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Even With Only 14 Players Post 444 Hopes Momentum Carries Into Post-Season
(July 12, 2011)
By Jim Wieners
Any baseball team that only carries 14 players will either have a very short season or struggle to play over .500.
Florissant American Legion Post 444 senior team is defying the logic. Post 444 went through the season with a 20-9 record and 9-5 in District 10 games. What helps Post 444 is late-season momentum, with 14 wins in the last 16 games, prior to the District 10 Tournament, which were to start on July 10. Results of games prior to July 14 are not available at press time.
Post 444 began their momentum by white-washing the four opponents they played June 25-26 in the Lebanon, Mo., Tournament as Post 444 outscored the opposition, 39-0. They also went 4-2 in the Tournament of Champions in games played July 1-4 at two sites in Illinois, finishing as semifinalist. Post 444 went 3-1 July 1-2 in Fairview Heights winning Pool D in a three-way tiebreaker over St. Charles and Fairview Heights, reasons not available, then in Alton on July 4 won the quarterfinal over St. Peters before losing to eventual tournament winner Highland, Ill.
In District 10 play Florissant won two games over Thoman-Boothe, Oakville and Creve Coeur then went 1-1 against Eureka, Ballwin and Maryland Heights and lost two games to Manchester. Florissant won two over Jennings, a new team to Legion Baseball who had only 14 players but unlike Florissant, who has a junior and freshman teams, Jennings, who only had a senior team, folded after June 20 so the games did not count in District 10. In other non-league and non-tournament teams Post 444 lost to St. Charles while going 1-1 against St. Peters and against non-Legion teams Post 444 has wins over Johnny Mac and the Stallions 17 team.
Having only 14 players the 14 wins in 16 games prior to the District 10 Tournament is something to be proud of but winning the District 10 Tournament could be like “having a cherry on top of whipped topping for desert.” “We’re playing great,” said head coach Todd Wright, (not to be confused with a nationally syndicated radio talk show host on Sporting News Radio KFNS 590 in St. Louis).
“Pitching has been solid,” said Wright, “every pitcher has been going thought the whole game.” Half of the team, seven players, has pitched during the season and five of them have pitched a competed game. Leading the way is C. J. Spink, who has pitched in 12 games, including seven starts and at least six complete games, not including the July 8 shutout (2-0) over Creve Coeur. (box score not available) Spink had a 6-3 record, a 1.74 earned run average prior to July 8 and has struck out 60 batters prior to the District 10 Tournament.
C.J. SPINK has pitched seven complete games, struck out 60 and is 6-3 with a 1.74 earned run average prior to the District 10 Tourney. Jim Wieners photo
Two pitchers are under two earned runs per game include Cody Hunt (1.73) and Tyler Hunt (1.93) and both Hunts have over 20 strikeouts (23 for Cody and 37 for Tyler). Also Travis Sietrich has 35 strikeouts prior to the District 10 Tournament.
TRAVIS SIETRICH, seen in a July 2 game in Fairview Heights, Ill., has struck out 35 batters prior to the District 10 Tourney. Jim Wieners photo
Offensively Post 444 struggled during the first 13 games (6-7) and had lost three in a row prior to their trip to Lebanon, Mo., Wright said the team turned around offensively and the hitting “has become great after the Lebanon, Mo., Tournament.”
Prior to July 8 Greg Elliott was batting .594, has an on-base percentage of .640, slugging .835, with 43 hits including 12 doubles and four triples, drove in 31 runs, walked 20 times and stole 29 bases out of 31 attempts. Travis McBride has taken advantage of opponent errors and gotten on base seven times, in addition to hitting 31 singles and has scored at least 37 runs. Elliott, McBride, Devon Haynes and Codi Farrell each hit a home run but there were no home runs in District 10 games.
Defensive statistics were not available but Wright said the defense “has been phenomenal.” As long as Post 444 does not lose a game in the District 10 tournament the chances of advancing to the Zone Tournament looks promising. However, with only 14 players, going to the losers’ bracket, especially if they lose in the opening round, would make wining the tournament practically impossible.
