American National 16-Under Squad Stays Hot with Doubleheader Sweep

The hottest team in all of Hazelwood summer sports stayed that way with more brilliant play Wednesday night at C&H Park in St. Peters.

The St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association (SLABA) 16-under team representing the American National Eagles had won eight of its last nine contests heading into play on June 19. The team moved that mark to a scorching 10 of 11, with an overall summer season record of 13-2. This is thanks to 7-2 and 15-2 SLABA wins beating its rival―Eagles West.

“We’ve really been playing well,” American National 16U head coach Ron Buenger said. “Our pitching has been unbelievable, and we’ve got good hitters, one-through-nine.

"Our main thing is, we stay on our guys to play the right way, so when they’re ready for varsity, their coaches will be impressed.”

American National was nothing but impressive on Wednesday. On the mound, starting pitchers Pattonville High junior Matt Tiefenbrunn, and Hazelwood Central junior Derrik Watson, each went five innings and only allowed two runs apiece against a potent Eagles West lineup.

Tiefenbrunn could've been considered fantastic in game one, scattering six hits and three walks, while keeping Eagles West off-balance all night.

And Watson, hard as it might be to imagine, was even better in game two. He only allowed one hit and struck out 11, in his first outing with the 16U team.

“Both those guys were really great,” Buenger said. “Matt was really hitting his spots, and Derrik was just (overpowering).”

The American National offense was pretty potent as well.

In game one, all but one member of the starting lineup had at least one hit. Three members of the starting lineup had at least two hits. sophomore Jordan Yakel led National scoring with three hits.

The big blow of the game came in the top of the fourth, when Pattonville’s Corey Lubinski drilled a bases-clearing double to the centerfield wall. That hit drove in three runs, and turned a 2-1 American National lead to a 5-1 edge.

Lubinski later scored American National’s final run on teammate Jack Adler's hit.

In game two, Adler had two more hits and three RBIs to lead American National. An upset for the Eagles West, it was obvious the pitching staff had trouble finding the plate.

In the first inning, the team's starter faced 12 National batters and walked seven of them. Eagles West starting pitcher only got two outs, and allowed 10 runs to score.

Then when his replacement came in, the new pitcher allowed another run to score, while walking four more batters, and throwing five wild pitches.

“It was becoming pretty hard to watch,” Buenger said. “I even joked that if they needed pitchers, we’d let them have one of our guys to pitch for them. You don’t like to see kids struggle like that.”

It certainly was a dramatic contrast watching the Eagles West hurlers struggle, while at the same time watching Watson dominate.

The slender righthander, who has also pitched for the American National 17-under and varsity teams this summer, recorded all 15 outs for his team in game two on Wednesday. Eleven of Watson's outs were via strikeout.

“The thing about Derrik is he’s such a nice young man,” Buenger said. “It was his first time with us, and he just came in and fit in nice with us. He just needs a little refinement on his pitches, but you can see, he’s got some (ability and talent).”

Moving past Eagles West, the American National 16U team will be quite busy this week with games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The kids might not like (some of the early start times),” Buenger said. “But we need to be challenged a bit.

"We’ll see how we respond.”