Power pulls away from Post 33
Steubenville shows signs of improvement in regular season finale
Andrew Grimm HIGH-FIVE — Power Baseball Club's Evan Kimmerle is congratulated by JD Henderson after scoring a run against Post 33 on Monday.
Andrew Grimm BIG HIT — Post 33 players greet Kyler Snyder after his two-run homer against Power Baseball Club on Monday.
Andrew Grimm GOOD JOB — Kyler Snyder is congratulated by Post 33 head coach Lee Bainbridge after his two-run homer.
Andrew Grimm MAKING A PLAY — Post 33 catcher Jace Wojtas looks to make a play after tracking down a wild pitch.
Andrew Grimm ON THE MOUND — Post 33 starter Patrick Jenkins delivers against Power Baseball Club.
Andrew Grimm SCORING — Power Baseball Club's Kyle Long crosses home plate to score a run Monday.
Andrew Grimm HIGH-FIVE — Power Baseball Club's Evan Kimmerle is congratulated by JD Henderson after scoring a run against Post 33 on Monday.
Andrew Grimm BIG HIT — Post 33 players greet Kyler Snyder after his two-run homer against Power Baseball Club on Monday.
Andrew Grimm GOOD JOB — Kyler Snyder is congratulated by Post 33 head coach Lee Bainbridge after his two-run homer.
Andrew Grimm MAKING A PLAY — Post 33 catcher Jace Wojtas looks to make a play after tracking down a wild pitch.
Andrew Grimm ON THE MOUND — Post 33 starter Patrick Jenkins delivers against Power Baseball Club.
Andrew Grimm SCORING — Power Baseball Club's Kyle Long crosses home plate to score a run Monday.
STEUBENVILLE -- The youthful Post 33 baseball team may have ended its first regular season back on the field without a win, but Monday's regular season finale certainly showed some reasons for optimism for the future.
Taking on a much more experienced Power Baseball Club out of Richmond, a team consisting of mostly players from Edison High School's regional runner up team, young Steubenville hung with the veteran travel club early, as the game was scoreless through three innings.
The Power ultimately got its bats going, taking a 10-2 win on Fred Heatherington Field, but Post 33 made the visitors play the entire game, avoiding a run rule ending and made a couple of nice defensive plays and got a two-run homer from Kyler Snyder.
"Our guys played hard to the end," Post 33 head coach Lee Bainbridge said. "Our guys competed against a very experienced team, it was a two-run game in the fifth inning.
"Kyler got ahold of that ball and that was good to see. We kept playing and got to play all the innings."
For Power coach Aaron Henderson, getting to play another local foe and his kids getting to play against kids they know has been a nice addition to the schedule. The teams also met last week.
"This is great for us," he said. "We've been traveling all over, a lot of these boys have been playing together since they were eight years old. We've spent a lot of summers together traveling. They have a lot of fun together, I've been coaching some of them since they were four years old.
"We picked up games with Toronto and (Steubenville), it really helps us out to play some local mid-week games. It helps us for the weekend tournaments in Canton, Cleveland, Pittsburgh.
"These kids know each other, most of the kids over there (on Post 33) I have been coaching against in junior high for a few years. They've got some good young talent and that's good to see for their future. They're getting the work in, it's good for both of us to be on the field together.
"They're going to be fun to watch over the next couple of years."
Steubenville pitcher Patrick Jenkins tossed five innings, holding the Power off the board until the fourth before the older team started to break through.
"Jenkins did a good job of keeping us off balance the first couple innings, it took us a while to get going," coach Henderson said. "For a young kid he's got good velo and a good curve ball, he pitched well against an older line up.
"Hitting is contagious, once we get going we keep it going. Once one or two guys get a hit to fall we all kind of fall in line."
For the Power (11-8-1), Edison grad JD Henderson had two hits and an RBI, Wildcats teammate Xander Haught had a triple, single and three RBIs, Edison's Kyle Long doubled, fellow Wildcat Evan Kimmerle had two hits, fellow Edison teammate Brady Haught had three RBIs, Bo Denoon had two hits and Big Red product Noah Kokiko had two hits and an RBI.
Michael Mullens, a Carrollton product, threw five scoreless innings for the Power.
In addition to Snyder's blast, Kaiden Anderson, Kole Yourkovich and Nolan Greiner each had a hit for Post 33.
Post 33 finishes its regular season, its first back on the field after a couple years away, with an 0-9 mark, though a lot of youthful players – mostly freshmen and sophomores – got a lot of valuable experience.
"I'm proud of these guys, they showed up the whole year and stayed consistent," Bainbridge said. "That's really hard to do when you're not in a lot of the games and playing teams with more experience.
"We were the little dog at the bowl this year. One of the things I told these guys is remember who starved with you, we're gonna eat one day, but remember who starved with you. These guys are a good group of kids and they will stick together and keep getting better.
"I want to thank (Steubenville High School) athletic director John Arlesic, (Big Red baseball coach) Justin Banks, it was nice to play here this summer. I want to thank Joe Rockey from the American Legion and all of our coaching staff, Billy Kuhn, Mark Doughty and Josh Mamula, for all of their hard work and support.
"We'll be back and these guys will be a year older and have more experience."
Steubenville is scheduled to compete in the Ohio American Legion Region 4 tournament over the next couple of days at Marietta College to conclude the summer season.