The Warriors will close out April with practices Monday and Wednesday night in preparation for a busy May game schedule.
Practices will be at McKinley and begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday's practice will be hitting and pitching for one hour.
On Thursday the Warriors begin a stretch of five straight game days beginning with a 6 p.m. game with Cougars White at McKinley. On Friday, the Warriors host Prairie Black. First pitch is also scheduled for 6 p.m. On Saturday, the Warriors host the Angels for a noon doubleheader. On Sunday, Clear Creek comes to town for a 3 p.m. doubleheader. The Warriors close out the home stand next Monday with a 6 p.m. game vs. Swisher Swat.
The string of games should provide good preparation for upcoming tournaments May 10-11 in Cedar Rapids and May 23-26 (Memorial Day Weekend) in Des Moines. Hotel information for the latter tournament will be distributed soon. Meanwhile, player fees totaling $47.50 are being collected.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
April practices bring May wins
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Practice cancelled
Practice scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday (today) has been canceled due to the rain. Stay tuned for news on a new practice date.
Also, the game scheduled with Marion on Thursday, May 8 has been postponed. A make-up date has not yet been scheduled.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Bats alive
The Warrior bats came alive Monday night in the first league game of the season against the Cedar Hills Hawks. Seven players accounted for a season-high 10 hits as the Warriors cruised to a 10-3 victory to even their record at 4-4.
Left fielder Robert Hogg led the way with three runs on two walks, a hit and five stolen bases. Hogg stole home in the bottom of the fifth inning for the Warriors' final run. Hogg was also flawless in the field with two put outs and an assist on a fourth-inning double play that included third baseman Max Versteegh and second baseman Mitch Blades.
Five different pitchers, backed by nearly flawless defense, combined to allow the Hawks one run each in the first, second and fifth innings.
After a busy stretch of five games in three days, the Warriors can rest their arms until 6 p.m. Thursday, May 1, when they're scheduled to play Cougars White at McKinley. That begins a stretch of five consecutive game days, including two double headers.
Practice is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at McKinley.
Below are the game reports from Monday night as well as updated overall statistics.
After eight games, Hogg leads the team with a .455 batting average. Blades, Versteegh and Jordy Brown are all also batting above .300. Michael Daughtery, Dalton Weems and Will Teubel, each of whom pitched an inning Monday, have yet to allow an earned run. Hogg is 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA in three appearances totaling 8.2 innings. Defensively, catcher Patrick Karamitros leads the way with a .974 fielding percentage. First baseman Ryan Niemeyer has also been nearly flawless.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Spring sprung
On a glorious day for baseball, the Warriors acquitted themselves nicely by battling through the losers' bracket with a pair of hard-fought wins.
After going six innings to top the IFA Cadets 7-6, the Warriors beat Swisher Swat 4-3 to earn a spot in the final four of the Play Ball tournament. The wheels fell off, apparently, in the transition from Hayes Field to Third Base Sports Park, where the Warriors committed six errors leading to 14 runs in a 14-3 loss.
The following documents tell the story better than I could hope to. I think we saw what this team is made of today, and we should be proud. Robert Hogg, in particular, stands out as the man. Michael Daughtery is going to deliver a lot of game-winning hits. Eliminate the errors and we've got a state championship contending team.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Cougars top Warriors
In his second start of the season, Zach Zingula allowed two first-inning runs to Cougars Green. That would be enough as the Cougars went on to a 10-1 victory Saturday in the rain-delayed Play Ball Season Opener Tournament at Hayes Field in Cedar Rapids.
The Warriors went down swinging in the top of the first before the Cougars managed to push across two runs on a two out, two strike single to right field by Hunter Corkery. The Cougars tacked on eight more runs -- all unearned -- in a sloppy third inning by the Warriors.
The Warriors avoided the shutout in the fourth inning when Michael Daughtery scored on Zingula's single to center field.
Zingula took the loss, allowing five runs -- two earned -- in 2.1 innings. Trent Seubert went the distance to earn the victory for the Cougars.
The Warriors are scheduled to play the IFA Cadets at 10:30 Sunday morning and could play as many as four games as long as they keep winning.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Weather delay
Tournament games scheduled for Saturday, April 19 have been pushed back three hours due to the rain. Our first game will now be at noon, followed by 3 p.m. Both games are at the Jefferson field below Kingston Stadium. All players should meet at McKinley at 10 a.m. for batting practice.
UPDATE: Latest word is that games at Jefferson, as well as Prairie, have been canceled and moved to Cherry Hill and Hayes. Since Prairie games were previously moved to Hayes, it's presumable that our games will now be at Cherry Hill. Still at noon and 3, as far as I know. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Tournament brackets have been reconfigured and we now play the Cougars at 2:30 at Hayes Field. All players should meet at McKinley for batting practice at 12:30. Depending on the outcome, our second game will also be at Hayes at either 6:15 or 3:45.
UPDATE: Our first game has now been delayed until 3:45. Not sure if we'll play two today or not.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Play ball!
The Warriors opened the season with a third-place finish Sunday in the weather-shortened Cedar Rapids Spring Classic. The Warriors were 1-2 on the day; opening with a 2-1 victory over the Marion Indians before falling to the Corridor Mudcats 5-3 and the Vernon Hills Cougars 5-2. Robert Hogg and Jordy Brown each had two hits on the day and Patrick Karamitros had two RBIs. Brown was also 4-5 in stolen base attempts. On the mound, Zach Zingula led the way, allowing no runs in 2.1 innings of work. The Warriors return to action this weekend in the Play Ball Tournament in Cedar Rapids.
See below for box scores and play-by-play from the first three games, as well as overall stats for the team. (Note: I had messed up the pitching sequence in game two vs. the Mudcats. That has since been corrected and the updated statistics are posted below.)
