1st Inning

Steam starting Pitcher Joey O’Gara hits first batter Jimmy Brennman.

Tyler Schunk singles into right, moves Brennman to 3rd. 1st and 3rd with no outs.

Ryan Bellamy throws the ball into center field trying to throw out Schunk stealing. E-2. Brennman scores. 1-0 Joes.

O’Gara walks Patrick Jones. Runners on 1st and 2nd. No out.

Colton Catani grounds out to short. Jones scores. 3-0 Joes.

Kyle Weldon doubles to the left-center field gap scoring Schunk and advancing Jones to third. 2-0 Joes.

BJ Willis grounds out to short. Weldon scores. 4-0 Joes. 

Jake Morris pops out to 2nd to end the top half of the inning.

Ryan Strausborger leads off for the Steam with a solo home run to left field. 4-1 Joes.

Jon Edgington pops out to first for first out. 

Travis Shaw pops out to short for the 2nd out.

Kyle Bluestein strikes out to end the inning.

2nd Inning.

Dustin Hoff grounds out to O’Gara for 1st out.

Phil Bauer hits a gapper to right-center for a double. One outs.

Brennman bunts Bauer over to third, making the second out.

Schunk singles to right. Bauer scores. 5-1 Joes. 

Jones flies out to right-center. End of the top of the 2nd.

Ben Thomas strikes out swinging.

Bobby Freking hit by the pitch. Takes first base.

Cody Elliot hits it off the way in center. Freking scores from first. Elliot into 3rd standing up. 5-2.

Brad Gschwind sac fly to center. Elliot scores. 5-3 Joes.

Ryan Bellamy flies out to center. End of Inning

3rd Inning

Kyle Weldon strikes out.

Colton Catani grounds out to short. 2 out.

BJ Willis walks.

O’Gara strikes out Jake Morris. End of the top of the 3rd

Ryan Strausborger reaches on an infield single.

Strausborger gets to 2nd on a passed ball.

Jon Edgington grounds out to the pitcher. Strausborger stays at 2nd. 1 out.

Strausborger steals third.

Travis Shaw walks. 

Kyle Bluestein bloop single into center. Strausborger scores. 5-4 Joes. Runners on 1st and 2nd.

Ben Thomas hits a shot off the chain link wall in right center with a bases clearing double. 6-5 Steam.

Bobby Freking grounds out, but scores Thomas from third. 7-5 Steam

Cody Elliot grounds out. End of the inning.

4th Inning

Dustin Hoff strikes out.

Phil Bauer strikes out.

Jimmy Brennmann strikes out.

Brad Gschwind leads off the bottom of the 4th.

Gschwind grounds out to short. 1 out

Ryan Bellamy grounds out to third.

Ryan Strausborger strikes out.

5th Inning

Tyler Schunk leads off for the Joes

Schunk grounds out to short 1 out.

Patrick Jones walks.

Kyle Weldon grounds into a 4-6-3 double play to end the top of the 5th.

Jon Edgington singles back up the middle.

Travis Shaw walks. runners on 1st and 2nd.

Kyle Bluestein walks. Bases loaded for Ben Thomas.

Thomas knocks in Edgington on a ground out to second. Steam lead 8-5.

Bobby Freking reaches on a fielder’s choice. 2 outs. Runners on the corners.

Cody Elliot strkes out to end the inning.

6th Inning.

Colton Catani strikes out.

BJ Willis flies out to right field. 

Jake Morris pops out to 2nd to end the inning.

Brad Gscwind grounds out to pitcher. 1 out.

Ryan Bellamy flies out to short left field.

Ryan Strausborger doubles down the first base line.

Jon Edgington grounds out to third. End of inning.

7th Inning.

Andrew Blackwell pinch hitting for the Joes. Blackwell walks.

Macky Cianciolo pinch hitting for the Joes. Cianciolo grounds into 6-4-3 DP. 2 out.

Jimmy Brennmann strikes out to end the top of the 7th.

Travis Shaw singles up the middle.

Kyle Bluestein strikes out,

Ben Thomas singles up the middle.

Bobby Freking singles off the right field wall. Bases loaded.

Cody Elliot strikes out.

Brad Gschwind grounds out to short to end the inning. 

8th Inning.

Tyler Schunk grounds out to third base. 1 out.

Score is still 8-5 Steam.

Patrick Jones strikes out.

Kyle Weldon strikes out.

Ryan Bellamy thrown out after trying to get to second.

Ryan Strausborger strikes out looking

Jon Edgington walks, steals second.

Travis Shaw walks

Kyle Bluestein infield hit. Bases loaded for Ben Thomas.

Thomas flies out to end the inning.

9th Inning.

Alan Mathis flies out to right field.

Brad Krohman strikes out.

Tim Tepe lines out to first to end the game.

STEAM WIN 8 – 5.

Goodnight.

Steam OF Zach Hurley out of Ohio State has earned national recognition for his outstanding play this summer.  PG Crosschecker puts him in at 19th.  Hurley batted .433 for the summer; en route to a GLSCL regular & post season Championship, and GLSCL Player of the Year.

