The Jefferson County Blazers baseball organization almost pulled off a tournament trifecta on July 21 (Sunday).
The 16-U (junior) squad, battling back through the losers’ bracket, knocked off the top-seeded St. Louis Stallions 4-2 and 6-2 to win the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association (SLABA) junior tournament. The 15-U Blazer squad also won the SLABA freshman tournament, upsetting the No. 1 seeded St. Charles Capitols 3-1.
The senior Blazers, meanwhile, also came back through the losers’ bracket and made the championship round on Sunday, even winning the first game against the Stallions 18-U club, 5-3. But the Stallions were too much to handle in the ultimate game, winning 8-3. The Blazers settled for second place with a 5-2 tournament mark that upped their overall record to 18-16-1.
“I’m searching for the right words, but our kids kept scratching, never panicked, and just wouldn’t go away,” Blazer senior manager Dustin Bain said. “The easiest way to put it is that every time we showed up, I told them to believe you can be successful, or fear everything else. In a tournament like this, nobody’s got any pitching left. The key is to go out there and score, score, score.”
The three Blazer squads landed a raft of players on their respective SLABA all-star teams. Senior players who made it are starters Mike Bibbs (catcher), Shane Pollard (second base) and Colton Anderson (shortstop). Brady Politte and Jake Drysdale were named as infield reserves and Matt Harvey and Luke Boyster were named as pitchers for the Aug. 5 all-star game at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon, Mo.
The Blazers’ junior all-stars include starters Matt Bokamper, Luke Bandy and Jake Mueller, reserve Brett Vasel and pitchers Austin Rogers, Alex Hanft and Jason Stuckmeyer. The 15-U Blazers will be represented by starter Cherokee Boynton, reserves Joe Ambrose, Tom Moore and Travis Turnbough and pitchers Connor Grindell and Cameron Schlemmer.