The Urbana RamJets 11U baseball team captured the 11th Annual Burning Bat Tournament in Pickerington, Ohio this weekend. Urbana upended the Mount Vernon Orange Sox 18-6 before mounting final-inning comeback wins against the Pickerington Predators and Train 4 Freedom en route to their third straight tournament title.
In the championship game, the Ramjets pushed 3 runs across the plate in the bottom of the sixth to knot the game at 7 runs apiece and force extra innings. Jackson Musser and Michael Beard provided the big hits to spur the rally.
In the top of the 7th, Caizen Anders made a relief appearance on the mound with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out. Anders pitched out of the jam with a strikeout and a popout to set the stage for Urbana’s heroics in the bottom of the inning. Noah Sizemore singled to load the bases full of RamJets with nobody out. With the infield drawn in, Callen Oder hit a hot shot to the second baseman. The throw home pulled the catcher’s foot off the plate as Anders slid in with the game-winning run.
All 10 RamJets contributed to the tournament title. Oder led the squad with 5 hits. Dillon Musser and Harrison Sutherin cleared the fences with home runs. Dillon Musser drove in a team-high 7 RBIs, and Jackson Musser scored a team-high 5 runs. Sizemore, Beard, Anders, and Nathan Deitrick collected 4 hits apiece. Bentley Deam drove in 3 runs and Hunter Lawson scored a run.
Five RamJets shared the tournament pitching duties. Deam earned the win over Mount Vernon. Anders picked up both Sunday victories, including a 53-pitch, 2-hit complete-game gem vs. Pickerington. Sizemore scattered 5 hits and just 1 run over 5.1 innings of relief.
The RamJets 11U team includes players from Urbana, West Liberty-Salem, and Graham Schools. They play in the Midwest Ohio Baseball League. The RamJets’ home field is Weidmann Field at Urbana’s Gwynne Street Park, host to their next game on Tuesday, May 6 at 6:00 pm vs. archrival Troy.
