Right place, at the right time

Home-field advantage and a nice bracket setup should give Sedalians plenty of encouragement to head out to the ol’ ballpark tonight.

The Sedalia Post 642 junior Legion baseball team is hosting the 2008 Missouri AA State Tournament from today through Sunday at Liberty Park Stadium and the juniors have a realistic shot at taking home the title.

I can’t say for sure that Post 642 is the best team in the tournament, but its situation is better than anyone else and Sedalia’s juniors are every bit as good as any other Legion team I’ve seen play.

Hopefully the town will show up in full support of Sedalia (33-4) when it takes the field at 8 tonight for Sedalia’s first action in the state tourney. Post 642 could use all the support it can get because this first game could very well be the juniors’ toughest test.

Sedalia will face the winner of this afternoon’s 3 p.m. game between Ste. Genevieve and St. Charles, arguably the two teams to beat in the tournament.

Ste. Genevieve enters the tournament with a target on its back since it is the defending junior Legion champion and returns five key players from that club. Post 150, the Zone 4 winner, is probably best known for having a former major leaguer in Steve Bieser as its coach. His son, to nobody’s surprise, is the team’s best player.

St. Charles easily came from the toughest road to reach the state tournament. Post 312 claimed the Zone 1 title after winning a 16-team district in the talented St. Louis area.

Sedalia has every bit as good a resume. Post 642 has the best winning percentage of the five teams and the most wins. Any argument that the juniors played a weak schedule can be tossed aside with a look at the past few weeks, when Post 642 added a few Sunday games for extra competition.

That includes the team’s only loss at Liberty Park Stadium this summer, an 11-0 loss to Carrollton’s high school team. The juniors followed it up with an 18-run first inning to thump the Trojans 19-4. They also routed Rock Bridge 15-1 this past Sunday.

Dylan Mays, who will likely start tonight, is a top-notch pitcher who can throw as well as any other junior Legion pitcher in the state. The juniors, like most of the other teams in the tournament, also have some decent options on the hill behind Mays.

Dominique Smith, Jordan Dey and Travis Tindell have all been solid in their starts.

Offensively, the juniors entered district play with a .500 on-base percentage as a team and were hitting near the .400 mark.

The top of the order is stacked with talent in Alex Lang, Dey, Mays and Dustin Broaddus, but the bottom of the order has done the job almost as well. Hunter Bunker, hitting in the No. 5 spot, has served as a rally extender by drawing plenty of walks and reaching base more than half the time.

Keil Allison has been a tough out and Smith’s speed can be difficult for opposing teams to handle. Spencer White and Tanner McKee find ways to get on base and get Post 642 back to the top of the order.

Ricky Bain, Ryan Paul and Jacob Bush can contribute as well.

Sedalia is solid defensively and often does the little things that can make a difference in ballgames.

Of course, the three other zone winners have said the same thing about their talents, which is why this tournament will be more than worth the price of admission.