Ultimate Baseball qualifies for regional with second place finish at Sr. Babe Ruth State Tournament

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Ultimate Baseball heads to its dugout after beating Southeast Tropics 4-2 in an elimination game Sunday at the Missouri Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.

CHARLESTON, Mo. - Ultimate Baseball finished a couple wins shy of securing the Missouri Senior Babe Ruth state championship but got the win it needed Sunday afternoon to qualify for the regional tournament.

Ultimate Baseball rallied from a 2-0 deficit to edge Southeast Tropics 4-2 in the final elimination game Sunday at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.

Ultimate Baseball later fell to the Charleston Fighting Squirrels 13-3 in five innings in the state title contest but still earns a birth in the Midwest Plains Regional in Bismarck, North Dakota, because the top two finishers from Missouri qualify in 2018.

“It’s big for us,” Ultimate Baseball coach Tony Sandifer said of the second-year program’s first birth in a regional tournament. “We are going to go up there and try to compete. We are not going to change the way we play. We will take our ball up north and see if we can compete. It will be good for our program and good publicity for Ultimate Sports. We are going to have some fun.”

The Southeast Tropics never trailed Ultimate Baseball until the fifth inning. The Tropics jumped out to a 2-0 lead when cleanup hitter Austin Copeland delivered a two-out 2 RBI single in the top of the third inning.

The Tropics continued to lead 2-0 until Ultimate Baseball scored all of its runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“We got down early,” Sandifer said. “But I told our guys, ‘It’s OK because whenever we strike we are going to strike big. We really like to hit against hard-throwing pitchers. We hadn’t seen it in a while so it took us a little while to adjust but once we got our timing down the big inning happened.”

The trouble started for the Southeast Tropics in the bottom of the fifth frame when Ultimate Baseball pinch hitter Blake Robertson drew a one-out walk and Brett Harris followed by reaching base on a bunt singe. The next hitter, Luke Lockhert, collected a one-out 2 RBI single to tie things up at 2-2.

Later in the frame, Tyson Cox drew a walk to bring cleanup hitter Sam Pierce to the plate with runners at first and third with two outs. During Pierce’s at-bat, Lockhert drifted far enough off third base to draw a pickoff throw from the catcher on a pitch in the dirt. The pickoff attempt bounced past third base and into right field allowing Lockhert to score from third base and Cox to score as well to give Ultimate Baseball a 4-2 lead.

“We tried to put the pressure on them and get them to make a mistake,” Sandifer said. “If we get thrown out doing what we like to do we get thrown out doing what we like to do.”

Ultimate Baseball starting pitcher Ryan White returned to the mound after his team moved ahead and allowed only one hit in the final two innings. White allowed two runs, six hits, struck out four, walked two and hit one in a complete game performance.

“When he gets ahead early he’s effective,” Sandifer said of White. “There is not a more competitive pitcher in the area. His stuff is pretty good and when he gets ahead he can use everything and be very dominant.”

Spencer Burnham also went the distance on the hill for the Tropics. He allowed four runs, five hits, struck out four and walked four.

Ultimate Baseball led the Charleston Fighting Squirrels 3-2 after the top of the third inning in the state championship later Sunday night. The Fighting Squirrels responded with 11 unanswered runs to beat Ultimate Baseball 13-3 in five innings. A complete story of the Fighting Squirrels winning their ninth state championship is available here: State Championship Story

Ultimate Baseball and Charleston Fighting Squirrels begin play in the Midwest Plains Regional Tournament July 19.

Ultimate Baseball 4, Southeast Tropics 2

ST 002 000 0 - 2 6 2

UB 000 040 X - 4 5 2

WP - Ryan White. LP - Spencer Burnham. 2B - Austin Copeland (ST). Multiple hits - Ultimate Baseball: Wyatt Barnett 2-3; Southeast Tropics: Spencer Burnham 2-3, Copeland 2-3.

Members of the Ultimate Sports team are awarded second place medals Sunday, July 8, 2018, after losing the championship game of the Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament to the Charleston Fighting Squirrels at Benny Hillhouse Park in Charleston, Missouri.

Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian

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State Tournament Results

Thursday (July 5)

Game 1: Charleston 18U 6, Ultimate Baseball 4

Game 2: Charleston Fighting Squirrels 10, SEMO Spartans of Dexter 4

Friday (July 6)

Game 3: Southeast Tropics of Scott City 4, Charleston 18U 2, (8 Innings)

Game 4: Charleston Fighting Squirrels 11, Wayne County Perfectos 1 (5 Innings)

Saturday (July 7)

Game 5: Charleston 18U 8, SEMO Spartans of Dexter 4

Game 6: Ultimate Baseball 10, Wayne County Perfectos 2

Game 7: Charleston Fighting Squirrels 12, Southeast Tropics of Scott City 2 (5 Innings)

Game 8: Ultimate Baseball 5, Charleston 18U 2

Game 9: SEMO Spartans of Dexter vs. Wayne County Perfectos (cancelled)

Sunday (July 8)

Game 10: Ultimate Baseball 4, Southeast Tropics of Scott City 2

Game 11: Charleston Fighting Squirrels 13, Ultimate Baseball 3 (5 Innings)

Note: All games take place at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.