Logan 13s victorious

From Staff Reports

July 20, 2008 12:15 am

— The Logansport 13-year-old All-Star baseball team picked up another win in the state tournament in which it is hosting this year.
Logan held off Elwood 7-6 Saturday afternoon at Steinman Field to improve to 2-0 in state tournament action. The squad advanced in the winner’s bracket and will face Munster at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Munster defeated the Travelers out of the Lafayette area 11-0 Saturday.
Cory Rozzi both started and finished the game on the mound for Logansport to earn both the win and the save. He helped himself at the plate with a double and a single and two runs scored.
Cody Graf had a two-run double. Tommy Corcoran had a pair of base hits. Braxton Berkshire added a safety.
Logan entered the seventh inning leading 7-4 before hanging on for the one-run win. Rozzi re-entered on the mound with the score 7-6 and retired three straight hitters to secure the win.
“We ended up winning by the hairs on our chin again,” Logan coach Adam Perrone said. “They love that seventh inning. They love making it close, this group.”
The 13-year-old group hasn’t experienced much success in All-Star tournament play in the past. In fact, before this year, according to Perrone, the squad had never won a game in a state tournament and had only won three games at the district level.
Now, the squad, as Perrone puts it, is “42 outs away from being in the state championship game, which is the way we look at it.”
“They’re believin’. They’re believing with what we’re going with and they’re believing in each other,” the Logan coach added. “It’s not just the guys who play most of the game, it’s the guys on the bench.”
As an example of the strong bench play the team is getting, Perrone said Tate Gellinger laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt as a pinch hitter before Graf’s two-run double.
Perrone added his squad has a lot of grit and determination.
“They get after it,” he said. “They’re not the most talented team up here. I can flat out tell you there are teams more talented than us. But nobody is going to hustle more than us in this tournament, I promise.
“They’re all starting to come together and believe, and that’s what I love about this team.”
Logan 14s
Logansport topped Highland 9-5 in state tournament action at Noblesville to remain in the winner’s bracket.
Cam Biggs got the start for Logan and pitched 4 1-3 innings for the win. Kyle Overway pitched the final 2 2-3 innings to secure the win.
At the plate, Logan had seven singles, one each by Nate Tannenbaum, Matt Kistler, Tanner Gellinger, Jake Slusher, Jackson O’Brien, Austin Johanning and Josh Hardy. Logansport jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings and after a four-run fifth it led 8-2.
Logan, which finished runner-up at the state tournament as 13 year olds, improved to 5-0 and 2-0 in the state tournament.
“We’re looking at gettin’ ‘er done this year,” Logan coach Rex Gellinger said. “We don’t have a dominant pitcher, we have pitchers who are sharing the duties. We have have four or five pitchers who are giving us good innings, and we’re playing good defense.”
Logansport plays St. John on Friday.
Logan 12s
Logansport won its first game on Friday against Washington Township 10-5 before getting eliminated by St. John 6-0 later Friday night at the state tournament at St. John.
In the opener, Travis Palmer and Dustin Clements combined for the win on the mound. Nito Luna hit a pair of home runs, Palmer hit a pair of singles and Sheldon Corcoran added a base hit.
In the nightcap, Clayton Frye went the distance on the mound, allowing five hits while striking out five. Luna had a pair of singles and Palmer added a single for Logan’s three hits in the contest.
Logansport had won a state tournament as 11 year olds, defeating St. John in the title game a year ago.
“We talked as coaches, and we all thought we were just not sharp the entire state tournament, offensively and defensively,” Logan coach Dan Frye said. “Our biggest production in any game was eight hits.
“We just got into a bit of a slump team-wise. We had a couple of kids who kept hitting, but for the most part we weren’t hitting the ball that well.”
Frye thought Logan had the most talented team in the state tournament field.
“We have 13 kids that are more talented than anyone up there. But that’s the way the game is,” he said. “It’s a huge disappointment for this team. The kids took it pretty hard, as well as the coaches. Anything less than a state championship with this group is a letdown. It’s a very talented group. Winning a state championship is what we have come to expect from them.
“This group is going to win a lot of games over the next six or seven years. Anything less than a state championship is not going to be good enough.”
Sports editor Beau Wicker compiled this roundup.