Barons Blog

The Barons completed one the most memorable days in the teams five year history today.  With their backs to the wall all day, the heroics were many and the drama ran deep.  In the first game Alec Elliott stymied the Kansas Rattlers with a mixture of off speed pitches and a dominating fastball.  Logan Bushnell was the offensive star.  He crushed his first dinger of the tournament to give the Barons an early three run lead.  The three runs his 350 foot homer generated were all Elliott would need.  He cruised the remaining five innings and earned his second victory of the World Series by a margin of 9-2.  The win was his fifth in World Series play for the Barons over the past two seasons.

 

The second game of the day matched the Barons against Joe Carter's Leland Kansas Shockers.  Carter as you may know was the hero of the 1993 World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays.  He threw his ace at the Barons.  The Shocker pitcher was dominating with an 87 MPH fastball and a devastating curve ball.  James Cassill countered with Josh Williams who frustrated the Shockers with an array of change ups and curves.  At one point the Shocker hitters were screaming insults at him to challenge them.  He pitched masterfully surrendering only two hits over 5 1/3 innings.  The Barons only managed three hits.  Fortunately one of them was a two run jack off the bat of the hero of the day Logan Bushnell.  The blast was Logan's (pictured) second of the day.  Williams left the game in the sixth inning.  Cassill went to Riley Kain who ended the Shocker threat.  Kain then closed out a tension filled seventh inning to save the 5-1 victory for Williams.

 

The Barons must win two tomorrow against the Heat of New Mexico, and New Trier of Chicago.  If the Barons emerge victorious in both contests they will have the opportunity to redeem themselves in the Championship game against the West Texas Wild Cats.  The Cats are the only team to defeat the Barons in this tournament. Click View All below to read about the Barons in the All Tournament Team All Star Game.    

 As stated earlier professional scouts and college recruiters named five Barons to the All Tournament team.  Those recognized include catcher Cody Ryckman, third baseman Zack Gagnon, shortstop Jay Skilton, second baseman Aaron Knapp, and pitcher Riley Kain.  The five Barons (pictured) played in the game at Suplizio Field which is the home of the Junior College World Series.  The five Barons were named to the starting line-up at their respective positions. Riley Kain was named the starting pitcher.  Skilton batted lead off, Knapp hit in the two hole, Gagnon batted third, Ryckman was the clean-up hitter.  Before Kain took the mound in the bottom of the first his Baron teammates provided him with a four run lead.  Baron hitters put on an offensive display.   Skilton was one for two with a double and a walk.  He also stole a base and scored twice.  Knapp was two for two with a walk, a triple and an RBI single.  Knapp also scored twice.  Gagnon was a perfect three for three including a single, a double, and a triple.  Zack scored three times. Cody Ryckman was two for two and added the third Baron triple.  He also scored twice.  Combined the Baron hitters went eight for nine and slugged three triples, and two doubles.  Riley Kain pitched one inning surrendering no hits and struck out two.  He was awarded the win.  They also scored nine of their team's fifteen runs in the 15-1 victory.  They also accounted for eight of their teams twelve hits.

After being hyped in the local media and being the talk of the 16U Division the Barons ran into an inspired team.  The El Paso team scored nine runs in the first 3 innings and cruised to a 9-2 victory behind solid pitching and timely hitting.   Baron pitchers Michael O'Bryant, Riley Kain and Mike Buck held El Paso to zero runs for the final 4 plus innings.

In the first game of loser out play the Barons were able to survive due to the late inning heroics of Justin Lee.  The Barons fell behind New Mexico 3-1 and were able to stay in the game thanks to the pitching of Jay Skilton, Aaron Knapp, and Riley Kain.  The offense was quiet until the Barons manufactured a run in the 5^th and 6^th innings to tie the game at three.  Kain shut down New Mexico in their half of the 7^th inning. Then with one out in bottom of the 7^th inning Justin Lee  (pictured) resurected the Barons when he hit a deep walk off solo home run to keep the Barons World Series chances alive. The Barons have a big game against the Rattlers of Missouri next round.

                                                                                                  

Professional scouts and college recruiters named five Barons to the All Tournament team.  Those recognized include catcher Cody Ryckman, third baseman Zack Gagnon, shortstop Jay Skilton, second baseman Aaron Knapp, and pitcher Riley Kain.  The five will represent the Barons in an All Star game to be played tomorrow at Suplizio Field which is the home of the Junior College World Series.

Due to their strong early play in the Triplecrown World Series the Barons received recognition for their play in the local media.  The newspaper article can be viewed by clicking or cutting and pasting the URL below.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2006/07/26/7_27_ag_Triple_Crown_WWW.html

The Barons emerged from pool play 3-0.  They outscored their opponents 34-7 and are currently the number one seed.  This earns them a bye in the first round of the double elimination playoffs.  Winning pitchers were Alec Elliott, Josh Williams, and Carson Wolbert.  Outstanding offensive performers have been Michael Buck, Michael O'Bryant, Logan Bushnell, Aaron Knapp, Grant Williams, and as always Zack Gagnon.  In the combine showcase four of the top 60 times were turned in by the Barons with Grant Williams leading the field by running a 6.8.  Two of the three top rated infielders were Jay Skilton and Aaron Knapp.  The top two catchers were also Barons Cody Ryckman and Michael O'Bryant.  Further details will follow.

