BonnerSprings.com

Kansas City, Kan. — The baseball stadium was a lot bigger than what the Bonner Springs Braves were used to, and the three-game tournament format was new.

The game, however, was the same.

For a day, at least, the Braves thrived in the professional baseball environment at CommunityAmerica Ballpark by rocking Holton, 8-1, in the first round of the Butch Foster Memorial Baseball Classic on Thursday.

The lopsided victory propelled the Braves into the winner's bracket, but they were unable to replicate the same success on the final two days of the tournament.

They dropped a 6-0 decision to St. James Academy in the semifinals on Friday and then lost to Basehor-Linwood in the third-place game, 8-0, on Saturday.

Despite the back-to-back losses, BSHS freshman Kyle Day said the experience was great for the Braves.

"This was a lot of fun playing in this stadium," he said. "It put pressure on us to perform in front of a lot of people and also in a tournament environment. This experience will be good for this team and in the years to come. Hopefully it is around for my next three years at least."

Even though they played in the winner's bracket, the Braves weren't satisfied with all of their results. In particular, the loss to Basehor-Linwood was frustrating for them.

The Bobcats' bats exploded early, accounting for five runs in the first two innings off six hits and a walk. They never looked back.

The Braves helped out by throwing a wild pitch in the first inning that allowed a runner to score. In the second, they dropped a fly ball that should have ended the inning - instead Brandon Leppke and Tyler Henley came around to score for the Bobcats, making it 5-0.

In the top of the fifth, Basehor-Linwood pushed across a run with three consecutive singles to increase the lead to 6-0. Ben Zuk drove in Kyle Savner for that run. Moments before Zuk's hit, the crowd and players were greeted with a very noisy surprise; a military fighter jet doing a flyby over the adjacent Kansas Speedway buzzed CommunityAmerica Ballpark at sonic speed, leaving the rafters shaking and the ballpark energized.

Braves starter Ryan Morris was driven from the game in the sixth inning after Henley delivered a run-scoring triple with one out that put the Bobcats up 7-0. Isaac Mills replaced Morris on the mound and got out of the inning with no further damage.

The Bobcats added one run in the seventh to lock up the victory.

Basehor starting pitcher Justin Gripka pitched a complete game for the win, giving up four hits and no walks.

Braves first baseman Austin Anderson had two hits and Kevin DeVore added one.

The Braves' bats went ice cold during the final two days of the tournament. Their pitching was inconsistent and their defense made a few too many mistakes to win in a tournament atmosphere.

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