BENTON – Before they can don their tuxedos and take their gals’ to the 2016 BCHS Prom on Saturday, the Benton Rangers have a little business to take care of on the baseball diamond.
Benton will host its annual RBI tournament at Eovaldi Field at the Benton Community Park. The other teams playing in the three-game round robin tourney are the Johnston City Indians and the Farina South Central Cougars.
"We have had this round robin tournament format for at least 21 years. I remember having this when I was in high school. Farina has been coming to it as long as I can remember and Johnston City has come the last several years," said Benton coach Brett Blondi. According to Blondi, the Rangers will be playing this weekend without any juniors, due to ACT test scheduling. This will mean getting along without starting shortstop and offensive table-setter Derek Oxford.
The Rangers are currently 8-6 and have won three of their last four, including the first two conference games of the year. Coach Blondi has been very impressed with how his boys have been playing lately. Blondi had set some challenges to his team after a disappointing loss in a doubleheader against Hamilton County last weekend, and they answered, looking sharp in some hard-fought conference victories over Herrin and West Frankfort earlier this week.
The FSC Cougars are coached by Curt Jones, and have made the hour-long drive down to play in the RBI tournament for the past several years. Like Benton, Farina won some recent games by very close margins, as they are coming off a 3-2 win over Westminster Christian earlier this week.
While this will be the first time they have seen each other this season, Benton and Johnston City are longtime regional rivals, with the Indians winning their first regional title since 1974 when they took out the Rangers 9-4 in the championship game back in 2014. There are still a few players from that season, including Dillan Chamness and Logan Threlkeld, on the current Ranger team, and any time these two teams match-up, old passions may still be lingering.
JC coach Trevor Clark said of Benton, "It's historically a good program. They're well coached. Those kids do things right. We like playing them because it gives our kids an opportunity, especially our young kids, to really see how the game should be played. That's one reason why we like coming up there."
Clark added that while the Indians current record of 3-4 doesn't look too great on paper, he is still proud of his team considering he's had to rely on a starting lineup that includes four freshman, two sophomores, and only one senior. "You're probably gonna see several freshman and sophomore pitchers out there this weekend," said Clark.
"We've averaged 20 wins over the last five years, and that's obviously pretty good. We've hit a situation now where we're kind of low on numbers.We had four kids who should be returning starters that for various reasons cannot play due to injury or other reasons. The team that we're bringing in this year is way younger and way less experienced than what we've ever brought in. We're competing right now, but our group has just got to get stronger," Clark said.
The Rangers will play their first game of the weekend against Johnston City at 10 a.m., and take on the Cougars at noon. Benton will have its turn against Farina South Central at 2 p.m. in their second and final game of the weekend. All game times are subject to change as dictated by weather and circumstance.
