War Eagle Bats Warm Up in Tournament Play

The War Eagles dropped a close one to Craig Biggio's 2010 TAPPS 5A State champion St. Thomas Eagles in this weekend's tournament.

The Oak Ridge baseball team hosted their annual War Eagle Classic this past weekend with mixed results winning big against Deer Park but losing three by slim margins to New Caney, Channelview and Craig Biggio’s St. Thomas Eagles.

Along with the annual softball tournament, The Classic is the second of two fundraisers the baseball team holds as UIL allows just two for high school teams. The team benefited greatly as the Silent Auction, Concessions and Apparel sales to go along with the gate brought in enough scratch to lure A-Rod away from the New York Yankees.

To say one win in four games is a failure would be criminal as the coaching staff uses this tournament as a stepping stone for the District season trying to find the right combination of players. Yes, they always play to win in the Classic but they win or lose by giving as many players as possible a chance to win a spot to include the pitching staff.

Oak Ridge had several players turn in good performances, not the least of which was second baseman Blake Stoehr who was a one man wrecking crew against Deer Park in sending a bomb over the trees in right field. The home plate umpire was dumbfounded when he saw the blast as there was some question as to whether the ball was fair or foul. To all of us homers, we had no doubts. As for the umpire, the old expression of anything that goes that far ought to have flight attendants on board, applies here. He just figured anything that travels that far must be dealt with in a positive fashion so the twirling of his right finger in the air brought the crowd to their feet in jubilation. Did I also mention it was a Salami as well? That’s right..the bases were full!

Stoehr collected 8 hits in the tournament, scored 8 runs and had 8 ribbies. Matt Burke had five hits, scored 4 runs and had 6 RBI. Connor Sarant bashed out 7 hits and scored 7 runs to go along with 6 RBI. Cody Althouse had 4 hits to include a bomb and sent home 5 teammates and was hit 4 times by pitched balls. Last I checked, those are each as good as a solid single. Dylan Cyr had 3 hits and 2 excellent sac bunts. Kyle Mims had 4 hits and two ribbies and scored three times. Logan Boren had a solid tournament at the bat and in the field as he is becoming a solid utility player, par excellence!

Tyler Cook had three hits, scored a couple runs and had 2 rbi’s. On the mound, Cook is starting to get back to 2010 form and should be good to go for district competition. Justen Heuermann, TJ Hayes, Josh Smith, Dustin Kelver, Dillan Souther, Sean Simmons, and Jannis Wedemeyer saw extensive mound time and are rounding into district form as well.

Defensively, the War Eagles are solid with everyone playing gold glove baseball.

As for Craig Biggio’s St. Thomas Eagles, what an impressive bunch! They lead off with a scrappy player named Harrison Ayala. Ayala is the protypical lead-off guy in that he will do anything in his power to get on base. When he gets on, just let him advance past GO because he’s scoring one way or the the other. The kid is an absolute pain in the neck and on top of that he’s a solid second sacker. Conor Biggio is next and he’s just like having another lead-off guy right after the lead-off guy. You can tell this guy loves to compete. In playing center field, one who would like to learn how to play the position need only observe Conor for a while and they’ll figure it out. Next up is Kavvan Biggio, a sophomore who is quickly becoming the complete package. Like his brother who will be attending Notre Dame, expect this kid to be playing D-1 ball as well. After you have dealt with the first three ridiculous ball players, you now have to deal with the bonus baby, shortstop Patrick Leonard. This guy has more scouts following him than Kyle Drabek did a few years back. The shortstop didn’t disappoint them either with a timely blast over the left center field wall crushed Oak Ridge’s hopes of defeating the 2010 Tapps state champions. This, after a questionable safe call on a force play previous to Leonard’s at bat had allowed him to perform his heroics.

As for Coach Biggio this guy can coach. Like Coach Scheiner, he lets his players play offering very little interference. The talented Catcher, Hunter Kopycinski calls the game. After the game, Biggio has a long meeting with his team to discuss the days events. That’s coaching!

Don’t miss tomorrow night’s game against Klein Collins. The War Eagle baseball organization has labeled this game “Shaun Finley Night” as his # (24) will be retired. Show up no later than 6:30 for the 6:45 ceremony.

Things are shaking up at War Eagle field already. Show your support this spring for this great organization. One thing about this baseball crew is they are about the most school spirited group of players in that they attend just about every basketball and football game. Let’s see that this support for their fellow athletes is reciprocated.

See you at Shaun Finley Night!