Written by Ethan Silverman and Mike Rosenbaum

Troy Tournament

No. 3 CBC continued their surge through the winner's bracket of the Troy Tournament on Tuesday afternoon by defeating No. 17 DeSmet 10-6.  The Cadets have now won their first three games to open the season, setting up a show down against No. 1 Francis Howell for the tournament championship.

CBC took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Bobby Lang ripped a single over DeSmet shortstop Zak Larkin's head to plate senior David Schmidt, who lead off the inning with a double. 

A timely hit by senior 1B Mike Ehrard extended the Cadets' lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth.  With two outs, senior Derek Cornell was hit by a pitch, and the next batter, 2B Danny Chastain, drew a walk.  Both runners then advanced a base on a wild pitch to put runners on second and third.  Ehrard then delivered the big hit, a two-out, two-run single, that ultimately chased DeSmet's starting pitcher Brian Graf from the game.

In the bottom half of the inning, DeSmet threatened to cut into CBC's lead by loading the bases with two outs.  However, starting pitcher Brandon Deevers was able to escape the jam unscathed when he struck out junior DH Jake Unnerstall on a full count, called third strike to end the inning.

CBC tacked on another run in the top of the fifth when a Deevers single to right field plated senior CF/P David Schmidt, who had reached on an error to start the inning.

DeSmet responded in the bottom half in the bottom half of the inning by putting their first run on the board, making the score 4-1.  Junior 1B Chris Arends began the inning with a double, and advanced to third on a groundout by sophomore RF Brandon Gutzler.  The next batter, pinch hitter Alex Everett, also grounded out to short, which allowed Arends to score.

The patient CBC offense refused to be silenced, however, and came right back with two more runs in the top of the sixth.  After a walk to Chastain and a by single senior C Parker Stewart, Schmidt laced a two-run triple down the left field line that gave the Cadets a 6-1 lead.

Down five runs headed into the bottom half of the inning, the DeSmet offense needed a big inning to remain in the game.  After Larkin reached on an infield error, Deevers issued a walk to Graf, and exited the game.  With RHP Ryan Klas now pitching for CBC, senior LF Nick Rumping pushed across another run on a CBC error.  The next batter, Unnerstall, then roped a two-run double into the left-centerfield gap to make the score 6-4.  Arends then singled to put runners on first and third with one out, and Gutzler grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Unnerstall and made it a one run ballgame.

After nearly seeing their lead disappear, CBC coach Mason Horne delivered an important message to his squad.  "I told them don't freak out. When you've got a young team and things seem to fall apart, so to speak, their hearts start pumping. I told them to just calm it down, take care of the baseball, and things will take care of themselves."

And that's exactly what the immensely talented CBC team did.

With runners on second and third and just one out, Chastain cued an infield single that plated Deevers.  The next batter, Ehrard, drove in another run with a SAC fly to senior CF/LHP Kyle Bouman.  Stewart then crushed an RBI double to left field that one hopped the wall and drove in shortstop Mike Venturella (right).  The Cadets tacked on one more with two outs when Schmidt reached on an infield error.

Although DeSmet pushed across another the run in the bottom of the seventh, they ultimately came up short in their comeback against CBC.  Ehrard pitched the final frame for the Cadets, featuring a fastball that sat at 83-84 mph, reaching as high as 85 mph, and a slider that came in at 70-71 mph.

The offensive stars for CBC were seniors Ehrard and Schmidt.  Ehrard continued to swing a hot stick, going 3-for-4 with three RBI, and Schmidt seemed to find his groove at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double, triple, and two RBI.

Starter Brandon Deevers was spot-on in his season debut, and picked up the win for the Cadets throwing five innings while allowing only one run.  Showcasing a fastball that at 79-82 mph (reaching as high as 84 mph), and 75-76 mph slider, the right-hander gave up three hits, walked two, hit a batter, and fanned two.

In other Troy Tournament action, No. 1 Francis Howell took down Ft. Zumwalt East 9-1 to advance to the championship game Wednesday at 4:30 at Troy HS.  OF Jared Hagley (left) went 2-3 with two doubles, three RBIs and one run scored and C Gordie Gundaker contributed going 2-3 with two RBI singles and one run scored.   LHP Steve Diel collected the win for Francis Howell throwing four innings giving up three hits and one run, while striking out eight batters.

Glendale HS vs West Plains

Glendale HS defeated West Plains by a score of 5-2. Senior LHP Trey Watson picked up the win going five strong innings, striking out five batters and allowing only two hits. At the plate, Watson had two hits and three RBIs. Senior Skyler Ladd (right) picked up his second double of the season to go along with a triple and one RBI. Ladd also saw two innings in relief on the mound, striking out two.

Cabool HS vs Mountain Grove

Cabool beat Mtn. Grove 3-0. Sophmore C Drew OPearson (left) led the Cabool offense going 2-3, with an RBI single and a two run home run.

Bolivar vs Stockton

Bolivar HS (2-1) defeated Stockton HS (0-2) 7-5 in eight innings. Facing a 3-1 deficit, Bolivar scored four runs on five hits in the top of the seventh inning to take a 5-3 lead, with an RBI ground out by Alex Wells tying the game at 3-3. Stockton tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring a run on an RBI double by Johnson and Walker scoring on an error.

In the top of the eight, Bolivar scored two runs to win the game, with the winning run scoring on a Darnell Walker single, scoring Braden Berg. Bolivar added an insurance run on a Jason Myers single to centerfield, scoring Berg. Darnell Walker picked up the win with two innings in relief giving up two runs (one earned).