Stallions Baseball Takes Fourth In GMB State Championships

Thanks to an overloaded schedule full of SLABA League games and tournament commitments, the Stallions Baseball Club of Wentzville and St. Peters 16-under team knew it was getting dangerously close to running out of pitching.

The Stallions had managed to get through the week with five wins in six games, but found themselves short on arms, heading into a semifinal game of the Greater Midwest Baseball MO/IL State Championships against the elite Rawlings Redbirds Red 18-under team at on Saturday.

Unfortunately, that was the wrong time to be stuck using the back of the bullpen, as the Redbirds pounded out eight hits and 11 runs in the first three innings of what eventually became a 12-7 Red team win.

“Well, we’ve got a guy that’s hurt (St. Dominic High junior-to-be Emmett Wilmes), and he’s been our best pitcher so far this summer,” head coach Dale Rothermich said. “So not having him is kinda hurting us.”

Even that might not have helped on Saturday, as the Redbirds cranked the ball all over the park against the Stallions, and even smacked a couple completely out of the park, thanks to two long bombs off the bat of Eureka High senior-to-be Spencer Stein.

The Redbirds, who earned a trip to the GMB State Championship game, which will be played on Wednesday night at Shaw Park in Clayton, led 11-0 in the third inning, and were a mere 90 feet away from ending the game early before the Stallions finally woke up in the fourth.

In that frame, the Stallions sent 12 men to the plate, and scored seven times. The team had RBI basehits by juniors-to-be Greg Rothermich of and Mitchell Larkin of St. Dominic.

’s Jordan Townsend, another Stallions junior-to-be, who had two hits in the game, ripped a two-run double that made the game close again.

But that was as close as it would get, as the Redbirds added a final run in the fifth, for a 12-7 edge, which Redbirds starter and Parkway North senior-to-be Corey Huskey made stand up the rest of the way.

“I’m proud of how they battled,” Rothermich said. “I think we might have been a little bit intimated (by) facing an older team, at first. But then we got in there, and got a few breaks, and scored a few runs. I was proud of that.”

Late Saturday night, the Stallions were able to shake off the loss to the Redbirds and defeated Warriors Blue 6-1, in a fourth place consolation game, which raised the Stallions overall summer record to 17-5.   

After a much needed day off on Monday, the Stallions will be back in action on Tuesday, when they’ll face the American National 16U team in a battle for first place in the SLABA 16U division race.

That game will be played at Lutheran North High in St. Louis, and is slated for a 5:45 p.m. first pitch.

Other games next week for the Stallions 16U team, include a Thursday night game against the St. Louis Raiders at , and a weekend trip through Illinois for the Metro East Wood Bat Tournament July 1-4.