Pitching powers Blazers to 7-0 start
Scott, Burgert shine on the mound
By Bill Hester
CorrespondentComing into the summer, Jefferson County Blazers Coach Dennis Brown was certain that pitching was going to be a strength for his St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association team.
He could not have imagined how strong, at least for the first seven games of the season.
The Blazers have had five complete games in the seven games and they given up less than two runs per contest.
It is no surprise that they improved to 7-0 with a win over Johnny Mac Thursday night.
"I felt the pitching would be solid and it has definitely held up so far," Brown said. "This is my fifth year, and I have never had the depth of pitching I have on this team. We have some capable guys who haven't thrown yet. The pitching depth is going to enable us to be competitive in some of the weekend tournaments we play in."
Andrew Scott (Seckman) was expected to be the ace and he has delivered a pair of ace-caliber efforts. Scott has produced two complete-game wins to go along with a save.
Chris Beil (Fox) and Chad Faulstich (Seckman) also have two early-season wins while Austin Burgert (Seckman) has the best start of the early season. He threw a complete game one-hitter against the Americans on June 3.
"Our defense has been pretty solid and so far we have been hitting the ball," said Brown, who returns seven players from a team which won the SLABA South Division last summer and competed in the Barrett-Fletcher World Series in Tampa, Fla.
Adam Pfeiffer (Northwest) has been doing a solid job behind the plate. He is backed up by Matt Stahl (Seckman).
Kyle Tipton (Fox) anchors the defense at shortstop. A lot of the pitchers will be playing somewhere on the infield when not on the mound. Beil, Faultstich and Burgert all play first base. Faulstich can also play second base. Bobby Lombard (Lutheran South) will also see action there. Corey Johnson (Seckman) and Dan Birch (Fox) have seen time at third base.
Andrew Fannin (Fox), T.J. Gibbar (Windsor), Colby White (Seckman), Tyler Nappier (Seckman) and Jeremy Bradley (Windsor) provide solid play in the outfield.
"This is not a team where you will see a lot of home runs hit," Brown said. "We don't have a whole lot of power. But we have a pretty solid nine, up and down the lineup. We have more speed than we have had the last couple of years so we will be able to do some more things offensively."
The Blazers have won three consecutive South Division titles and Brown aims to make it four.
"We didn't win the overall league title last year and that is one of our goals this summer," Brown said. "That will enable us to play in a good postseason tournament like the PONY World Series in California."
