June 20, 2014
Ducks squeeze past Post 114 amidst base running blunders
sports@standard-democrat.com CHARLESTON -- Defenses were stout and pitching was up to par, but offense was at a premium between Sikeston Post 114 and the New Madrid Ducks. Though plagued with a lack of run production the Ducks, New Madrid's Senior Babe Ruth baseball team, squeaked out a run in the bottom of the seventh to beat Sikeston's American Legion Post 114 1-0 Thursday during the first round of pool play at the Bleacher Bum Invitational at Hillhouse Park in Charleston...
By Chris Pobst - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
CHARLESTON -- Defenses were stout and pitching was up to par, but offense was at a premium between Sikeston Post 114 and the New Madrid Ducks.
Though plagued with a lack of run production the Ducks, New Madrid's Senior Babe Ruth baseball team, squeaked out a run in the bottom of the seventh to beat Sikeston's American Legion Post 114 1-0 Thursday during the first round of pool play at the Bleacher Bum Invitational at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.
"I'm kind of glad to see one go our way," New Madrid head coach Tim Campbell said, whose team stands with a 3-7 record so far this season.
Josh Reed played the hero role in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out, pinch-hit single on the third pitch he saw. Reed's grounder bounced off the glove of Sikeston shortstop Wynn Roberds as New Madrid's Jake Reed passed by on his way to third base. As the ball scooted away, Garrison Keene easily trotted in to score the winning run.
Jashawn McDaniel, the 2013 New Madrid graduate who went on to play baseball for St. Charles Community College, earned the complete game win. McDaniel, who had a 2-1 record in five starts for St. Charles, gave up seven hits and struck out six. He's getting back into form after dealing with right shoulder problems that sidelined the pitcher for the entire month of April. McDaniel threw just two innings in May as well.
"You just can't say enough about Jashawn," Campbell said. "He said he felt good today so we extended him a bit more than we intended. He's pretty much where he needs to be."
Like most of the game, trying to score New Madrid's game-winner was a struggle all itself. What made it more frustrating for each squad was when something was cooking on the base paths, base running blunders added to the offensive drought.
New Madrid's last chance at ending it in regulation started off with promise. Dylan Milisits and Garrison Keene began the inning by reaching on errors. Milisits, however, was quickly erased trying to advance to second.
"That didn't work out real well for us," Campbell said. "We've hit into hard luck all year."
Though it felt like a promising scoring opportunity would again be wasted, Jake Reed then reached first on a misplay by third baseman Camden Sapp. Following a strikeout by McDaniel, pinch-hitter Josh Reed hit a 1-1 fastball to the left side of the infield to win it.
"Both teams had chances we just couldn't get that key hit or we would make stupid base running mistakes," Campbell said. "But, we were able to pull this one out."
In some cases on behalf of Post 114, they were their own worst enemy when it came to ruining scoring chances.
Twice Sikeston was caught in rundowns -- the second time was between third and home with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth when Patrick Smith was stuck in no man's land when an attempted squeeze play failed.
Sikeston was able to put a runner on third twice and both opportunities came in the sixth inning.
"We got a little lazy on the bases," Post 114 head coach Craig Templeton said. "We gave them outs with that and that's something we can't do going through a scoreless game into the late innings. Some of our older kids got a little over-eager at times. They're trying to do too much instead of getting something going. We just have to be more patient."
The Ducks were ravaged by that same problem as they tried to run on Sikeston catcher Josh Hampton. Hampton threw out three potential base stealers and picked off another one standing on first.
"They had the same problem we had going into the late innings," Templeton said about New Madrid. "They jammed themselves and did the same thing on the bases. (Josh Hampton) did an amazing job catching them three of four times on the bases."
Post 114's Nathan Hampton also went the distance on the mound giving up four hits and one unearned run.
"Our pitching was where it needed to be and we knew Nathan was going to throw good for us," Templeton said. "He's a lefty that can put the ball where he needs it and he gets outs."
New Madrid will play Elsberry today at 3 p.m. and Post 114 will take on the Charleston Squirrels at 1 p.m. both in the second day of pool play.
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