The latest pole has the Steam at #6.  The Steam’s season is finished, but the rankings continue…

When Bill O’Conner and Steve Brown embarked on their journey in the fall of 2005 to create a summer collegiate team in Cincinnati built mainly around local, hometown talent they were scoffed at by others and told it couldn’t be done.  The local kids can’t win, well we proved everyone wrong!  A three year journey that started back in the summer of 06, built primarily around a group of players that just finished their freshman campaign, has matriculated in success and a Championship.  After three seasons these young men have compiled a 75-41 regular season record and just completed an unbelievable season at 30-10 and a 4-1 championship record in the playoffs.  The Steam have been nationally ranked all summer starting at number 13, climbing to 10^th, then 7^th for two weeks, dropped to 9^th and are currently holding the 8^th position in the country, courtesy of PG Crosschecker.

In three years the Cincinnati Steam have produced the 2006 Co-Top Position Prospect in Josh Harrison, who at the time had just finished his freshman season at the University of Cincinnati, the 2007 Player of the Year in Jake Oester, had finished his sophomore season at the University of Toledo and this season, 2008, produced the Player of the Year and the league’s Top Position Prospect in Zach Hurley, who just finished his redshirt-sophomore season at The Ohio State University.  By the way, in case anyone is checking, all of these fall within the confines of the Steam’s mission, local homegrown talent, right here in Southwest Ohio.  Josh Harrison played his high school play at Princeton HS.  Jake Oester played his high school ball at McNicholas HS and Zach Hurley played his high school ball up the road at Springboro HS.  The Steam have had 8 player of the week awards, 21 All Star Selections (8 in 2006, 6 in 2007 and 7 this season), the aforementioned two player of the year awards, 7 1^st team all league selections and 6 2^nd team all league selections.  Cincinnati has been tied to several major league baseball amateur draft selections in its three seasons.  Josh Harrison (2006 Steam), selected in the 6^th round of the 2008 draft by the Chicago Cubs and is currently playing for the Peoria Cubs.  Nate Jones (2006 Steam), was selected in the 5^th round of the 2007 draft by the Chicago White Sox.  Charlie Leesman (2006-2008 Steam) was selected in the 11^th round by the Chicago White Sox and Tommy Nurre (2007-2008 Steam) was selected in the 38^th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The future is bright for the Cincinnati Steam and with the wealth of homegrown local talent that is currently at the high school and college level the Steam will not be without for a long time to come.  We look forward to the Summer of 2009 and the action and excitement that will be brought to the great fans of Southwest Ohio and Greater Cincinnati at the Home of the 2008 GLSCL Regular Season and Tournament Champion Cincinnati Steam.

Columbus dented the plate first in the top of the 2^nd inning when Zack Leonard scored on a two out rbi double by Tyler Rogers off Steam starter Bryan Earley.  Cincinnati saw their one and raised them three by putting a four spot on the board in the bottom of the 2^nd inning off the Columbus starter Kevin Mementowski, who had been the closer in game 1 of the day.  Brandon Besl led off the bottom of the 2^nd inning with a smash to the right field corner that was misplayed by Ryan Dew allowing Besl to go all the way to third.  Billy O’Conner walked to put runners on first and third for Jon Edgington.  Edgington hit a come backer to the mound that caught Besl to far off third for the first out of the inning.  With runners on first and second and one out Steve Brown hit a single to right to load the bases.  Brad Gschwind hits a laser to the right centerfield gap clearing the bases to give the Steam a 3-1 lead.  Nate Fields hits an rbi groundout scoring Gschwind from third to extend the lead to 4-1.  Ryan Kruzska came in to face Columbus in the top of the third replacing Earley.  Kruzska started on Tuesday against the Lake Erie Monarchs and is working on two days rest.  Cincinnati added one in the bottom of the third off a one out triple by Tommy Nurre and a sacrifice fly by Brandon Besl to make it a 5-1 game.  Kruzska went four innings, faced sixteen hitters (retired the first 9 out of 10 batters he faced), walked one, hit two batters, struck out two and only gave up one hit.   He encountered problems in his fourth inning of work, the top half of the 6^th inning but worked out of the jam when Columbus left the bases load.  Kruzska’s day was done and he did just what the Steam needed to set up the relief core for the rest of the contest.  David Middendorf came on in the seventh to face the pesky All Americans.

The game remained the same until the top of the 8^th when Robert Maddox hit a solo home run off David Middendorf with one out to make it 5-2.  With that Coach Mike Maundrell decided it was time to bring in Steven Davis.  Davis set down the two batters he faced to end the 8^th and the ball was handed over to closer specialist Steve Matre out of the College of Mount St. Joseph.  When Matre was signed by the Steam this was the situation that he was signed for but after a doubleheader at Southern Ohio earlier in the season, not only closing, but pitching at all the remainder of the season was in question.  Matre went through about a month of therapy and had not been actively pitching until last week.  So in the top of the 9^th of the Championship game, Matre was called on to face the 9-1-2 hitters of the All Americans.  Tyler Rogers was Matre’s first victim.  Rogers took the count full but struck out swinging for the first out of the 9^th.  The Steam were two outs away from the title.  Next up for Columbus was Cory Rupert.  Rupert as well took the count full, net end same result, strike out swinging for the second out of the 9^th, one out remained between Cincinnati and the Championship Title.  Hayden Johnston would be that challenge.  He was 2-4 coming into this plate appearance.  Johnston took the count to 2-0 versus Matre, the wind up and the pitch, ground ball hit to Brad Gschwind who fields and throws onto Tommy Nurre at first base and The Cincinnati Steam have become the first team since 2004 to win both the regular season and tournament titles.

