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Tournaments | Story | 9/2/2003

Diamond One Baseball (OH) Wins Kernels Foundation Championship

Perfect Game Staff

Diamond One Baseball (OH) edged the Indiana Yankees 8-7 in a dramatic 8 inning championship game to capture the 2003 WWBA Kernels Foundation National Championship in Cedar Rapids Labor Day afternoon. Diamond One had entered the medal round of the competition as the #6 seed with a 1-0-2 record. They defeated Hitters Baseball (WI) 6-1 in the quarterfinal game before shutting out the Wisconsin Blazers in the semi-finals, 1-0. The Yankees marched through pool play undefeated at 3-0 and were the #1 seed. They beat Second Season (IL) in quarterfinal action by the score of 4-0, then topped the KC White Sox in the semifinals, 5-2. That the Yankees and Diamond One matched up in the final was appropriate. Diamond One was probably the best fundamentally sound pitching and defensive team in the tournament. They made only 1 error during the medal round and their pitchers threw consistent strikes. The Yankees, while running short on pitching just as they did when reaching the finals of the WWBA Senior Championships in Marietta, GA in July, may be the most aggressive base running team in the country, consistently manufacturing runs and forcing opposing teams into mistakes. The final game was each team's sixth contest in 52 hours, which means that pitching was tired and stretched thin. Both the Yankees and Diamond One slammed out 14 hits in the contest, the highest number recorded by a team in the Championship. In fact, Diamond One had only allowed 6 runs in their 5 previous games. The Yankees took a 4-2 lead in the 4th inning against Diamond One with 3 runs, the final 2 scoring on a ringing triple off the left centerfield fence by SS Eric Campbell that scored 3B Derrick Alfonso and P Jeremy Kuester, both who had earlier singled. With Kuester cruising on the mound, things looked good for the top seeds. Diamond One came back to get 3 runs of their own in the top of the 6th, though, to take a 5-4 lead. CF Adam Calez drove in the tying runs with a bases loaded single and DH Josh Reiner singled in the lead run. Only a slick 4-6-3 double play, one of several fielding gems by both teams in the errorless contest, got the Yankees out of trouble. Not to be outdone, the Yankees put 3 more runs on the board in the bottom of the 6th to take a 7-5 lead. Campbell got things started with a 2 out double. He then stole third base and after a walk, scored on a straight steal of home to tie the score, his second such steal home during the tournament. LF Kevin Foley later drove in the lead runs. With the Yankees effectively out of pitching, few were surprised when Diamond One was able to tie the score again in the 7th inning, using an Rbi single by 1B Steve Ross and a sacrifice fly by 3B David Hurd to tie the game up and, after the Yankees failed to score in the bottom of the 7th, send the game to extra innings. The winning Diamond One run scored in the 8th inning. Reiner led off the inning with his 3rd single of the game and was doubled to third base by SS Greg Feltes. After a walk, a fielders choice ground ball by RF Brent Decoster scored the Reiner. Campbell was the hands down choice as Most Valuable Player of the Championship. The AFLAC All-American was 8-20 at the plate, but among his 8 hits were 2 doubles, 2 triples and the weekends only home run. In addition to driving in 8 runs, Campbell also stole 8 bases, including the 2 previously mentioned steals of home. The MVP award capped a tremendous summer for the young Owensville, Indiana native, who was the co-MVP of the WWBA Senior Championship and won the home run hitting contest at the AFLAC All-Star Game in Ft. Myers, Florida. Diamond One's Decoster was presented the Most Valuable Pitcher Award for his 3-hit complete game shutout against the strong hitting Wisconsin Blazers team in the semi-finals. SS Josh Flores of Top Tier slammed 3 home runs into the left field bleachers in 21 swings to win the Kernels Foundation Home Run Contest Sunday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The event was held under less than ideal conditions, with a light drizzle falling and a wind blowing in from Veterans cavernous centerfield. Only 3 hitters managed to hit balls out in the first round; Flores, St. Louis Diamond Stars C Zach Shy and Team Minnesota SS Christopher Buss. Campbell stirred the crowd with several long drives to left centerfield that were held up by the wind but he was never able to pull the ball down the line. After Shy was unsuccessful in 8 swings during the 2nd round, Flores hit a rocket that came within feet of leaving the stadium completely and looked to be the winner until Buss, with 2 swings left, came through with another long ball. A third Flores home run that Buss wasnt able to answer sealed it in the 3rd round, though. Other competitors in the Home Run Contest included: Adam Calez and Josh Reiner (Diamond One), Brian Sutt and Erik Christianson (Eastern Iowa Select), John Lequia and Leif Bergquist (Hitters Baseball), Mike Bowden and Dave Foss (Illinois Sports Academy), Campbell and Edwin Roman (Indiana Yankees), Mark Phillips and Adam Hull (KC White Sox), Paul Griffin and Matt Krueger (Lombard Blue), Eric Scott (Lombard Grey), T.J. Cataldo and Michael Harrington (PG Navy), Aaron Alcock (PG Red), Danny Cutler and Gavin Tugana (Q.C. Net Works), Drew Hartwek (St. Louis Diamond Stars), Brian Jost (Team Minnesota), Joe Dunigan (Top Tier) and Tyler Beranek and Shawn Wozniak (Wisconsin Blazers).

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Tournaments | Championship | 7/28/2026

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