It’ll be Lone Jack and St Paul Lutheran squaring off for the I-70 Conference Baseball Tournament title Thursday, Apr. 30 as the top two seeds in the annual event both put big numbers on the scoreboard Wednesday evening in their semifinal round victories.
Trailing 2-0 after one-half inning of play, the Lone Jack Mules tallied three times in the bottom of the first and then sent 14 batters to the plate during the fourth while scoring 10 more on their way to beating the host Concordia Orioles, 13-3 in just five innings. Lone Jack had only eight hits in the contest while taking advantage of nine Oriole errors to win easily.
Blayze Marsh banged out two doubles and a single as he scored three times for the winners. Luke Throgmorton chipped in with two hits and three RBI. Kaleb Mace also knocked home three runs with Colton Barnett adding two as well. Rounding out the Lone Jack offense was leadoff hitter Cooper Shull who scored three times in addition.
Cannon McLaughlin pitched four and a third innings to earn the victory for the Mules. McLaughlin scattered six hits with Aiden Frerking and Owen Reid both providing two base knocks for Concordia. Frerking also scored twice as Reid dented the plate once and drove in a run of his own.
After that, St Paul earned themselves a spot as Lone Jack’s opponent in the title contest by outscoring Sweet Springs in a semifinal-round slugfest, beating the Greyhounds, 18-9.
The Saints had but eight hits during the game while Sweet Springs banged out only six. St Paul benefitted from the 10 walks that the three Sweet Springs’ hurlers handed them with five of their batters also being hit by pitches. The Saints used five different pitchers themselves with Sam Moenkhoff and Jayden Battista putting out the fire during the last four innings. They threw shutout ball and allowed only two hits during the final half of the contest. In all, St Paul hurlers walked eight batters of their own and hit another four.
The Saints sent 14 men to the plate and scored 10 times in the bottom of the first. Sweet Springs tallied three during the second to make it 10-3 before St Paul responded with five unearned runs in the third, widening the gap to 15-3. The Greyhounds did make one more run at the lead, putting six runs on the board in the fourth and slicing the deficit to 15-9 before the Saints wrapped up things up for the night with a run in the fifth and two more during the sixth, closing out an 18-9 victory.
The Saints’ Walker Bodenstab had two hits and five RBI for the winners. Battista and Moenkhoff both added two singles and drove in four runs of their own. Micah Truwe scored four runs for his side as Battista, Ethan McKeage and Gus Sayre all dented the plate three times each.
Sweet Springs’ attack was paced by two hits, three RBI and a run scored from Drayton Hampton while Christian Thomas chipped in with two hits and two runs scored of his own.
The tightest game of the day turned out to be Wednesday afternoon’s losers’ bracket contest as Wellington-Napoleon eliminated Santa Fe/Norborne by a 4-2 score. The Tigers mustered single runs in the first, second and third before adding one more in the fifth for a 4-0 lead. The Chiefs made things close at the end with a run of their own in both the sixth and seventh frames. Taten Kolkmeyer threw a complete game for Wellington as he scattered seven hits while fanning eight batters and walking three.
Korben Dierking and Dalton Doak were on the hill for Santa Fe with those two teaming up to allow six hits. Kingston Lopez had two hits and scored a run for Wellington while Wyatt Miller tallied two runs of his own. Pacing the Santa Fe attack was Jensen Rehkop with two hits, a run scored and a run batted in as Dalton Doak cracked out two singles in addition.
To an extent, the Chiefs were their own worst enemy offensively by missing several opportunities to score. They had two runners caught stealing while another was picked off first and yet another was tagged out at the plate, trying to reach home on a wild pitch.
The I-70 Conference Tournament concludes Thursday with another three games on our airwaves. The consolation trophy game between Wellington-Napoleon and Crest Ridge begins at 3 p.m. online at kmmo.com. That’s followed by the third-place clash between Concordia and Sweet Springs. The championship game between top-seed Lone Jack and second-seed St Paul Lutheran is slated for first pitch at 7 p.m., with coverage on KMMO AM 1300.
Meanwhile on the softball diamonds, Lone Jack and Crest Ridge will clash for the conference title Thursday afternoon after posting wins in their semifinal tilts Wednesday. Lone Jack took care of Sweet Springs 5-2, while Crest Ridge blanked Santa Fe 8-0. The third-place game will begin at 4 p.m. on the yellow field in Concordia, followed by the championship. Concordia and St Paul Lutheran will face off in the consolation title game at 4 p.m. on the green field after their wins Wednesday. Orrick and Wellington-Napoleon will battle for seventh at 6 p.m.