Warriors drop two more

LEBANON— The heat index was almost 105 degrees on Saturday at the Route 66 Classic in Lebanon, and although the Waynesville Warriors Post 331 American Legion baseball team felt the heat in two losses, they wouldn’t use it as an excuse.

“It was bad out there, but we can’t use that,” Warriors head coach Scott Turner said following their second loss of the afternoon, an 13-1 rout at the hands of Omaha (Neb.) Burke Post 1. “[The Omaha team] was playing their second game in a row, and it didn‘t wear them down.”

The loss ended what had been a promising day. The Warriors battled hard with Lee’s Summit— winners of the tournament last year— in the very first game of the day but lost 7-6.

In that game, the Warriors showed poise at the plate, going down 4-0 early in the game before

Dustin Doyle’s three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning pulled them to within 4-3. They would then tie the game at 4 in the bottom of the fourth.

In the fifth inning, the Warriors almost became victims to a big inning from Lee’s Summit, as Kevin Jones  loaded the bases with one out.

Sam Dowling came in to relieve him and got out of the inning. The Warriors held Lee’s Summit to only one run in the inning before scoring two to take the 6-5 lead in the bottom half.

They couldn’t hold it, however, and Lee’s Summit scored two more in the top of the sixth an ended up winning the game 7-6.

Doyle led the team in hitting, going 2-for-3 with the home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. Matt Hesteness also had two RBIs on one hit.

Jones pitched four innings and struck out three on seven hits. Dowling had four strikeouts in two innings of work.

In the second game, the Warriors held Burke to three runs in the first three innings, but fell apart in the fourth, giving up 10 runs to end the 13-1 game prematurely.

David Faulkner scored the only Warriors run in game two. He went 2-for-2 with a double.

Jones and Matt Hesteness went 1-for-2 while Lee Lamphear went 1-for-1.

The Warriors actually had a chance for a rally in the top half of that inning, starting Faulkner’s double that curved just fair over the third-base line. Then, Hesteness hit a bloop single that dropped between three bewildered Omaha fielders in shallow right-center field to put two on with no outs.

Jones knocked a single to center field to load the bases, but Hesteness’ courtesy runner was caught off guard on the single.

The threat ended when the next batter grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Turner stressed that this tournament was a learning experience, and that the team is improving simply by playing against older competition (the Warriors are an under-17 team, while most other teams in Lebanon this weekend are under-19). Their hitting, especially, is good against the older, stronger arms.

“They hit the ball pretty hard this weekend,” he said. “And they didn’t strike out as much and drew more walks.

“Defense is also a plus overall.”

Pitching, he said, is still a problem but that takes more time to work on.

The Warriors have yet another tournament this weekend, the Springfield Holiday Classic where they’ll be among 32 teams playing in eight different pools around the Springfield area. Nixa hosts pool 6, which also includes the Warriors and two teams from Arkansas— Mountain Home and Rogersville.

The Warriors open on Wednesday against Rogersville at 4:30 p.m. before taking on Nixa at noon and Mountain Home at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.