The Post 642 AAA Sedalia Travelers wasted little time Tuesday evening at Liberty Park, amassing 16 runs and 10 hits in the first two innings against the Waverly Chiefs en route to a 19-1 victory.
The Travelers ran out to an early lead in the first, forcing the Chiefs to dig into their bullpen early. They saw three different pitchers in the fist two frames and capitalized off of a Chiefs pitching staff that struggled early with pitch location. The bullpen’s walks and wild pitches coupled with an explosive Travelers offense proved to be a fatal combination for the Chiefs.
Baxter Mays kicked off the Travelers’ rally with a leadoff double. Mays and Kyle Weber had back-to-back two-RBI doubles later in the inning and the Travelers entered the second with a nine-run lead.
“We went down to Branson last weekend and we saw some good pitching down there,” said assistant coach Dom Zerilli. “We hit well and I think that carried over into today.”
Waverly’s pitching issues resurfaced in the second and the first seven Travelers batters reached base without a hit. The Travelers also took advantage of a frustrated infield that failed to secure a routine fly ball hit by Nick Cashman.
Walks in the second highlighted the sharp contrast in pitching between the two teams. Nathan Brock’s performance complimented his offense’s outing, facing only six batters in the Travelers first two dominant innings.
“I threw a lot of fastballs tonight.” Brock said. “It just felt like we had things really under control tonight.”
The Chiefs advanced runner to first and second in the third inning and scored via a bobbled hit to second. This, however, was Waverly’s sole run and Brook held the Chiefs scoreless for the remainder of the game.
“That’s what we want our pitchers to do,” Zerilli said. “We want them to throw strikes and fill up the zone … (Brock) did a great job.”
Sedalia swept the doubleheader with a 15-1 victory in game two.
The Travelers (10-3) look to carry the momentum with them as they hit the road Wednesday for a doubleheader against Windsor. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
WEEKEND ROUNDUP
The Post 642 Sedalia Travelers went 3-2 at the Branson Tournament on June 9-11.
Willard 3, Sedalia 1
Nick Cashman was the lone Sedalia run after a bases-loaded hit batter in a 3-1 loss to Willard.
The Travelers struck out 12 times in the loss.
Sedalia 3, Ozark 1
Clayton Meyer, Connor Spunaugle and Alec Luyet picked up RBIs in a 3-1 Post 642 Travelers victory over Ozark.
Sandsprings (Okla.) 9, Sedalia 1
The Travelers managed one run on two Sandsprings, Oklahoma errors during a 9-1 loss.
Nick Cashman singled, advanced on an error and contact from Baxter Mays was misplayed at first to score the third-inning Sedalia run.
Sedalia 10, Forsyth 0
The Travelers run-ruled Forsyth, 10-0 after six innings, scoring in every frame but two.
Sedalia 18, Joplin 0
Post 642 Sedalia put 10 runs on Joplin in four innings. The Travelers batted around in a six-run first inning, and sent 12 to the plate in an eight-run fourth.
