Prep baseball: Knights use bloops to get best of wood bat game

June 3, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH/ Frontiersman

PALMER - Having an old school mentality at the plate paid off for the Colony Knights in a throwback game at Hermon Brothers Field Friday evening.

The Knights used 10 hits - more than half of them to the opposite field - to beat the Moose 11-1 in a game shortened to five innings by the mercy rule. The game was played using wooden bats in what has become an annual late-season tradition between the two Valley teams.

Following the game, Colony coach Jamie Mayo said he was happy with the way his club wielded the wood bats, especially the Knights' willingness to take what Palmer starter Cole Smith would give them.

&#8220I thought our kids hit the ball pretty well tonight,” Mayo said. &#8220They did a real good job of going the other way.”

Despite giving up 11 runs, Smith pitched well, consistently locating his pitches on the outside third of the plate for strikes. But that didn't always translate into outs, as Colony got several bloop singles to fall for hits. The junior southpaw was also hurt by some poor defense, including four costly Moose errors.

&#8220They didn't execute the plays when they were in front of them,” Palmer coach David Combs said.

Combs said Smith's effort was impressive, and gives him hope for next season.

&#8220I'm happy to have him coming back,” he said.

Colony's pitching was even more impressive, as the Knights used three underclassmen to shut down the Palmer attack. Freshman starter Colten Peterson gave up one hit in two innings, sophomore Rhowe Stefanski pitched two innings of no-hit ball and sophomore Matt Packa allowed just one hit in his inning of work. Palmer center fielder Justin Ratcliff was the only Moose player to manage a hit off the Colony staff, singling twice.

&#8220All three of those guys have done a pretty good job all year for us,” Colony's Mayo said of Friday's pitching trio.

Colony got one run in the first inning when Chris Breck and Robert Fitch executed a perfect double steal to catch the Moose napping.

The Knights then busted things open in the third, getting four runs on four hits and a Palmer error. Colony posted three consecutive two-out singles from Kody Ziter, Blake Huppert and Mike Wagner to key the inning.

Both Wagner and Huppert led Colony with two RBI on the game. Huppert also had three hits for Colony, while Josh Boring was 2-for-4. Chris Breck and Wes Smith each scored twice for the Knights.

Breck also had a couple fine defensive plays at second base, twice fighting off a stiff breeze to make tough catches in shallow right field.

Following the game, Breck said playing with the wooden bats meant players had to really concentrate on trying to make good contact.

&#8220It's a lot different,” he said. &#8220The sweet spot is a lot smaller.”

Breck said it was fun to get a chance to swing the lumber, but said he'll be happy to return to aluminum.

&#8220I'd rather use the metal bats,” he said.

Colony got three more runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to take an 11-0 lead after five.

Palmer got one run back in the bottom half of the fifth after Tanner Grover reached on an error, advanced to second on a Ratcliff single, stole third and scored on a Colony error. It would be far too little, however, as Packa induced a pop-up by Palmer cleanup hitter Mike Dotson to end the game.

Following the win, Mayo said he was impressed with his team's pitching and hitting, but said the defense could have been better for the Knights, who also committed four errors.

&#8220We either play extremely well defensively or the opposite of extremely well,” he said.

The loss was the final game in a long season for Palmer. The Moose won just one conference game all season and were plagued by frequent miscues in the field. But following Friday's loss, David Combs said he's looking forward to next season and said there's reason for optimism in the Moose camp.

&#8220I think we're capable of playing better,” Combs said.

The first-year coach noted the Palmer's junior varsity dropped just one game all season, and said he's enjoyed his first year at the helm despite Palmer's lack of success.

&#8220I've had a great time,” he said. &#8220It's been a kick in the pants.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

COLONY

name ab r h bi

Breck 2b 2 2 0 0

Boring ss 4 1 2 1

W.Smith 3b 3 2 1 0

Fitch cf 2 1 1 0

Ziter c 3 1 0 1

Huppert dh 1b 4 1 3 2

Wagner rf 4 0 1 2

Cuculla 1b 3 1 0 0

Durbin lf 3 1 1 0

Sinnett 1 1 1 1

Totals 29 11 10 7

PALMER

Name ab r h bi

Grover ss 3 1 0 0

Ratcliff cf 3 0 2 0

Christopher c 3 0 0 0

Alger 2b 2 0 0 0

Co.Smith p 2 0 0 0

Lite lf 2 0 0 0

Eley 1b 2 0 0 0

Fullmer rf 0 0 0 0

Totals 19 1 2 0

COLONY 104 33 - 11

PALMER 000 01 - 1

E - Colony 4, Palmer 4. LOB - Colony 8, Palmer 6. 2B - W.Smith. SB - Grover, W.Smith, Fitch. CS - Fullmer.

COLONY IP H R ER BB SO

Peterson 2 1 0 0 0 0

Stefanski 2 0 0 0 2 2

Packa 1 1 1 0 0 1

PALMER

Co.Smith 5 10 11 4 2 7

HBP - W.Smith by Co.Smith, Fullmer by Packa. WP - Co.Smith (2).

Time - 1:43.