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Jackson TWP, Ohio —
The Kent State University baseball team wasn't the only area team trying to win a championship last week in Omaha. The Jackson Bears Purple 14U baseball team was also in Nebraska playing in the Slump Buster Tournament with teams from all over the country.
“Back in January we took a vote as parents whether to go to a tournament in Omaha or Myrtle Beach,” Coach Kevin Miller said. “We chose Omaha because we thought it would be neat for the kids to be there during the college World Series. We never dreamed Kent State would be there.”
Jackson finished the tournament with a 3-1 record, making it all the way to the semi-finals, before losing 8-0 to a team from Dallas, Texas.
“We picked the wrong time to play a bad game,” Miller said. “Fundamentally we played one of our worst games of the season. Plus, we gave up two unearned runs in the first inning and stranded about 11 or 12 runners during the game. But Dallas was a very well coached team with very good athletes.”
The Bears had gotten to the final-four by winning their first three games in the tournament.
“We mercied the first three teams we played,” Miller said. “We beat a team from Los Angeles 12-2 early Monday morning and came back in the afternoon to beat a team from Utah 17-4. We had a dogfight Tuesday against a team from Houston, but erupted for five runs in the third inning and four more in the fifth to end it early 12-1. Nolan Cernic really had a good game for us against Houston with three big hits.”
Zach Mottice, who had three hits in the win over Utah, came close to missing the first game of the tournament. The Mottice family left Columbus Saturday after watching their son Kyle play for the Jackson varsity basketball team in the Ohio State Team Camp Shootout. They made it as far as Dayton where their car broke down with a broken water pump. After getting the needed repairs they drove through the night to Omaha to get to the field at 6:45 a.m. Monday morning.
The Bears lost their number three hitter, Sam Miller, when he was hit by a pitch in the win over Utah.
“We though he broke his wrist,” Miller said. “We took him to the hospital and everything was OK, but we lost him for the remainder of the tournament as a hitter.”
The Kent State University baseball team wasn't the only area team trying to win a championship last week in Omaha. The Jackson Bears Purple 14U baseball team was also in Nebraska playing in the Slump Buster Tournament with teams from all over the country.
“Back in January we took a vote as parents whether to go to a tournament in Omaha or Myrtle Beach,” Coach Kevin Miller said. “We chose Omaha because we thought it would be neat for the kids to be there during the college World Series. We never dreamed Kent State would be there.”
Jackson finished the tournament with a 3-1 record, making it all the way to the semi-finals, before losing 8-0 to a team from Dallas, Texas.
“We picked the wrong time to play a bad game,” Miller said. “Fundamentally we played one of our worst games of the season. Plus, we gave up two unearned runs in the first inning and stranded about 11 or 12 runners during the game. But Dallas was a very well coached team with very good athletes.”
The Bears had gotten to the final-four by winning their first three games in the tournament.
“We mercied the first three teams we played,” Miller said. “We beat a team from Los Angeles 12-2 early Monday morning and came back in the afternoon to beat a team from Utah 17-4. We had a dogfight Tuesday against a team from Houston, but erupted for five runs in the third inning and four more in the fifth to end it early 12-1. Nolan Cernic really had a good game for us against Houston with three big hits.”
Zach Mottice, who had three hits in the win over Utah, came close to missing the first game of the tournament. The Mottice family left Columbus Saturday after watching their son Kyle play for the Jackson varsity basketball team in the Ohio State Team Camp Shootout. They made it as far as Dayton where their car broke down with a broken water pump. After getting the needed repairs they drove through the night to Omaha to get to the field at 6:45 a.m. Monday morning.
The Bears lost their number three hitter, Sam Miller, when he was hit by a pitch in the win over Utah.
“We though he broke his wrist,” Miller said. “We took him to the hospital and everything was OK, but we lost him for the remainder of the tournament as a hitter.”
Starting catcher Lucas Blackerby played the entire tournament with a broken thumb.
“We wondered why the ball kept popping out of his glove,” Miller said. “We didn't know his thumb was broken until we got back home and his mother had it checked out. The pain really got to him in that final game.”
Miller said the Bears were in the stands to watch Kent State beat the University of Florida in one of the biggest games of the World Series.
“It was just a great game to watch,” Miller said. “We were all in the same restaurant after the game and met Kent's coach Scott Stricklen. He came over and said hello to all our players and asked them if anyone could throw strikes. The Kent state pitchers had walked a lot of batters during the game, so it was really neat to have him take the time to spend a few minutes with our team.”
The season isn't over for the Bears.
“We have two more tournaments to play in,” Miller said. “Plus we play in the Ohio Prospect League which is the top travel baseball league in northeastern Ohio. We have games left in that league, so we hope to improve on our season record which is 33 and 8.”
Other members of the team included John Colangelo, Mitchell Rife, Nate Kingsbury, John Conkle, Justin Johnston, Nate Mallue and Nate Cobb. Tom Kingsbury and Chris Cobb were Miller's assistant coaches.
