July 28, 1999
Babe Ruth tournament rematch to decide champion
Springfield and Zanesville are headed for a rematch at 6 p.m. tonight to decide the champion in the Ohio Babe Ruth State Baseball Tournament for 13-year-olds.
The double-elimination tournament is being played at Babe Ruth Field at the corner of Second and Shawhan Avenues.
Springfield handed the Zanesville Mound Builders their first loss in the tournament after scoring three times in the top of the seventh to rally for a 10-8 win Tuesday night.
Tonight's championship game will mark the third meeting between the two teams. Zanesville came up with a 9-8 win in the first round of the tournament Saturday.
Springfield, which earlier ousted Steubenville, 4-3, in a losers bracket battle, grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the first only to have Zanesville come back with single runs in the first, second and third innings to knot the score at 3-all.
With the help of five hits, Zanesville scored four times in the fourth inning and broke away to a 7-3 lead. Springfield countered with three runs in the top of the fifth to get close at 7-6 and each team scored once in the sixth before Springfield came up with four hits in the seventh to plate three runs and take the lead for good. Zanesville battled back with a hit in the last of the seventh, but could not plate any runs.
Chris Haycox and Danny Trennor led the way for Springfield, which had 18 hits. Haycox had a double and four singles and drove in a run while Trennor had a double and two singles and drove in a run. Andy Daggett also drove in two runs with a trio of singles while Joey Hixon had two singles and drove in two runs, Matt Wilson had two singles and an RBI, Harold Newton had a double and RBI, Jim Arnold singled to drive in two runs and winning pitcher Ryan Short added a base hit.
Zanesville, fresh from an 11-0 win over Steubenville in the winners bracket final earlier Tuesday, had 16 hits with Danny Bankes having three singles and a double to drive in three runs while Sean Spires had three singles and drove in two runs, Kyle Dyar had a double and single to drive in two runs, Tony Cannizarr had two singles and RBI, Zack Gemmel had two singles and the trio of Chris Heitker, J.T. Rock and Doug Stevens each singled.
Springfield 4, Steubenville 3
Strong pitching by Trennor helped Springfield hold off Steubenville.
Springfield broke on top by a 4-1 score through the first four innings and held on the rest of the way.
Trennor allowed just four hits, all singles.
Joey Hixon led the way for Springfield with two singles and two RBIs while Haycox had two singles and an RBI and Wilson also singled twice. Adding one single apiece to the winning attack were Nick Workman, Arnold and Newton with the latter also having an RBI.
Steubenville got a single and RBI from Brian Pruitt, Joe Antonelli and Pat McKitrick and Corey Weld had a base hit.
Zanesville 11, Steubenville 0
Stevens fired a four-hitter to lead Zanesville to the rout. The winners broke out with two in the first and added three more in the third and the rout was on.
Sprires had a double and two singles to drive in two runs for the winners while Chris Hoffer homered and drove in two runs and Ted Williams had a double and two RBIs.
Stevens chipped inwith a double and single while Cannizzaro had a pair of singles and drove in a run, Heitker and Dyar each doubled to drive in a run, Bankes singled and Josh Royster drove in a run.
Steubenville got a pair of singles from Antonelli while Danny Karas and Keitu Zrinyi each singled.