Cincinnati finishes the 2008 campaign with a 34-11 record (30-10 regular season and 4-1 in the playoff) and the most regular season victories since 2003 when the Northern Ohio Baseball Organization went 32-9.  The Steam are presently 8^th in the nation and with the tournament championship looking to increase on their stellar summer.

                                      123        456        789        R            H            E

Columbus                    010        000        010        2             7             1

Cincinnati                    041        000        00x         5             7             0

WP – Kruzska             LP — Mementowski           Sv – Matre

Hitting Leaders:

Columbus – Johnston (2-5), Lewis (2-4), Maddox (HR, rbi), Rogers (double, rbi)

Cincinnati – Nurre (2-4, triple), Besl (double, rbi), O’Conner (double), S. Brown (2-3), Gschwind (double, 3 rbi)

The Cincinnati Steam took a 3-0 lead in the 6^th and 7^th inning only to have Columbus take the lead in the bottom of the 8^th inning and take game 1 and force the if game against the Steam.

After five scoreless innings Cincinnati dented the scoreboard in the top of the 6^th inning putting together four straight base hits and scoring 2 runs.  Nate Fields led off with a single to right and went to second on a bunt single by Ryan Strausborger.  Fields and Strausborger advanced to third and second respectively as Matt Shoemaker throws a wild pitch.  Zach Hurley laces an rbi base hit thru the left side scoring Fields from third, advancing Strausborger to third and on the throw to the plate that was cut off Hurley was thrown out at second trying to advance.  With runner on third and one out, Tommy Nurre smashes a hit to right center past a drawn in infield scoring Strausborger to give the Steam a 2-0 lead. 

The Steam added one insurance run in the top of the 7^th inning.  Billy O’Conner led the inning off with a double that bounced off the left center field wall.  After a line out and fly out, O’Conner scored from second on a ground ball that was hit by Brad Gschwind and thrown by the first baseman for the All American’s second error of the game. 

Columbus took the lead in the bottom of the 8^th as the All Americans loaded the bases off two hits and a hit batsman off starter Brian Sand.  Eric Braeckel came on to relieve for Brian Sand to try and preserve the 3-0 lead.  Chris Lewis hit a single to left scoring Tyler Rogers from third and moving everyone up a base.  Ryan Dew plated the second run of the inning and game for Columbus on a sacrifice fly to right scoring Cory Rupert from third and moving Hayden Johnston up to third.  With one out Zach Dygert walked to load the bases for Robert Maddox III.  Maddox hit a chopper to Tommy Nurre at first base, Nurre’s attempt to force Johnston at home is wide of home and pops out of catcher Billy O’Conner’s mitt when he tries to make a swipe tag, as the ball scoots away Chris Lewis scored to make it a 4-3 ball game.  Kevin Mementowski would come on in the 9^th for a save thus propelling Columbus to the final and deciding game.

Game 1 Line Score

                                      123        456        789        R            H            E

Cincinnati                    000        002        100        3             8             1

Columbus                    000        000        04x         4             7             2

WP – Shoemaker        LP – Braeckel      Sv – Mementowski

Hitting Leaders:

Steam – Strausborger (2-4, run scored), Hurley (2-4, rbi), Nurre (rbi), O’Conner (double)

Columbus – Johnston (1-2), Lewis (rbi), Dew (rbi)

Let the celebration begin…the Cincinnati Steam defeated the Columbus All-American this afternoon to win their first GLSCL Championship!!!  On behalf of the Steam, I’d like to thank our fans, family, and friends who supported our organization throught this incredible season.  In just three years, this team has accomplished so much; 30 wins, a regular season championship, national recognition, and to top it all off a tournament championship.  We are so proud of our players, coaches, staff, and countless others who have contributed to the Steam’s tremendous success.  An official game article and much more thank-you’s are still to come, but for now let’s celebrate!  Congratulations, guys.  We’re proud of you.

 W – O’Gara       L – Vitek

S – Middendorf

More details of the game to come…

With the win, Cincinnati punched their ticket to the GLSCL Championship game.  With two more games this afternoon and tonight, their opponent is still uncertain.  Lima will face Stark County at 3:30.  The winner will face Columbus tonight at 7:00 to determine the final spot in the Championship game vs. the Steam.

The Championship will take place this Fri., Aug. 8th at 1:00pm in Xenia.

Listen in to the action at www.cincinnatisteam.com!  At the home page, click the link below the Steam logo to hear the play-by-play.

http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/summer/2008/summer16/s16_8608.aspx