Waterloo Millers take two from Columbia
The Waterloo Millers of the Mon-Clair Baseball League raised their season record to 7-3 by taking two lopsided games from the Columbia Saints in a Sunday doubleheader in Waterloo.
Final scores in the two games were 13-2 and 11-0; both were shortened by the 10-run rule.
Joe Phelps and Joe Osborne started the two games for Waterloo and notched the wins. The Millers leapt to a 9-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of the first game and never looked back. They started the second contest in a similar fashion, plating four runs in the first inning. Waterloo also added a seven-run third inning as well to wrap up Sunday’s games against the Saints.
Millers look to make strong push at first place
The Waterloo Millers are moving up in the Mon-Clair League, and manager Vern Moehrs says if they can stay together through the entire summer, they are a threat to anyone they play.
Waterloo’s latest gain is outfielder L.J. Watson (4), seen here showing the powerful swing that Millers manager Vern Moehrs says will make him a dangerous hitter in the Mon-Clair League.“We are tied with the leaders in the loss column,” Moehrs said. “That’s very important, because you can’t make up games you’ve lost,” he noted.
Moehrs said the team’s pitching has been solid with Sunday’s starters, Joe Phelps from Marissa, who pitches for Lindenwood University in Belleville, and Joe Osborne, who pitches for Maple Woods Jr. College in Kansas City, being two examples.
Ryan Hall, a Webster University baseball player, is anchoring third base for the Millers, and only days ago the Millers added L. J. Watson, a graduate of William Woods University in Fulton, Mo., from O’Fallon to their outfield corps.
Moehrs gathered his team after their Sunday doubleheader against Columbia and told them, “We have to hang together. Spring training’s over and from here on out, it’s going to get tough.”
Saints provide exposure, experience for local talent
The Columbia Saints of the Mon-Clair baseball league are off to a rough start, dropping to a 1-9 record after losing a doubleheader at Waterloo Sunday.
Columbia Saints starting pitcher and recent CHS graduate Blake Meyer serves up a pitch early in the second game of a Sunday doubleheader against the Waterloo Millers.“We have suffered rain outs – we were rained out after four innings yesterday – and this is difficult for a team that doesn’t field a large squad,” manager “Doc” Kleinschmidt said. “Rain outs result in doubleheaders and we have to produce two starting pitchers and relievers as necessary.”
But Kleinschmidt said the team offers the opportunity for a blend of veterans, up to age 37 this year, and recent graduates from Columbia High School to continue playing baseball beyond high school.
Included in that latter group of Mon-Clair rookies are Brock Johns, who has transitioned from catching for the Eagles of Columbia this past year to their Mon-Clair counterparts this summer. Brock’s brother, Sheldon, has been a fixture at second base for the Saints for four years now. Blake Meyer, who pitched for the Columbia High School Eagles this spring, started the second game Sunday.
