Bombers Baseball was at it again over the weekend. 30 teams traveled to one of the top 16U tournaments in the Midwest this weekend at Kansas City’s new Creekside Baseball Complex. Teams traveled from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois, Arkansas, South Dakota and Oklahoma. Bombers went 1-1-1 in pool play and finished in the 15th seed. Only the top ten teams advanced to the championship bracket. Every team that advanced to the championship bracket went 3-0 or 2-1.
“Bombers coaches wanted to compete with some of the best teams around. I am very proud of the way we held our own. It is the luck of the draw on who we played in pool play games. We played 2 of the top 5 teams in the tournament during our pool games. We got tested throughout and had chances to win all three pool play games. Ultimately, we got better,” coach Chris Umphres stated.
Game 1 Bombers vs Prime National
Bombers played 1 inning Friday night before the rain delayed this game losing 1-0. They picked up where they left off on Saturday and lost 7-3. Prime National is a Nationally ranked summer baseball team. Prime was seeded 2nd coming out of pool play. Carson Umphres pitched 4 and 2/3 innings giving up 1 earned run and Daxton Minton pitched 2 and 1/3 innings giving up just 1 earned run. Lane French, JJ Grove and Trenton Kern each had 1 hit in the contest. While Umphres, Minton and Campbell Coleman each had 1 RBI.
Game 2 Bombers vs Prodigy Prospects
Bombers lead for most of the game before eventually ending the game in a tie 3-3. Prodigy was one of the top teams to beat in this tournament. This tie knocked them down to the 5th seed after pool game seeding ended. Hunter Herrman threw a complete game and striking out 5 batters. Minton had 3 hits, Kern had 2 hits, Umphres and Herrman each had 1 hit. Coleman and Minton each knocked in RBI’s.
Game 3 Bombers vs Outlaws National
Bombers won this game 9-0 with strong pitching from Koehen Ribory who threw 4 innings only giving up 1 hit. Slade Mohr pitched the 5th inning of the shutout. French, Umphres, Kern and Coleman each had 1 hit and Minton collected 2 hits during the game.
Game 4 Bombers vs Southwest NE Legion
Bombers played a 4th game as a consolation to not making the championship bracket. After giving up 7 runs in the first inning. Bombers started chipping away at the lead and eventually lost 10-8. Coleman, Mohr and Peyden Oelger each pitched during the game. Umphres, Owen Kaiser, Kern, Coleman, Herrman and Oelger each had 1 hit and Grove had 2 hits.
Bombers start their next tournament this Wednesday through Sunday playing in the 18U Wood Bat State Championship at Wichita State University.