Squirrels rally late, knock off Tropics in State Tourney

Aycorp Media Charleston Fighting Squirrel baserunner Levi McKinnie stands on third base alongside Squirrel manager Michael Minner in a recent game against the Southeast Tropics at Kelly High School in Benton. McKinnie threw a strong game and hit a triple in the seventh inning before scoring the winning run in the Senior Babe Ruth Tournament on Sunday against the Tropics.

Dennis Marshall ~ Standard-Democrat

CHARLESTON – For much of this summer baseball season, veteran Aycorp Media Charleston Fighting Squirrels manager Michael Minner hasn’t been thrilled with how his team has performed, beginning with a 10-0 season-opening loss to their rivals, the Southeast Tropics at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.

“I’ve been extremely negative with this group,” Minner said. “We’ve done a lot of things that just haven’t been baseball things.”

That wasn’t the case on Sunday, as the Squirrels rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 before winning in their final at-bat 3-2 in the 2024 Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament at Hillhouse Park.

“I’m extremely proud of these guys,” Minner said following the win. “Tonight, our bench was in the game, our coaches were in it, our kids, we deserve this one.”

The game was a 1-1 battle, as Tropics pitcher Carson McDaniel and Squirrel thrower Levi McKinnie matched each other each inning.

Tropic hitter Dalton Forck singled to lead off the inning before Waylon Hale laid down a nice sacrifice bunt to get pinch-runner Brenden Campbell to second base.

Beau-Hunter Warren, who has been great on the mound this season for the Tropics (19-5-1) brought home Campbell with a hard-hit ball to left field for a 2-1 margin.

In the bottom of the inning, veteran Tropics manager Dustin Schwartz yelled to his players “Keep playing. This game isn’t over.”

“It’s embarrassing,” Schwartz said after the game. “Teams aren’t going to roll over for us and we think they will. That is two days in a row where I thought we got a wake-up call.”

Tropics get 'wake-up call' in dramatic State W

Tom Davis

Earlier in this summer baseball season, veteran Southeast Tropics manager Dustin Schwartz could find a sense of admiration for his team's ability to always find a way to success, even if it were in the final pitches of a game.
"Our guys don't quit," Schwartz said at the time. "We can kind of wait a little late sometimes to get going.
"They are...

The Tropics had beaten the Squirrels four out of five games this summer and are the reigning Senior Babe Ruth World Series champions. None of that mattered to the Squirrels in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“We didn’t wake up,” Schwartz continued. “We think because we are the defending (World Series) champs and we’ve got all of this talent, teams are going to come in and see a lead late against them and say ‘Alright, we’re done.’

“That’s not how it works.”

Things went awry for the Tropics and relief pitcher Forck quickly.

McKinnie hit a rocket to the center field wall and ended up with a triple. He then tied the game on an RBI single by Owen Willis.

Forck got two of the next three hitters out surrounding an intentional walk to Brady Smith.

The Squirrels loaded the bases with a walk to Wyatt Friley before Luke Hester hit a ball in front of Tropics center fielder Aaron Dunlap to win the game.

“This is a win that gets your program turned back around,” Minner said, “and gets us rolling in the right direction headed to the World Series.”

McKinnie threw 6 2/3 innings and allowed just two earned runs on seven hits while walking none and striking out eight.

McDaniel pitched five innings and gave up just three hits, no earned runs, as the Tropics committed three errors. He walked three and struck out eight.

“Carson threw really well,” Schwartz said. “We made some errors behind him. We made a couple of great plays behind him (also) to help him out.

“It was a really good matchup between a Mineral Area College commit (McDaniel) and a Jefferson College commit (McKinnie).”

Owen Osborne paced the Squirrels offensively with a hit, an RBI, and a walk while Friley (one walk), Hester (one hit, one RBI), Jack Evans (one hit, two walks), Talan McDaniel (one walk), McKinnie (one hit, one run), and Willis (one hit, one RBI, two walks) also contributed.

The Tropics got a couple of hits and a run out of Kolten Payne while Mason Adams (one hit), Trey Benthal (one hit, one RBI), Dylan Hayman (one hit), Forck (one hit), and Warren (one hit, one RBI) also contributed.

The Squirrels move on to the championship game at Hillhouse Park on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

The Tropics will play the Cardinals Perfectos Legacy 19U squad in the loser’s bracket today at 7:30 p.m. at Hillhouse Park.

The Tropics will have to win that game and another on Tuesday at 5 p.m. to climb back into the title game.