13U team dominates regular season, post-season tourney
CHAMPS — The 2012 QCBA 13-and-under baseball team completed an undefeated season this summer. Front from left: Chad Erickson, Jason Jongbloedt, Sam Prigge and Brady Agrimson. Back: Jack Schultz, Oakley Baker, Tyler Raimann, Chad Agrimson, Jake Holz and coach Darian Baker. (Submitted photo)
The Quad Cities Baseball Association 13-under team had an outstanding season in 2012, compiling an 11-0-1 regular-season record.
Members of the team include Chad Agrimson, Collin Christenson, Jack Schultz, Sam Prigge, Oakley Baker, Jason Jongbloedt, Jake Holz, Bryce Okland and Chad Erickson. With the low numbers in this class, Bryce Oakland and Chad Erickson graciously offered to “move-up” and help fulfill a nine-man roster.
“Without their help, we would not have been able to field a 13U team for the summer,” said coach Darian Baker.
The boys outscored their opponents by an average score of 14.6 to 2.8 runs per game.
“We were able to move some guys around and play some different positions in several games due to the lop-sided score, so that was fun for the boys,” said Coach Baker.
Hitting has been a strength for this team since they started playing ball together and this year was no exception. As a team, they hit .411 for the year. Prigge led the team with a .550 average followed by Agrimson at .538. Agrimson and Christenson led the team in RBIs with 28 and 27, respectively. Jongbloedt led the team in extra base hits with 11 as well as 31 runs scored. Prigge and Schultz logged most of the pitching innings on the year with 27 and 23, respectively. Jongbloedt and Okland also pitched 17 and 11 innings. Prigge totaled 47 strikeouts and 17 walks vs. Schultz’s 41 strikeouts and 23 walks. Those four guys combined for back-to-back no-hitters the second and third games of the regular season.
Despite several injuries that occurred the last week of the season, the boys also breezed through the end-of-the-year league tournament by 10-running all three opponents. Game 1 concluded with a 15-0 shutout of Mankato KFC. Game 2 yielded another victory by a score of 15-3 over St. Clair. With those two victories, it pitted them against a Maple River Team that dealt them their lone non-victory during the regular season for the championship. The local team came out on top with a 13-3 victory in five innings. Prigge came up big in those last two games by pitching a total of eight innings and only allowing a total of five runs on nine hits.
By winning the regular season, the boys earned a MSF AA state tournament berth but due to the aforementioned injuries, had to decline the berth.
“The boys’ biggest improvement on the year was defensively,” said Coach Baker. “We only had a couple times where an error hurt us and we gave up more runs that we should have. I kept stressing all year that we cannot give a team more than three outs in an inning; if we do, it’s going to cost us. 14-0-1 is a solid record at any level. Congratulations boys. Job well done!”