A group of athletes who have won a lot of baseball games for Vermillion has rallied at the American Legion Baseball State B Tournament in Webster.
But it is an incomplete rally. Vermillion hopes to be playing two more days of baseball.
After a first-round loss Friday, Vermillion Post 1 has been on fire. Sunday, it torched Milbank 16-1. Vermillion (32-8) has now scored 34 runs in its last two games. The double-elimination tourney continues for Vermillion today, while the season ended for Milbank Post 9 (24-7).
"We challenged our kids after that first game Friday to step up and hit balls with runners in scoring positions," Vermillion coach Jason Gault said. "They don't have to be home runs or line drives to the fence, they just need to be balls that are on the ground or lined instead of pop flies. Our players responded yesterday and that carried over to today. This is a gritty group that doesn't want to lose anymore in this tourney, and they are going to give it their best shot to stick around."
Joe Mazour, Colin Olson and Collin Bertram did a lot of damage for Vermillion. They each had three hits and combined for nine RBIs and six runs scored. Olson had two doubles and Mazour had four RBIs.
Mazour said along with getting hits and advancing runners, his team got a great pitching performance from winning pitcher Jake Odens and a solid defensive effort.
"We are just playing with a lot of confidence right now," Mazour said. "We have built up some momentum, and we are playing the kind of baseball we know we can play. We are just thinking about the game in front of us. We have been around long enough to know that the next game should have all of our attention."
Gault agreed.
"We know that we are not going to be able to put 16 runs up on everyone, but this gives us confidence at the plate," Gault said. "And that is so important at this time of year. What that does is that they can build on that past success. They can come up to the plate knowing they got a hit the time before. It gives that player confidence going into his at-bat."
Game notes: Webster has 10 dozen baseballs for this tourney that were donated by the Diamond company. . . Baseballs normally cost about $54 a dozen these days . . .Milbank had a good fan following at this tourney.
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Jacob Odens, Collin Bertram (5) and Chayse Meierkort; Landon Hammer, Tyler Boerger (1), Sean Zimny (4) and Matthew Stephan. 2B - Vermillion, Colin Olson 2. LOB - Vermillion 7; Milbank 8. Winning pitcher - Odens. Losing pitcher - Hammer.
Twitter: @jpapendick