The Monarchs Gold saved their best, all around performance for last. After relying heavily on their offense to carry them thus far in the tournament, Gold added the pitching and defense to their streaking offense to eliminate the Alton Indians 13-5 in the World Series championship game, their second of the last three.

With 10 players on the Monarchs championship team two years ago, Gold showed their poise and experience straight from the start. In the bottom of the first the Monarchs drew four walks in the inning. Adam Yunker did his part on the base paths too, not only stealing second and third, but becoming a serious distraction for the pitcher. Ricky Lizcano got the only RBI in the inning on a bases loaded walk. The other two runs scored on wild pitches to strike a 3-0 early lead.

Doing what he’s done all tournament, Brett Kuebler set out to give the Monarchs valuable innings and keep his team in the game. As with most tournaments, by the time you get to the championship game, most of your pitchers have already pitched multiple innings, and few are going to be 100%. With Kuebler pitching multiple times already, his performance seemed that much more valiant. Kuebler did have a hiccup in the top of the second giving up three runs to tie the game.

Fortunately for Kuebler, and the rest of the Monarchs, the Gold offense continued their torrid stretch. The Monarchs broke the 3-3 tie immediately in the bottom of the second on Drew Kuns’ RBI single and continued for two more the next inning. Eric Yunker got an RBI ground out, and Corey Lehman knocked an RBI double to deep right center scoring Brian Bilius.

The Monarchs began to break the game open in the fifth. Adam Yunker got it going with an RBI single. Then Kuns delivered a first pitch, two-run bomb over the left field wall for his second and third RBIs of the evening. Extending the explosion, Casey Winckowski belted an RBI triple, and Jake Cappelletty got a bloop RBI single to give the Monarchs an 11-3 lead after five.

As the Monarchs continued to rake, Kuebler continued his stellar performance through the seventh inning. He also got some aid from an exceptional defense, who had struggled with compounding errors earlier in the tournament, but was not only errorless through the seventh inning, but was making the extra effort for their pitcher, be it a double play, stops behind the plate, or diving for foul balls.

The Monarchs added another run in the bottom of the seventh on Lizcano’s RBI single to score Kuns.

In the top of the eighth, Kuebler gave up a run on a sacrifice fly, and then Kuns had a rare error on a throw to allow another run to score putting the score at 12-5 going into the bottom of the eighth. Kuebler finished with a line of 8 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, and 2 K as well as receiving the win.

Tournament MVP, and to be Bowling Green State University sophomore, Drew Kuns recorded his fourth hit, and fourth RBI of the evening in the bottom of the eighth and Derrick Garcia came on to relieve Kuebler for a shutdown ninth to close up shop on a perfect ending to a stellar season for the Monarchs Gold.  

Winckowski, Lizcano, and Kuns were all named to the All Tournament Team.

Congratulations again to the Monarchs Gold team for the accomplishments this season and their World Series Championship. Good luck to all the players in school ball for the upcoming season.