Festus’ American Legion team turned a tight game into a 16-2 blowout at De Soto SMCI on June 27.
The District 13 game was tied 2-2 in the fourth inning when Post 253 batted around on De Soto starting pitcher Brett Gibbs and reliever Cole Valle, scored four runs and used the inning as a springboard to improve to 6-0 in the district and 15-4 overall.
Gibbs was in trouble from the outset after he yielded a leadoff double to Gavin Turley, hit Collin Mann with a pitch and walked Michael Brewer in the first.
Gibbs forced out Turley at home on Jake Leitner’s fielder’s choice, but Brennan Pryor ripped a two-run single up the middle, scoring courtesy runner Gunnison Heine and Brewer to give Festus a 2-0 lead.
De Soto struck back immediately in the home half of the first. With one out, Tom Hahn and Andrew Downs singled off Leitner and Clayton Snudden drew a walk. Hunter Canada delivered an RBI single, scoring Hahn. With one out, Nick Carter flied out to center, but Andrew DeRousse, a courtesy runner for Downs, was ruled to have left third base early and was the third out.
Post 253 loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Mann lined into a double play at first base.
Hayden Voyles started the De Soto second with a double, and tried to take third on a bunt by Blake House but was thrown out by Leitner, who had fielded House’s bunt. SMCI had runners on first and third when Leitner got Hahn on a called third strike.
“Our pitching is the best aspect of our team,” Turley said.
De Soto tied the game 2-2 in the third after Downs led off the inning with a single. Downs reached second on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Canada.
Post 253 took it from there.
After retiring Charlie Pratt to begin the fourth, Gibbs didn’t record another out before being relieved by Valle. Jacob Bridges singled, stole second, wound up at third on a wild pitch by Gibbs and scored on Turley’s triple to make it 3-2 Festus. Mann’s double plated Turley, but Heine came in to courtesy run and was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice. Gibbs plunked Brewer, who stole second and came home with Leitner on Pryor’s two-run double to increase Post 253’s lead to 6-2.
“I just tried to drive the ball in both at-bats and got pitches to do it,” Turley said.
As exciting as legging out triples can be, Turley said there’s one thing that would be even better.
“I’d love to hit a home run. I’ve never hit one before,” he said.
Festus manager Zac Bone relieved Leitner with Christian Hancock to begin the De Soto fourth, and Voyles greeted him by cracking a single. An error and fly out later, Voyles was standing on third, but after Hancock walked Hahn, he ended the inning by forcing a ground out.
SMCI stranded seven runners through four innings.
With one out in the fifth, Bridges singled and gained two bases on a groundout to shortstop. With two away, Mann crushed a two-run home run over the fence in center field to give Festus an 8-2 lead.
After Hancock retired De Soto in order in the fifth, SMCI manager Sean Wiley lifted Valle for Alex Wilson as Festus came up to bat in the sixth. Wilson walked Matt Rosen to start the inning. Ryan Reando in as a courtesy runner and stole second, but he was hit by Hancock’s ground ball at third base and was out. Caleb Hyde came in to courtesy run for Hancock and scored on Pratt’s double to make it 9-2.
Hancock struck out two of three batters in the SMCI sixth and ended the game with a strikeout.
“I was throwing my fastball a lot, but the curveball wasn’t really working for me,” Hancock said.
Between those two innings, Festus sent Wilson packing in favor of DeRousse in the seventh, and plated seven runs. Mann, Brewer, Pryor, Rosen, Heine and Tommy Moon all had singles and Leitner had a double in the inning. Pryor was 3-for-5 with six RBIs in the win.
Rock gets first district win
On a broiling hot Saturday in Imperial, Rock Memorial Post 283 made a stand against De Soto SMCI and won its first District 13 game of the season, 5-3.
