Bottom part of lineup hits Fighting Squirrels past Riverbend 9-3 in wood bat semifinal

CHARLESTON, Mo. - The bottom part of the Charleston Fighting Squirrels lineup looked as dangerous as the top of the order in a championship semifinal of the 12-team wood bat tournament Saturday afternoon at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.

No. 7 hitter Hunter Cook, No. 8 hitter Ty Householder, No. 9 hitter Wyatt Pratt and No. 10 hitter Blake Simmons combined for six hits and four RBIs as the Charleston Fighting Squirrels led wire to wire on its way to an impressive 9-3 victory against the Riverbend Ducks.

"The bottom of the lineup did a really nice job," Charleston coach Michael Minner said. "We want to hope we don't really have a top or bottom of the lineup. By the end of the year we want to stick nine jokers in there that can all swing it. We've got a good baseball club and hopefully by the end of the year we will be one of those teams you don't want to play in the playoffs. Our goal every year is to be a tough out. I think we are starting to get a little more competitive, guys are pulling for each other and more good things are starting to happen."

Good things happened quickly for Charleston against Riverbend.

Charleston tallied four runs in the bottom of the second inning and two runs in the bottom of the third inning to build an early 6-0 lead against Riverbend after three innings of play.

Riverbend cut the deficit to 6-3 with a run in the top of the fourth inning and two more runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Charleston added three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to set the final score.

Riverbend committed three of its four errors in the bottom of the second inning.

Charleston's big second inning got started when cleanup hitter Adam Pope reached first base on an infield error and advanced to second base on another infield error. The next hitter Jason Mattison drew a walk to put runners at first and second base with one out. Colton Averett then laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded and thrown over the second baseman's head allowing Pope to advance home and Averett to reach first base.

Hunter Cook moved the base runners to second and third base when he recorded the first out of the frame when he laid down a sacrifice bunt. The next hitter Householder bunted a runner home. Pratt and Simmons followed with back-to-back RBI singles to put Charleston on top 4-0.

Mattison had an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning. Another run scored in the third inning after Riverbend committed its final error.

Householder, Simmons and Chase Urhahn added RBI singles in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"We were pretty good today," Minner said. "Ty was really good on the mound and threw a lot of strikes. We made a lot of plays defensively and executed as well as we could have offensively. We got some runners on, got them over and did a really good job of getting them in.

"We always talk about how we don't want to get too high or too low," Minner added. "We are trying to stay even keel and the losses are going to come with the wins. Ultimately, by the end of the year we want to be playing our best baseball and be able to give ourselves a chance to compete with everyone we step on the field with in the playoffs."

Jon Kellams recorded two of the Ducks' four hits. Kellams plated the Ducks' first run when be broke up Householder's no-hitter with an RBI double with nobody out in the top of the fourth inning.

Drew Pikey and Garrison Keene both drove home a Riverbend runner from third base when they grounded out in the top of the sixth inning.

Palmer Campbell suffered a complete-game loss for Riverbend. He allowed 11 hits, all singles, in six innings of work.

Householder pitched the first six innings for Charleston. He allowed four hits, struck out seven, walked three and hit two.

"Ultimately, Ty had a good pace other than the fourth inning today," Minner said. "I thought he was really good at mixing it up and competing. He got behind in some counts, but did a good job of fighting back and being competitive. A lot of times we will give in 2-0 and throw a fastball, but I thought he did a good job today of throwing some curveballs when he was behind in the count that kept their hitters uncomfortable. We don't want hitters to step in and be comfortable and know what's coming. Your ultimate job as a pitcher is keep the hitter off-balance and I thought Ty was tremendous at doing that today."

Mattison pitched a scoreless seventh inning for Charleston. He retired all three hitters he faced.

The Fighting Squirrels (6-7) beat Southwest Central, Missouri, 8-2 and lost to Quincy, Illinois, 6-0 in its pool play games Friday. The Squirrels finished first in its pool because it won the tiebreaker of fewest runs allowed.

"This is one of the better tournaments we've had," Minner said. "We've got a couple teams from St. Louis playing up at Notre Dame that have been really tough. Southwest Missouri is a good baseball team and Quincy is always tough. We probably saw their ace last night and he's as good as anyone we've seen. That's what we want. We want challenges and it's OK to have lost to Quincy 6-0 last night because we saw a quality pitcher. At the end of the year we want to have faced as many quality pitchers and teams as we possibly can so we are prepared for anything and know we can compete against any pitcher."

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Fighting Squirrels shortstop Tim Fox, a 2014 Bloomfield graduate, makes a play on the infield against the New Madrid Riverbend Ducks Saturday at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.

Charleston Fighting Squirrels 9, Riverbend Ducks 3

RIVER 000 102 0 - 3 4 4

CHAR 042 003 x - 911 0

WP - Ty Householder. LP Palmer Campbell. 2B - Jon Kellams (RD). Multiple hits - Charleston: Blake Wolferding 2-4, Hunter Cook 2-2, Blake Simmons 2-3; Riverbend: Kellams 2-3.