WWBA FALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Jupiter, Fla., October 26-30, 2006

TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK

MONDAY, OCTOBER 30

COMPILED BY ALLAN SIMPSON

The Reds Scout Team, a mixture of players from this year’s Midland Redskins and top prospects it recruited for the tournament, ran the table at the WWBA Fall Championship, winning eight straight games.

The Reds defeated the 2004 champion Houston Heat 3-0 in the final game of the 80-team tournament, played at Jupiter’s Roger Dean Stadium, as lefthander Andrew Lambo (Newbury Park, Calif.) and righthander Sam Runion (Asheville, N.C.) combined on a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts.

Though only four players on the Reds Scout Team were from Ohio, the team had a distinct Ohio connection as it was assembled by the Cincinnati-based Midland Redskins, one of the top youth baseball programs in the country, and it wore Cincinnati Reds uniforms.

The Reds threw five shutouts in the tournament, though the strength of the team was their core of position prospects. Second baseman Ryan Dent (Palm Beach, Calif.), shortstop Justin Jackson (Asheville, N.C.) and outfielder Michael Burgess (Tampa) are potential first-round picks in 2007, and first baseman Eric Hosmer (Cooper City, Fla.) is a projected first-rounder in 2008. The remaining regulars in their everyday lineup are also potential high-round picks.

Their pitching staff, which gave up only six runs in the tournament, was mostly spent by the championship game, causing the Reds to use Lambo, who was 7-for-17 with five RBIs in his previous seven games, all at first base or in the outfield. He was not scheduled to pitch in the event but gave the depleted Reds staff a major lift.

Lambo retired the first 10 hitters he faced, with a fastball that was clocked from 84-86 mph with an assortment of soft curveballs. Runion had given up four of the previous six runs the Reds had allowed in the tournament in a shaky outing against Team Connecticut on Saturday, but he threw two scoreless innings, with a fastball that topped out at 92 mph, against the Heat to nail down the championship game.

The Reds scored twice in the first inning on consecutive singles by Dent, Jackson and tournament MVP Jeff Schaus (Naples, Fla.), and a walk to Hosmer, the cleanup hitter, to force in a run and a sacrifice fly by Michael Burgess, and were never seriously threatened. They added another run in the third on doubles by Schaus and Hosmer.

The Red