MABA teams to square off in Senior Babe State Tourney

By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

FRANKCLAY — One thing is for certain, a Mineral Area Baseball Association team will advance to the Midwest Senior Babe Ruth Regional Tournament to be held in Charleston, Missouri. The MABA Pirates and the MABA Cyclones will play today at 5 p.m. at the Frankclay Baseball Field. The winner will play against the Charleston Flying Squirrels at 7:30 p.m. in the finals.

Because Charleston is hosting the Regional Tournament, they receive an automatic bid, making the second place team in the state tournament the Missouri representative for the Midwest Regional.

Charleston 8, Pirates 5

For five innings, Charleston pitcher Tyler Whybar had the Pirates mesmerized. Whybar struck out seven Pirate batters and even though he was hit hard with three doubles, the righthander did not falter until the sixth inning. The Pirates scored all five of their runs in the last two innings.

Ryan Calvird and Matt Kemp managed to hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning for the Pirates but Calvird had to tag up to see if Kemp’s ball was caught at the centerfield wall, and was only able to advance to third on the play.

The Pirates loaded the bases in the fifth inning, but Whybar registered his final strike-out to leave all three Pirates’ stranded.

The Flying Squirrels were definitely off to a flying start. Lead-off batter Jarrid Smith and Colin Gilooly both hit singles to start the Charleston first inning. A sacrifice bunt by Zach Rowland was too good, turning into a hit instead, to load the bases.  Chase McClendon also singled and all four batters were able to score in the inning.

Colin Gilooly singled in the second and Rowland hit an RBI triple , followed by an RBI double by Whybar and an RBI single by Mark Freed.

Charleston scored a lone run in the fifth to post an 8-0 lead, but a determined Pirates club was not going down without a fight.  Ethan Sitton started the ball rolling in the sixth inning with a lead-off single. Three Charleston errors in the inning helped the Pirates cause with only Trevor Kean picking up an RBI on a ground ball.

Still trailing 8-3 going into their last at-bats, the Pirates made things interesting again. A single by Kemp in the seventh inning was immediately followed by Sitton with a double. Charleston’s coaching staff had seen enough and Tyler McCann replaced Whybark on the mound.

Pinch-hitter Joey Harp drew a walk to greet McCann, and Cody Shannon hit a ball down the right field line for a two RBI double, and also bringing the tying run to the plate. McCann was able to strike out the next batter and get a ground ball to third to end the game.

Charleston only needs to win one of their next two ball games to win the state title.

MABA Pirates  000 003 2 - 5  9  1

Charleston  430 010 x - 8  12  4

WP- Whybark 6 1/3i 5r 8h 7k 2bb, McCann 2/3i 0r 1h 1k 1bb. LP- Sitton 1 2/3i 7r 8h 2k 1bb, Akers 1 1/3i 0r 1h 1k 2bb, Kean 3i 1r 3h 1k 0bb.

Hitting:

Pirates - Calvird 2-3, Kemp 2-4, Sitton 2-4, Shannon 1-2, Reed 1-2, Kean 1-4. 2b- Calvird, Kemp, Sitton, Shannon.

Charelston - Gilooly 3-4, Rowland 2-3, Smith 2-4, Gaddis 1-2, Rolwing 1-3, Whybark 1-4, McClendon 1-4, Freed 1-4. 3b- Rowland, 2b- Whybark.

Cyclones 5, New Madrid 2

The MABA Cyclones 5-2 win over New Madrid County on Sunday was a bit of sweet revenge, since New Madrid had defeated the Cyclones 11-0 in the tournament’s opening game on Thursday.

The Cyclones had been shut down by New Madrid’s Cody Cook who struck out nine batters, and allowed only four baserunners in a two-hit game on Thursday, but New Madrid tried to save their ace in Sunday’s game, and the Cyclones took advantage.  

All five of the Cyclones runs scored on their two home runs. Chad Alcorn reached base on a single in the second inning and Bennie White drove a ball 350 feet over the leftfield fence to give the Cyclones a 2-0 lead.

New Madrid tied the game up in the top of the fourth. Singles by D.J. Birdwell and Cody Cook were followed by a two-RBI triple off of the bat of the team’s No. 9 hitter Brandon Bennett.

Bennett was the only New Madrid hitter to figure out the pitching of Dereck Wilson. Wilson struck out nine batters, including the side in the fifth inning, to go the distance for the Cyclones. He gave up only six hits and two walks.

The Cyclones hit the ball hard in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good. Matt Marler led off the inning with a single and Jesse Williams hit a line drive shot which hopped the leftfield fence on one bounce for a ground-rule double. None was hit harder than by Chad Alcorn with a three-RBI home run.

The home run sent pitcher Jay Singleton to the showers, figuratively speaking, and Jacob Estes replaced him on the mound. White greeted the new pitcher with a single. With White on the move, Austin Casteel delivered a line drive single into right field, and White not only took third but tried for home as well.

The effort to blow the game wide open backfired as a perfect throw not only caught White at the plate, but Bennett, the New Madrid catcher, made the tag and threw a strike to third to catch Casteel for a 9-2-5 double play.

Defense was excellent on both sides as Jesse Williams made an outstanding, diving catch of a line drive for the first out of the fifth inning.  

The last two innings of play belonged to the pitchers. Seeing that a next game might not be if they did not win the one they were playing, New Madrid finally called on their ace to finish out the game. Cook faced only six batters and struck out five.

However, Wilson nearly did the same as he mowed down five of the last eight batters he faced to keep New Madrid’s offense wanting.

In the Cyclones earlier games, Wilson and Marler had the only hits against Cook in game one. Estes had a home run for New Madrid.

In their second game, the Cyclones defeated Boonville 16-6 in six innings. Marler got the win, pitching all six innings and striking out five batters.

Willaims was top hitter with a triple and two singles., Wilson had three singles, and White and Eaton had a double and a single each. Josh Rainey hit two singles, Chad Alcorn hit a double and Austin Casteel and Thomas hit one single each. The Cyclones scored six runs in the sixth to win by the 10-run rule.

New Madrid  000 200 0 - 2  6  3

Cyclones  020 300 x - 5  7  1

WP- Wilson 6i 2r 6h 9k 2bb. LP- Singleton 3i 5r 5h 2k 1bb, Estes 1i 0r 2h 1k 0bb, Cook 2i 0r 0h 5k 0bb.

Hitting:

New Madrid - Bennett 2-3, Singleton 1-3, Birdwell 1-3, Cook 1-2, Thomason 1-2. 3b- Bennett.

Cyclones - C Alcorn 2-3, White 2-3, Casteel 1-2, Marler 1-3, Williams 1-3. HR- C Alcorn, White. 2b- Williams.