League tourney nearing its finale
The field of contenders for the Junior League baseball championship continued to narrow this week, as tournament action heated up at Hoover Millraney Field.
In a nail-biter, Morris’ Auto Body moved on while eliminating Gateway Tire with an 8-7 victory. Micha Black had a hit and a pair of RBIs for Morris’, while Logan Seamons helped the winning cause with two hits and drove in two more runs.
Jeremy Southard also had a base hit for Morris’, which led 7-2 before Gateway bounced back with a five-run fifth to tie the game.
Austin Fairchild, Tyler Farley, Cole Warden and Tyler Campbell each had hits for Gateway, with Warden driving in two runs and Campbell adding an RBI.
• Car Concepts was ousted by Hoover and Son in the next game of the tourney, as Hoover scored one run in the fourth and three more in the third to break a 3-3 deadlock and win 7-3.
Patrick Harvey, Cody Phillips, Gareth Llewellyn and Trevor Durham all came through with hits for Hoover and Son, and Phillips, Llewellyn and Durham were credited with RBIs to support Mark Harvey’s winning cause on the mound.
Kell Darnbush and Seth Breseil had a hit and an RBI each for Car Concepts, while Jordan Woodlee and Adam Fann each had hits.
• Tyler Gilley had four extra-base hits, and combined with fellow pitcher Brett Patterson for 11 strikeouts to lead ABC Ice to a 13-3 win over Willmore Body Shop.
Gilley finished with four RBIs, while Cole Stubblefield and Patterson had three hits each. Patterson and Hector Labrada each drove in two runs, while Dustin Morris had an RBI and Michael Thrower had a hit in the winning effort.
Tyler Glenn, Matthew Tidenburg and Garrett Pack all had hits for Willmore.
• B&K Trucking rallied with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to down Hot Wheels Skate Center 8-7. Lucas Felton had an inside-the-park home run to highlight the win for B&K, while Cody Robinson drove in three runs.
For Hot Wheels, Dakota Taylor and Andrew Sims had two hits each, and drove in three runs between them, with Sims credited for two RBIs. Dustin Rhea had a pair of RBIs, while Cameron Moore, McKay Boles and Shayne Neilson all had hits.
• The tournament’s 17th game saw Willmore bounce back from its previous loss and oust Hoover and Son with an 11-1 victory.
Matthew Tidenburg slammed a first-inning home run to get things going for Willmore, and was intentionally walked twice as the game went on. Tyler Glenn came through with three hits and four RBIs, Cody Fults had a pair of hits, and Garrett Pack drove in two runs while Josh Miller had an RBI hit in the winning effort, which saw Willmore plate nine runs to blow the game open in the third.
Joel Rowland and Quinton McKinley had a hit each for Willmore.
• Nine walks came back to haunt Hot Wheels, as they were eliminated from the tourney with a 5-2 loss to Morris’ Auto Body.
Andrew Sims had an inside-the-park home run in the second for Hot Wheels, cutting Morris’ lead to 3-1, but Morris’ came right back with two runs in the bottom of the second and held on to take the win.
Micha Black had a hit and a pair of RBIs for Morris, while Logan Seams drove in two runs.
Dustin Rhea and Andrew Sims had a base hit each for Hot Wheels, and Dakota Taylor drove in a run.
The Junior League championship was scheduled to be decided Saturday.