Photo: Mike Wilder

Mount Michael catcher Chris Leonard pops up from behind the plate make the play on a short ground ball Wednesday night against Gretna.

Elkhorn maintains

momentum at

CWS tournament

by Mike Wilder

The Elkhorn Senior legion baseball team followed up on their three wins at a tournament in Sioux Falls with a solid performance at the College World Series Invitational held at Legion Field June 18-22. Elkhorn finished the tournament with three wins, a loss and a tie out of the five games they played from teams around the country. Elkhorn's first game of the tournament was against Grandview, Colorado and despite a late rally and a three-hit effort from Jake Ritzdorf, Post 211 came up short in a 9-5 loss. Josh Bullock added two hits and two RBIs for Elkhorn in the loss.

On the tournament's second day Elkhorn took one of the top teams in Northern California, the Chico Nuts. Chico jumped out to an early 4-0 lead but Elkhorn rallied to draw within a run after scoring three runs in the bottom half of the first inning.

Pat Johnson laced two doubles and drove in four runs to lead the Elkhorn offense while Ben Zahm also added two key hits to help Elkhorn tie the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth. The game would end in a tie however after a heavy downpour made conditions unplayable.

The third day of the tournament brought two wins for Elkhorn as they posted shutout victories over Grand Forks, ND and Anchorage, AK by scores of 7-0 and 15-0 respectively. Elkhorn starting pitcher Ben Wallingford threw five shutout innings against Grand Forks to pick up the victory while Andrew Simpson threw two scoreless innings in relief. Eric Dreessen had two hits for the Elkhorn offense and Jake Long knocked in two runs with a single to help Elkhorn coast to their first victory of the tournament.

The Elkhorn bats really came alive against Anchorage in a 15-0 win. Jake Long homered and Jake Ritzdorf collected three hits and was a home run short of the cycle. Trevor Papczun and Josh Bullock both added two hits for Post 216. Rob Wheeler picked up the win on the mound, striking out five while allowing just three hits in a game shortened to five innings due to the mercy rule.

Elkhorn finished the tournament with an 8-3 win over Briar Crest, TN as Tadd Johansen picked up the win for Elkhorn with Eric Dreessen coming on for the save. Seven different players recorded a hit and Ben Zahm scored three runs while Ritzdorf scored two and drove in three runs to lead the Elkhorn attack.

Elkhorn carried its strong play from the tournament over to a regular season game at Legion Field against the Kinman Lawncare Jackrabbits from Benson last Monday night and Elkhorn picked up a 4-3 win to lift their record to 10-13-1 for the season in what was an exciting and well-played game.

Rob Wheeler bailed Elkhorn out of a jam in the seventh inning to help preserve the win for Andrew Simpson. Wheeler induced two groundouts and struck a batter out to pick up the save. Pat Johnson had two hits, including an RBI double, and Josh Bullock's second hit of the game drove in Eric Christensen for the go-ahead run in the fifth inning.

Wednesday night, Elkhorn traveled to Omaha Gross High School for a game with DiGiorgio's and hoped to end the week on a positive note before their trip to Kearney. Eric Dreessen had an RBI single off of DiGiorgio's top starter Brian Boro to cut the score to 3-2 after five innings, but DiGiorgio's busted the game wide open with seven runs in the sixth to secure a 10-2 victory.

After a tournament appearance in Kearney, Elkhorn will play at Millard West Tuesday night and they will host the Northwest Merchants at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday night. Elkhorn is scheduled to participate in the Mike Peterson Memorial Tournament in Lincoln from July 4-6.