|
|
Miami Valley Heat coach Mark Eldridge puts a gold medal around
the neck of Cole 'Smoke' Niekamp
after the Heat won its 14U baseball
title with a 10-0 victory over the Indiana Throwbacks
Thursday at Kyle
Field in Tipp City. CNO Photos by George Starks
|
|
Miami Valley
Heat smokes Throwbacks
Heat wins second straight championship
By George Starks
TIPP CITY- In only his third season as the head coach of the Miami
Valley Heat, Heat coach Mark Eldridge has started a dynasty.
At the end of his second season at the helm of the Heat, Eldridge won
his first title.
Thursday, the Greenville resident got his second.
Behind the pitching of Nick Twaits, Zach Edgin and Cole Niekamp coupled
with a dozen hits, the Miami Valley Heat rolled to a 10-0 run-rule
victory over the Indiana Throwbacks.
“This feels great” said Eldridge after the game. “Two years in a row
the Midwest Ohio League champions and tournament champions. This is
unbelievable. This is a good group of kids. Most are from the Darke
County area and I can’t say enough good things about them.”
For the Heat, it all started with pitching.
Because of restrictions, Eldridge was forced to use three different
pitchers in the six inning game.
At the end of the game, the Heat pitching allowed only four hits but
left seven Throwbacks stranded on the base paths including a bases
loaded situation in the third.
In every situation, the Heat pitchers were able to get out of their own
jams.
.”We have been blessed with nine strong arms,” said Eldridge. “We pitch
in and out of trouble and you have to remember, this is 14U baseball.
It’s not the major leagues but I’d say we have one of the best teams in
the state when it comes to pitching.”
Pounding out a dozen hits in the game, it was Cade Wendel that came up
large. The Ft. Recovery kid went to the plate five times, reaching base
in all appearances with three hits. One of those was a two run double.
Wendel had three runs knocked in with a run scored.
“Cade’s a gamer,” said Eldridge. “He bunts, he will hit and run and can
go the other way as well as pull the ball. He’s a total player, the
total package. This team can do it all with the bats. I teach small
ball and this team knows how to bunt and they attack the ball well.”
The Heat put a run on the board in the first when Cole Niekamp hit a
two out double to right, scoring Logan Eldridge from second.
The heat scored two more in the second on a two run double off the bat
of Jeremy Bridenbaugh.
The biggest blow to the Throwbacks came in the fourth as the Heat
posted a four spot with the big blow being the double from Wendel.
Miami Valley tacked on another run in the fifth and two more in
the sixth gaining the run-rule victory.
With the Heat bats blazing, it was ironic that the tenth run would come
with the bases loaded and Kurtis Rutschilling at the plate.
Rutschilling was hit by a pitch, forcing in the final run of the game.
In the field, the Heat committed only one error.
A miscue that never hurt them.
“You’re going to have that at this age level,” aid Eldridge. “As a
team, we have a fielding percentage of .982 and that’s unheard of at
this level. As a team we’re batting over .350. We play good competition
and in every tournament we’ve played in, we’ve either been the champion
or the runner up. We are 39-6 so far this year and we have 10-15 more
games left to play. We are going to be in the Annie Oakley Tournament
starting next week-end.”
Eldridge finished by saying that three of the teams six losses were to
15-U teams.
“We play the best of the best and the three losses we to upper echelon
teams.”
|
|
Nick Twaits was the starting pitcher for the Heat. Twaits went
three innings,
allowing three hits hile walking one and striking out
three.
|
|
The 2014 Miami Valley Heat
|
|
|
|