Pitcher Christian Homeier shrugged off the oppressive temperatures and pitched a complete game for Post 283. Downs led off the seventh inning with a base hit and with two outs, Gibbs singled moving courtesy runner Briar Fischer to second. Homeier got Carter to fly out to end the game. Post 283 improved to 2-8-1. SMCI fell to 6-17.
Homeier got the win despite allowing 10 hits and three walks. Rock manager Ed Sabourin kept a close eye on his starter with real-feel temps above 100.
“I kept asking him if he was OK because it’s so hot out here and he kept saying he was OK,” Sabourin said. “He got the job done. His fastball is good enough you have to look for it. If he gets his other pitches over, that’s his bread and butter.”
De Soto squandered several chances at a big inning. In the first, Downs walked and Snudden doubled, but Fischer was caught stealing and Snudden was stuck on second after a fly out.
In the SMCI second, Brett Gibbs led off with a walk and Carter hit a double, giving De Soto runners at second and third with no outs. But Homeier caught a pop up, struck out Blake House looking and ended the frame by inducing Voyles to ground out to shortstop.
“We had a popup down the line we should have caught,” De Soto manager Sean Wiley said. “That’s a pretty routine play that led to their big inning. Defensive mistakes killed us late but we ran ourselves out of the game on the bases. We had 10 hits today and scored three runs.”
SMCI took a 2-0 lead in the third when Landon Swallow led off with a single and Downs followed with a double. Snudden, who had three doubles on the day, smacked his first one to drive in Swallow and Fischer, courtesy running for Downs.
“He’s been really consistent for us and has been really hot at the plate for us,” Wiley said of Snudden. “We can count on him to take a really good at-bat.”
Rock catcher Cooper Thomas doubled off De Soto starting pitcher Cole Valle to begin the fourth. Valle walked Tony Saggio and a flair down the right-field line by Shawn Lewis scored Thomas to cut the SMCI lead to 2-1. Colby Starkey singled to move up Saggio and Lewis and Post 283 took a 3-2 lead on RBIs by Dom Giamnas (fielder’s choice) and Truman Ward (ground out).
“Cooper is an outstanding player and he’s going to get signed at the next level,” Sabourin said. “He can do everything. He can swing the bat well, too. I don’t know where we’d be without him.”
With two outs in the fifth, De Soto loaded the bases on a single by Downs, double by Snudden and walk by Canada, who was 0-for-3 at the plate. The bases stayed loaded after Homeier got Gibbs to fly out.
Rock increased its lead to 4-2 in the fifth when Trent Short led off the inning with a double. Dave Lawson followed with a single and stole second base, giving Post 283 runners at second and third with no outs. Valle minimized the damage from there, allowing a RBI single to Saggio.
“Trent’s been swinging the bat really well as of late,” Sabourin said.
What had been an error-free game turned quickly in the De Soto sixth when five straight errors were committed by both teams. Pinch hitter Caleb Dickmann reached on an error on his ground ball and scored to cut Rock’s lead to 4-3 when a fly ball was dropped.
Shaun Brooks relieved Valle in the Rock sixth and hit the first batter he faced, Giamnas, who got to second on an error by Homeier and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-3.
“We made a few mistakes that got us into a jam again and we’ve got to make the routine plays,” Sabourin said. “We worked around a few of those mistakes but we can’t do that against really good teams. We had some fly balls that should have been caught. We’ve got to make those plays.”
Despite being tagged with the loss, Wiley said Valle pitched well.
“He’s a ground ball guy,” Wiley said. “He’s going to give up some line drives and fly balls every once in awhile and I thought he threw well enough to win. If we make a couple of plays in the fourth inning, he’s probably still in the game in the sixth and seventh.”
De Soto travels to Kansas City this week to play in a wooden bat tournament.
The District 13 tournament begins July 10.
“Festus has the arms and they’ll be tough to beat,” Wiley said of the tournament’s defending champions. “I don’t think there’s one team that’s a lock to win it. There’s a couple of teams that could make a run if they get hot at the right time.”