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PITTSBURG —
Pittsburg Post 64 flexed its pitching muscle against Springfield Kickapoo on Saturday evening and once again in the championship game of the Pittsburg American Legion Wood Bat Tournament against Neosho on Sunday.
“It just continued from last night,” Post 64 head coach Mike Watt said. “Christian Cedeno threw real well (against Kickapoo) and (on Thursday) Joe Wimmer came in and struck out three guys with the winning run on. These last three games, our pitching has been outstanding. If we can do that, we’re going to be pretty tough to beat.
“Matt (Standlee) was in control through six innings and he got a little tired. But Blake (Vail) came in and I thought he had better stuff tonight than he did on Thursday. We’ve played four games now and I think everybody’s starting to feel a little more comfortable.”
In a pitching matchup deserving of a championship game, Post 64 starter Matt Standlee outdueled Neosho starter Silas Bohannon at the JayCee Ballpark corral and Post 64 claimed the wood bat crown with a 5-0 win.
At first, Post 64 struggled against flame-throwing Bohannon, clocked at 92 mph on a trusty old radar gun.
Bohannon fanned Nate Grimaldi, Joe Wimmer and Brett Macary in the first — Grimaldi and Wimmer looking, Macary swinging. Sam Gilbert reached on a catcher’s interference and stole second for naught.
However, Post 64 earned both its first hit and its first run in the second — line-drive hitting lefty Cody Grilz touched Bohannon for his first hit on a single and would later score on the assistance of a Neosho error.
Post 64 leadoff man Grimaldi, quite possibly the fastest player in the entire Wood Bat Tournament, wreaked havoc on Neosho in the fifth to score the second run against Bohannon. Grimaldi reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and then Bohannon had an opportunity to eliminate Grimaldi at third but his throw went into shallow left field and Grimaldi picked himself up and sprinted home.
Gilbert turned a 6-3 double play to get Post 64 out of the first after he made two errors and then made offensive contributions in the sixth and seventh innings to help Post 64 gain a five-run advantage.
The Post 64 shortstop led off the sixth with a single and stole his second and third bases of the night to place himself 90 feet away from a run. With one down, Christian Cedeno laced a sharp single past the glove of diving Neosho first baseman Jayce Parmley and Gilbert scored. Watt held Macary at third and Neosho right fielder Kody Kelly threw a strike to catcher Tyler Marion; Post 64 failed to score additional runs with the bases loaded.
Pittsburg Post 64 flexed its pitching muscle against Springfield Kickapoo on Saturday evening and once again in the championship game of the Pittsburg American Legion Wood Bat Tournament against Neosho on Sunday.
“It just continued from last night,” Post 64 head coach Mike Watt said. “Christian Cedeno threw real well (against Kickapoo) and (on Thursday) Joe Wimmer came in and struck out three guys with the winning run on. These last three games, our pitching has been outstanding. If we can do that, we’re going to be pretty tough to beat.
“Matt (Standlee) was in control through six innings and he got a little tired. But Blake (Vail) came in and I thought he had better stuff tonight than he did on Thursday. We’ve played four games now and I think everybody’s starting to feel a little more comfortable.”
In a pitching matchup deserving of a championship game, Post 64 starter Matt Standlee outdueled Neosho starter Silas Bohannon at the JayCee Ballpark corral and Post 64 claimed the wood bat crown with a 5-0 win.
At first, Post 64 struggled against flame-throwing Bohannon, clocked at 92 mph on a trusty old radar gun.
Bohannon fanned Nate Grimaldi, Joe Wimmer and Brett Macary in the first — Grimaldi and Wimmer looking, Macary swinging. Sam Gilbert reached on a catcher’s interference and stole second for naught.
However, Post 64 earned both its first hit and its first run in the second — line-drive hitting lefty Cody Grilz touched Bohannon for his first hit on a single and would later score on the assistance of a Neosho error.
Post 64 leadoff man Grimaldi, quite possibly the fastest player in the entire Wood Bat Tournament, wreaked havoc on Neosho in the fifth to score the second run against Bohannon. Grimaldi reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and then Bohannon had an opportunity to eliminate Grimaldi at third but his throw went into shallow left field and Grimaldi picked himself up and sprinted home.
Gilbert turned a 6-3 double play to get Post 64 out of the first after he made two errors and then made offensive contributions in the sixth and seventh innings to help Post 64 gain a five-run advantage.
The Post 64 shortstop led off the sixth with a single and stole his second and third bases of the night to place himself 90 feet away from a run. With one down, Christian Cedeno laced a sharp single past the glove of diving Neosho first baseman Jayce Parmley and Gilbert scored. Watt held Macary at third and Neosho right fielder Kody Kelly threw a strike to catcher Tyler Marion; Post 64 failed to score additional runs with the bases loaded.
Gilbert smacked a triple into deep center in the seventh — easily over the head of Neosho center fielder Tyler Johnson — and this hit scored courtesy runner Joe Wimmer, who stole second after V.J. Piccini reached on a single. Gilbert scored on a Macary sacrifice fly and Post 64 had more than enough runs for Blake Vail in the bottom of the seventh.
“Sam Gilbert had some big hits and ran the bases well,” Watt said. “V.J. Piccini came in and got a big pinch-hit single. Joe Wimmer comes in and steals second, then scored on a hit by Gilbert. Like I told the kids after the game, it’s really nice because that’s a team effort right there. One guy gets the basehit, another guy comes in to steal the base and then another guy gets the basehit. It’s just a good, solid team effort.”
Post 64 ends its first weekend 4-0 — defeating Nevada, Kansas City Ward, Springfield Kickapoo and Neosho. After tight contests against Nevada (10-7) and KC Ward (5-4) on Thursday, Post 64 defeated Kickapoo 6-1 and Neosho 5-0 behind solid pitching from Cedeno, Piccini, Standlee and Vail.
Post 64 brought out eight pitchers opening weekend — Cedeno, Piccini, Standlee, Vail, Wimmer, Gilbert, Grilz and Nick George. Post 64 allowed 12 runs on 22 hits over 28 innings and Standlee, Cedeno, Grilz and Vail each picked up wins.
On the basepaths, Post 64 stole 24 bases against power pitchers like Colton Selvey of Nevada and Bohannon of Neosho. Grimaldi shares the Post 64 lead in steals with seven, at least one in every game and two against Nevada, KC Ward and Neosho. Gilbert also reached seven with one against Nevada and KC Ward, then two against Kickapoo and three against Neosho.
“They understand they’ve got a lot of potential,” Watt said. “We’ve told them that from the first day of practice. We brought everybody in . . . we’ve got a lot of good arms and we’ve got a lot of good athletes so hopefully good things will keep happening. It’s baseball.”
Post 64 plays a doubleheader against Carthage on Tuesday and then returns home for a showcase event next Saturday and Sunday at JayCee Ballpark.
