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.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Spring sprung
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.)
