Phillips and Rock Bridge overcome layoff in decisive win over Troy

May 19, 2011

By Mike Rosenbaum

WENTZVILLE -- After a 10-day layoff since their last game, No. 2 Rock Bridge was eager to get back on the field and get a playoff win under their belt.

?We tried to do as much inter-squad as we could this week to keep the pressure on them and simulate games,? said Rock Bridge head coach Justin Towe. ?But practice gets old at this time of the year and you just want to get out there and play.?

They were finally rewarded for their patience on Wednesday afternoon, as the Bruins defeated Troy, 8-0, to advance to the Class 4, District 9 championship game.

The Bruins? coasted to victory thanks to an eight-run third inning, in which they cranked out six hits and sent 14 hitters to the plate, and stellar outing from junior Ryan Phillips (right).

Landon Clapp led off the third inning with a double, and walks to both Travis Bittle and John Miles loaded the bases. Beau Burkett followed with an RBI single to put the Bruins on the board, and sophomore Jansen Smith extended their lead to 3-0 with a two-run double.

After a walk to Wilson Pfeiffer, Kory McDonald continued the rally with an RBI single, and a costly infield error by Troy made it a 6-0 game. But the Bruins still weren?t done. Bittle added an RBI knock through the left side while Burkett pushed across the team?s final run when he was hit by a pitch.

The offensive outburst provided Phillips with more run support than he would need. The Prep Baseball Report?s No. 2 Class of 2012 player wreaked havoc on the Trojans? offense on Wednesday, as he scattered six hits and fanned nine over six innings.

Featuring a live fastball that sat between 84-86 mph and reached 87 mph, the right-hander worked both sides of the plate and frequently blew it past hitters up in the zone.

Phillips also showed tremendous command of his 73-74 mph slider and 76-77 mph changeup, both of which played nicely off his fastball and generated an abundance of swings-and-misses on pitches out of the zone.

?He had great command of his fastball and changeup again today, and when he has those working, combined with how he hides the ball, his fastball really explodes,? said Towe of the junior.

?Because he plays shortstop, we try to get him out of there early in a game where we?ve built a big lead. Today, we were going to take him out before the sixth, but he wanted to go another one.?

The Bruins? offense was led by Clapp, who finished the game 4-for-4 with a double and run scored, and Bittle, who was 1-for-1 with a run scored, RBI and three walks.

Burkett and Smith each had a hit and two RBI, while both Phillips and McDonald also collected a hit in the contest.

?I knew that they?d be a little behind at the plate, so I gave them a few innings to get their feet wet, get their timing and get locked in,? mentioned Towe when asked about the eight-run outburst.

Troy had only one player collect multiple hits, as Alex Tiefenthaler finished the game 2-for-3 with a double. Chris Bantz, Tyler Thwing, Cody Shilharvey and Eric Myers each singled in the loss.