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Sports

Field Set for Final Day of 18U Baseball Championships

Several area players are on display in this marquee baseball event being played at Parkway Central, among other venues.

ST. CHARLES—Moving day for the Diamond Sports Promotions St. Louis 18U Baseball Championships proved to be an action-packed day of ball games at Blanchette Park, Parkway Central High in Chesterfield and C&H Park in St. Peters.

The final day of pool play meant it was the final chance for the more than 20 teams that had games on Saturday to move themselves up the standings, and possibly land somewhere in the top six seeds. Those top six teams would earn a berth in the winner’s bracket, and a shot at the coveted championship.

This showcase event features several area players, including Matt Seevers from Marquette and Parkway Central's Zach Carel and Ethan Lay.

One team that had already secured its spot in the top six was the St. Louis Sting, which is based in North County. The Sting had won two games on Thursday, and another on Friday, and with a plus-21 run differential, were guaranteed a top-two spot.

The only team that could’ve possibly passed the Sting for the top overall seed was BNBA Gold, which it did thanks to a 12-2 win over the St. Louis Recruits at Blanchette Park on Saturday, giving the Bloomington-Normal Baseball Association all-star team the tournament’s top ranking heading into Championship Sunday.

BNBA Gold will play at 12:30 p.m. at Lindenwood University on Sunday against the winner of the 4-seed versus 5-seed game, which will be played Sunday morning at Parkway Central.

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That 4-seed/5-seed quarterfinal game should be an intriguing matchup, pitting the St. Louis Sox, a team with players from all over St. Louis, against the St. Louis Browns, whose players mostly come from West County St. Louis.

The Sox were 3-0 in pool play, winning close ball games over the Hitmen, the Southside Baseball Club, and the K.C. Wildcats.

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The Browns were 2-1, and earned their spot in the top six with an impressive 11-1 win over the St. Louis Gamers Blue team at Parkway Central on Saturday.

“We definitely played a much better game today than we did yesterday,” Browns head coach Clay Keeney said, in reference to Friday’s 5-2 loss to the Kirkwood Tigers at Lindenwood. “That was not at all how we expect to play, and today we came out with much better energy, and really hit the ball well.”

The Browns pounded out 13 hits against the Gamers, paced by Vianney grad Ryan Snyder’s 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBI at the plate.

Snyder narrowly missed a two-run homer in the third when he banged a shot off the right-center field wall that drove in a run. But he didn’t miss in the fifth, when he launched an even deeper drive over the right-center field wall for his fourth homer of the summer.

Counting the 10 home runs he hit for Vianney during the high school season, Snyder has 14 dingers in 2011.

The Browns were the team that made the biggest move up the standings after Saturday’s play.

They were in 16th place, following that loss to the Kirkwood Tigers, but moved all the way up to fifth thanks to a big day against the Gamers Blue.

The Kirkwood Tigers, also known as the Easton St. Louis Tigers 17-under Black team, suffered one of the biggest drops on Saturday. They were in fourth place heading into Saturday’s matchup at Blanchette Park against program mates and archrivals, the Easton St. Louis Tigers 17U Orange team.

Led by long, solo home runs by Kirkwood senior-to-be Tim Keathley and SLUH senior-to-be Brad Moore, the Black were one out away from securing a 4-3 win, a 3-0 pool play record, and a sure berth to the tournament’s championship round.

But the Black couldn’t hold the lead, allowing the tying run in the top of the seventh, and two more runs in the top of the eighth, for what eventually became a 6-5 loss to the rival Orange.  

With that loss, the Black dropped to 12th place, completely out of the running for the weekend championship, and will play the Meramec Valley Travelers on Sunday, in a consolation game, at Parkway Central, at 2 p.m.

The St. Louis Sting will play in the second semifinal at Lindenwood on Sunday, at 3 p.m., against the winner of the 3-seed versus 6-seed quarterfinal game, which will be played at C&H Park in St. Peters on Sunday.

That matchup will pit Team Mizuno Midwest, a St. Peters-based club, led by hitting stars and Francis Howell Central seniors-to-be Jake Henson and Dean Ballenger, and Francis Howell North slugging senior-to-be Braxton Martinez, against the Midwest Chiefs, another team with players from all over St. Louis on its roster.

The St. Louis 18U Championship game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, at Lindenwood.

Here’s a list of the full day’s schedule:

Sunday, July 3

At Parkway Central High in Chesterfield

9:00 a.m. – (4) St. Louis Sox  vs.  (5) St. Louis Browns – Quarterfinal #1

11:30 a.m. – (7) St. Louis Cougars  vs.  (8) Southern Illinois Bullets

2:00 p.m. – (11) Meramec Valley Travelers  vs.  (12) Kirkwood Tigers

4:30 p.m. – (21) St. Louis Gamers Blue  vs.  (22) Rawlings Tigers

At Blanchette Park in St. Charles

9:00 a.m. – (15) KC Wildcats  vs.  (16) Knights of Under Armour

11:30 a.m. – (23) Missouri Outlaws  vs.  (24) North Knights

2:00 p.m. – (19) St. Louis Recruits  vs.  (20) Southside Baseball Club

At C&H Park in St. Peters

9:00 a.m. – (6) Midwest Chiefs  vs.  (3) Team Mizuno Midwest – Quarterfinal #2

11:30 a.m. – (9) Hitmen  vs.  (10) Missouri Bucks

2:00 p.m. – (13) St. Louis Tigers  vs.  (14) St. Louis Gamers Gray

4:30 p.m. – (17) Trailblazers Baseball Club  vs.  (19) St. Louis Recruits 16U

At Lindenwood University

12:30 p.m. – (1) BNBA Gold  vs.  Quarterfinal 1 winner – Semifinal #1

3:00 p.m. – (2) St. Louis Sting  vs.  Quarterfinal 2 winner – Semifinal #2

5:30 p.m. – Semfinal 1 winner  vs.  Semifinal 2 winner

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