee Ballpark
Championship
KTCU 6, Commerce Bank 4
Commerce    200 200 0 — 4 3 3
KTCU        001 050 x — 6 5 1
KTCU: Andy Farmer, Brad Markley (3), Robert Seward (5) and Joe Wimmer. Commerce: Jordan Elliott, Matt Clark (2), Elliott (6) and Matt Clark, Austin Haake (2). WP — Markley. LP — Clark. S — Seward. LOB — KTCU 7, Commerce 8. 2B — KTCU: Brad Markley. 3B — KTCU: Robert Seward.