Squirrel News

June 11

Fighting Squirrels Advance to Semi-Finals of Woodfest  The Fighting Squirrels advanced to the final day of the 2009 nutsbaseball.com Woodfest before falling to Mayfield, Kentucky 8-3 Sunday. The Fighting Squirrels earned the number one seed in their

pool after defeating Cape Girardeau 4-0 Thursday night and Fulton, Missouri 11-3 Friday night. Saturday night
Poplar Bluff defeated Charleston 3-2. Charleston became the #1 seed in the pool on a tie-breaker. “I thought we had a good weekend. We had quality teams down here, and I thought the level of play was excellent,” said Squirrel Manager Michael Minner.

“Any time you play with wood bats it’s a totally different game. We did some good things this weekend and we did some not so good things. Our main objective is to not get too high or too low all season. We want to get as many at bats and fielding opportunities as we can so when the regional gets to town we are hopefully ready for whatever comes our way. We put together a real tough schedule this summer to challenge our guys and make us better. It will be a challenge mentally, but in order to win a national championship this is what you have to do. And that is our goal.”
In the Cape Girardeau game the Squirrels rode the arm of Squirrel newcomer Zach Wilson, a native of Cape, to a 4-0 victory. He threw all seven innings allowing just three hits. He struck out six and walked four. “Zach threw the ball well. I think he’s going to be a kid that really helps the program. He seems to fit in nicely with the guys. He’s going to continue to get better throughout the summer,” said Minner.
Tyler Whybark led the Squirrels with a hit and 2 RBI’s. Blake Gaddis, Colin Gilooly, and Marshall Stallings all added a hit for Charleston.
Against Fulton Steven Dooley got his first start of the season and put his arm to good use striking out the first five hitters he faced as the Squirrels beat the Peacocks 11-3. Dooley threw 4 2/3 innings and struck out eight while walking two. He allowed just three hits and one earned run. Chase McClendon threw the final 2 1/3 innings and struck out five. “Anytime you strike out thirteen batters in a seven inning ballgame your pitchers did something right. I thought we threw it real well against Fulton,” added Minner.
Matt Medlock, Blake Gaddis, and Colin Gilooly led the Squirrels with two hits apiece.
Poplar Bluff defeated Charleston 3-2 Saturday night as James Naile suffered the loss for the Squirrels as he went the distance. He allowed just four hits in six innings and struck out eight. All three runs came in the first inning and all three were unearned as the Squirrels committed four costly errors. “James threw the ball well, we just didn’t play well enough to win,” said Minner.
Blake Gaddis paced the Squirrels offensively with two hits.
In the Semi-Finals Charleston fell 8-3 to Mayfield, Kentucky. Connor Scott suffered the loss as he allowed seven runs in five innings. He struck out four and walked three. Only four runs were earned. “Connor wasn’t as sharp as his first time out but that happens. He’s going to get the ball a lot this summer and continue to get better. You have to like your chances in a tournament when Connor is throwing in the semis on six days rest. Our pitching staff is deep,” added Minner.
Dunklin County went on to win the Woodfest as they defeated Mayfield 11-0 for the Championship.
The Squirrels are now 3-4 on the young season.