River Dogs ready to take a run at Senior Babe Ruth World Series championship

EPHRATA — It’s not exactly the show, but it is the national showcase for some of the best baseball talent in the country.

It’s time to decide the national championship and the Columbia Basin will again be the deciding ground when the 10-team Senior Babe Ruth World Series gets underway Saturday at Johnson-O’Brien Stadium.

The Columbia Basin River Dogs program will host for the third time in the past four years. This year’s tournament will feature two Columbia Basin River Dog teams for the first time since 2014.

The host U18 team is in the American League pool. The U16 team earned a berth in the tournament with the North Washington state championship and will fly under the Moses Lake River Dog banner in the National League pool.

The action begins Saturday with the Blue Lick (Ky.) vs. Tucson (Ariz.) at 11 a.m.

“It’s been a good week of practice. The kids have done a pretty good job of listening and adapting. We’ve covered some areas and worked on some things,” U18 manager Randy Boruff said. “There’s nothing we can do now that’s going to help us hit 90 mph fastballs, so it’s a matter of fine tuning and getting ready to play in a week.”

The Columbia Basin River Dogs have four players from the team that played for the Senior Babe Ruth World Series championship last year — Kaeden Murphy, Nick Lopez, Joe Taylor and Joe Mihelich.

For the Moses Lake River Dogs, they’re not new to baseball. As 12-year-olds, they played in a Western Zone tournament in California. Last year, the won the state and regional tournaments to advance to the 15-year-old Babe Ruth World Series in North Dakota. Now, they’re going to go up the best 18-year-olds in the country with a U16 lineup.

“My guys are young, but they got some game in them,” Moses Lake River Dogs skipper Greco Signorelli said. “It’s going to be tough, but hopefully we get it started and hold our own.”

The American League pool includes Mt. Olive, N.J., Surry County, N.C., Charleston, Mo., Cape Cod, Mass., and the Columbia Basin River Dogs.

Over in the National League pool, there’s Blue Lick, Ky., Tucson, Ariz., Mid-County, Texas, Vancouver, Wash., the Moses Lake River Dogs.

Columbia Basin River Dogs

“It’s no secret, the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins. We’ve been working on some things to put pressure on our opponents. Now on the other side, we’ve also been working on handling those types of things like keeping the runners close and knowing your bunt defenses,” said Boruff, whose team goes into the tournament 35-9. “Our biggest thing all year is that we’ve been consistent about being inconsistent. That’s not uncharacteristic with a young club, so we’ll focus and see what happens.”

The recently installed Pitch Count Rule to protect pitchers is expected to play a big part in the tournament. Where the real chess match factors in is in the middle relievers. If they can keep it under a 45-pitch limit, they can throw the next day.

Boruff doesn’t have the big-arm guy he’s had in the past with hurlers like Cam Walker or Hunter Boyd, so he’s going with pitcher-by-committee, he said.

“The pitch count in today’s Senior Babe Ruth will all of a sudden become a player. That’s the reason I’m pitching by committee,” said Boruff, whose team won the World Series in 2015. “If my starters can go three innings, that’s the plan. I have a pretty good bullpen. I have a pretty good closer.”

Moses Lake River Dogs

The U16 team is used to playing on the big stage and falls into the tradition of big-time Columbia Basin baseball talent. It’s a matter of stringing things together through pool play to get to the bracket, Signorelli said. The top two teams from each pool advanced to the bracket. Last year, a 2-2 record was good enough to move on.

“This is the big stage. Primarily, we’re a 16-year-old club playing against 18-year-old kids. It’s going to be interesting,” Signorelli said. “It’s always hard keeping kids focused when they’re teenagers, but kids like this come around once every 20 years. These kids want to win and they love the game. We’re going to try and keep our mistakes to a minimum to see how we stack up.”

For the complete schedule and scores, log on to http://www.ephrataworldseries2017.com/page/show/2532781-series-week

Saturday’s schedule

Blue Lick vs. Tucson, 11 a.m.

Cape Cod vs. Surry County, 2 p.m.

Moses Lake vs. Mid-County, 4:30 p.m.

(Opening ceremonies to follow)

Columbia Basin vs. Charleston, 8 p.m.

Sunday’s schedule

Mid-County vs. Vancouver, 11 a.m.

Cape Cod vs. Mt. Olive, 2 p.m.

Tucson vs. Moses Lake River Dogs, 5 p.m.

Surry County vs. Columbia Basin River Dogs, 8 p.m.