Zephyrs claim Conley Tourney

By: Jeremy Woznick, Sports Reporter

Published: Monday, June 22, 2009 11:55 PM CDT

ALLIANCE — For the fourth time in the last five years, the WESTCO Zephyrs senior legion baseball team won the championship of the Clair Conley Tournament on Sunday in Alliance.

The Zephyrs outscored their four opponents by a score of 40-10 to finish the three-day tournament with a perfect record of 4-0.

In Sunday’s final day, the Zephyrs pounded out a 15-1 win over Hershland before registering a 9-4 win over Ogallala in the championship game.

“This has always been a good tournament for us,” Zephyrs coach Mark Moran said. “It’s typically in this big road stretch that we have and it’s been a tournament that we’ve enjoyed going to.”

After dropping six games in a row, the Zephyrs have now won four straight. WESTCO ended its 14-game road trip with a record of 6-8. The Zephyrs will play host to Chappell’s Buckley Bombers tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Cleveland Field in Scottsbluff. Chappell and the WESTCO Express will kick off the action at 5 p.m.

Like they did in Friday’s opening day of the tournament, the Zephyrs received another pair of outstanding pitching performances on Sunday. Chase Wickard, who struck out 11 against Sidney on Wednesday, fanned 11 more and gave up just two hits in getting the win against Ogallala in the championship game. He allowed only two earned runs in seven innings of work to even his record at 3-3.

The teams had to patiently wait through a rain delay that lasted for over an hour. However, it didn’t seem to bother Wickard and the Zephyrs.

Wickard received plenty of offensive support in the game as the Zephyrs pounded out 13 hits. Jackson Pahlke and Zac Rada paced WESTCO at the plate by going 3-for-4. Pahlke drove in a pair of runs and scored two runs. Garrett Deeds and Tyler Patrick both went 2-for-3. Patrick scored a pair of runs. Rada, Deeds, Michael Hoppes and Trevor Papczun all drove in a run.

With the score tied at 3-3 through three innings, the Zephyrs scored a pair of runs in the fourth to take the lead for good. WESTCO added three more runs in the fifth and scored one in the sixth.

Like Wickard did in the title game, Hoppes gave the Zephyrs a sparkling pitching performance in Sunday’s first game. Hoppes earned his first win of the season by striking out 11. He limited Hershland to just two hits and allowed only one run.

Hoppes benefited from the Zephyrs’ biggest run-scoring output of the season. WESTCO scored its 15 runs on 12 hits. The Zephyrs also took advantage of nine Hershland errors.

The Zephyrs scored in all five innings. Leading 5-1 through three innings, WESTCO ignited for four runs in the fourth before tacking on six more in the fifth.

Hoppes helped his cause at the plate by going 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and three runs scored. Wickard also went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and three runs scored, while Rada continued to swing a hot bat by going 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and two runs scored.

Nate Goodwin drove in two runs. Also for the Zephyrs, Papczun, Dusty Huddleston and Joe Huck drove in a run. Wickard and Hoppes both had doubles.

After struggling to score runs for the majority of the road trip, the Zephyrs have now totaled double-digit run and hit totals in three of their last four games.

“We’re hitting the ball a lot better,” Moran said. “We’re getting better at-bats, we’re not getting fooled as much and we’re not chasing pitches out of the strike zone. There are a lot of improvements that we’re making, which is encouraging.”

Against Chappell today, the Zephyrs will face a Bomber squad with a record of 7-6. The Bombers split a doubleheader at Fort Morgan, Colo., in their last action on Thursday. Moran said Papczun will start on the mound. He owns a record of 3-1.

“Chappell always has talented players,” Moran said. “We’ve kind of had mixed results with those guys so it will be a good challenge for us.”


Championship

Ogallala 003 010 0 — 4 2 3

Zephyrs (9-15) 030 231 x — 9 13 5

WP — Chase Wickard (3-3); LP — Sharp.

2B — Jackson Pahlke, Tyler Patrick.

Zephyrs 131 46 — 15 12 0

Hershland 100 00 — 1 2 9

WP — Michael Hoppes (1-5); LP — Callahan.

2B — Wickard, Hoppes.