Luke baseball team takes AF tourney

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tong Duong
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. - --  Despite battling the high humidity of Virginia and 80-mile-per-hour fast balls, the Luke Falcons swept the competition to take home their first Air Force Bash championship.

"The Air Force Bash tournament is an all Air Force varsity baseball tournament," said Falcons team Coach Nico George. "The winner is considered the best in the Air Force. This is the first time in the tournament's three-year existence that Luke won the title. We took third in 2005 and 2006."

The Luke men's varsity baseball team fended off three Air Force teams racking up a 6-0 record. The competitors were Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.; Andrews AFB, Md. and intrastate rival, Davis Monthan AFB.

Luke's regular season games prepared the team for the tourney, with a flawless 12-0 record in the men's Peoria Spring League.

"We won the regular season league and were the No. 1 seed going into the end of season tourney," George said. "We won the local tournament last season (Spring) so you can say we're defending champs."

According to Michael Fowler, assistant coach, the key to the Falcon's success has been the team members' ability to fill in for each other.

"When it's game time, our players are always ready to compete, not that the other teams aren't," Fowler said. "Our motto is, 'bring it home.' When one player makes a mistake, someone else steps up his game until the other player gets back on track. We don't have monster homerun hitters or fireball pitchers; we just have guys that are great at what they do and do it consistently."

One of the many challenges, aside from the humidity and the more than 20 games of baseball, was deciding who to play, according to George.

"The most challenging part of the Bash was selecting who would pitch and when," he said. "Last year, Luke had the better team, but I got out-coached. I used my best pitchers in the beginning of the tourney and when it got to the playoffs our pitching fell off. This year because of our excellent offense and aggressive base running, I was able to use my third and fourth pitchers and save my top two for the playoffs. We also had a closer this year, Jody Rose, pitcher, something Luke hasn't had in the past."

On top of sweeping the tournament, three Falcons were recognized as being most valuable players due to their outstanding play, according to assistant Coach Fowler.

"Chad Jennings is a great overall player," he said. "He plays both outfield and pitches remarkably well. He definitely brings a great attitude to the game as well as wisdom that these younger guys can see and learn from."

"Jody Rose was our ace in the hole as far as pitching," assistant Coach Fowler said. "He was brought in the last inning of each game to close out the other team and assure us the win. Three of our players had to leave prior to the championship game so the coach rolled the dice and started Jody, hoping he could go a couple of innings, and it worked. Jody pitched the entire game, giving up only one run."

Vince Petti is also one of the team's well rounded players, a phenomenal pitcher and outfielder, according to assistant Coach Fowler. Earlier this year, he struck out 15 players in one seven-inning game. "In the first game on Sept. 9, he made an outstanding play catching the ball 15 feet from center field, in a full sprint."

These guys aren't just out there throwing and catching a baseball," he said. "They are serious about the game."