Washington Systems ousted the Barons in the fourth round of the Mickey Mantle State tournament.  Baron pitcher Alec Elliott battled for five innings on three days rest.  Despite his efforts his defense committed four errors and his offense abandoned him by scoring one run.  Alec allowed only one earned run.  Zack Gagnon had two hits and John Boire continued to play the gold glove caliber defense that his teammates expect of him.  The disappointing loss puts an end to the 2006 16U Mickey Mantle season.  It also drops the Barons overall record to 23-11 against Mickey Mantle league opponents.  The Barons hope to reverse their fortune by performing well at the Triple Crown Wood Bat World Series held Grand Junction Colorado next week.    The Tournament may be tracked at web site listed below. 
 http://www.triplecrownsports.com/tourny_detail.asp?tournyid=2111

Facing a dominating Bomber pitcher and trailing 3-0 entering the fifth inning the Baron fans pulses were racing.  However, the Barons heartbeat refused to flat line under the pressure.  Starting pitcher Cody Ryckman handed the ball to Riley Kain.  Kain didn't buckle under the pressure.  He pitched two strong innings to keep the Barons hopes alive and contributed a run scoring infield single.  When he handed the ball to Aaron Knapp in the sixth the Barons lead was two.  The bases were juiced with Bombers.  Knapp threw two pitches the second of which was converted into an amazing double play by second baseman Jacob Schumacher to end the threat.  Unfortunately Knapp was unable to contain the Bomber hitters in the seventh.  He surrendered a lead off walk that was followed by a mammoth triple that later became the tying run when the next hitter lifted a flare into center, which knotted the game at 5.  Jay Skilton was then summoned to the mound by coach James Cassill.  Jay silenced the Bombers the remainder of the seventh and eighth innings.  In the top of the ninth with two out Michael O'Bryant was struck with a pitch. Justin Lee then doubled.  The leadoff hitter Skilton was intentionally walked to load the bases.  The next hitter was Knapp who hit a hard shot up the middle that the Bomber shortstop was unable to corral.  This permitted O'Bryant to score the go ahead run.  Skilton then shut the door on the Bombers giving the Barons a 6-5 victory.   The victory was a total team effort and revealed the Barons character.   Hats off to the Bomber starting hitter who went the distance and was betrayed by his defense.  By surviving the Barons move onto the fourth round of the tournament where they will face host team Washington Systems.  Although the System is the twelfth seed they have bolstered their pitching staff and look to be tough.  Baron starter Alec Elliott will throw the first pitch of tomorrow's game at 1:00 PM

The Barons will face the Seattle Bomber Baseball Club at Bannerwood Stadium this evening. A loss will send one of them to the abyss.  The Barons hope to ride the energy generated by Saturdays come from behind victory over the number one seeded Titans.  They will require all of the offensive power in their arsenal to avoid leaving the tournament empty handed.  Hopefully Zack Gagnon has some more magic in his bat.  If they continue to play with energy and passion the Barons are a force to reckoned with.  First pitch will be thrown at 7:00 PM.

The Barons staved off elimination today behind the strong right pitching arm of Colton Brown.  Throwing five different pitches for strikes Brown painted an 89 pitch complete game masterpiece. He surrendered two runs, one earned, in the bottom of the first inning.  He then dominated the number one-seeded Titans for the next six innings.  His outstanding performance allowed the Barons to come from behind and eliminate the tournament favorite Titans 3-2.  Logan Bushnell had two hits and drove in a run early in the clutch.  Jay Skilton lined to hits, scored a run, and ran the bases aggressively.  Cody Ryckman smoked two base hits including one off the pitcher's stomach that served to rattle him.  Cody also caught an incredible game allowing no past balls while throwing out three base runners.  Aaron Knapp also collected two hits and his one out sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth tied the game at two.  The Titans then intentionally walked three hitter Grant Williams to pitch to Zack Gagnon.  This proved to be a fatal miscalculation. Hitting at a near .500 clip, Gagnon has been the best hitter in the Baron offensive attack all season.  As he has all year, Zack rose to the challenge and promptly drove a pitch 325 feet off the left field wall for the game winning RBI.  Every Baron contributed to the victory.  They played as a team and supported each other the entire contest despite the frustration of stranding fourteen base runners. The Barons will face the winner of the game between the Brewers and Bombers played tomorrow at 2:30 PM.   The Barons hope to ride the momentum of today's victory on Monday at 7:00 PM in the third round of the tournament.