ELSBERRY The Jefferson City American Legion Post 5 Juniors finished in second place out of eight teams in the Elsberry Post 226 Memorial Weekend Wood Bat Tournament with a 4-1 record to begin their season.
If a baseball team is going to play four games in less than 48 hours, it better have strong starting pitching. The Blair Oaks Falcons had strong starting pitching Friday. Harrison Lear and Jacob Tellman each allowed one run in five innings, combining for 11 strikeouts as the Falcons defeated Gateway Legacy and Lee’s Summit, each by scores of 5-1, at Vivion Field to wrap up pool play in the Jays Baseball Classic with a 2-1 record.
For a while, it seemed like the first inning might be the only good inning for the Blair Oaks offense this week. Fortunately for the Falcons, they had a breakthrough in the fifth and sixth innings Tuesday night. Blair Oaks took advantage of a few crucial errors and a few pitching mishaps to pull away to an 8-2 victory against the Eldon Mustangs in a Tri-County Conference matchup at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
For the longest time, it looked like one run would be enough. Just two batters into Monday’s game, the Blair Oaks Falcons led 1-0 against the Helias Crusaders. That remained the score until Helias sent the game to extra innings with a run in the bottom of the seventh, then won it 2-1 with a run in the ninth at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex. “When it got to crunch time, we performed,” Helias coach Chris Wyrick said.
RUSSELLVILLE It was a game that had a little bit of everything.
Big innings and blown leads. Home runs and infield singles. Plenty of walks and strikeouts. And a very strong wind blowing toward left field.
In the end, the final margin was the same as last year’s meeting between the Russellville Indians and the Blair Oaks Falcons: one run.