St. Louis Bandits earn trip to the NABF College World Series after winning the St. Louis Metro Collegiate Baseball League playoffs vs. the Kats
Team Manager Rick Fiala, Coaches Scott Brown and Rob Simpson and the Metro Bandits head to Toledo to defend the NATIONAL TITLE won by the St. Louis Metro Dodgers in 2015.
The Bandits won the 2016 Metro Collegiate Championship best of 5 series 3 games to 2 vs the Metro Kats. Game 5 was everything a 5th game should be. Solid pitching, great defense and timely hitting. The score was 4-3 Bandits heading into the bottom of the 9th inning. The “Baseball Gods” were certainly doing their thing as it took some outstanding defense for the Bandits to pull off the victory. With one out in the bottom of the 9th, the Kats’ batter hit a hard line shot that took Bandits shortstop, Michael Wielansky deep into the hole. He made a terrific back handed play, righted himself and threw a strike to Neil Fischer playing first base. The excitement wasn’t over; with 2 away and no one on base, League MVP, Cody Klotz came to the plate. Everyone in the park knew what was on Cody’s mind. As it played out, Cody just missed his pitch but still drove the ball to the wall for the final out of the Series.
The Kats won the League Championship and entered the post season tourney as the #1 seed. The Bandits were the #2 seed.
The St. Louis Metro Collegiate League is the only collegiate program from Missouri participating in the NABF College Division World Series.
Play begins in Toledo on July 28th.
