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Blazers Grab Tourney Victory
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Winning five games out of five at the Firecracker Classic in Reno, Nevada, the Tri-Valley Blazers baseball team came home with the championship trophy from the 20-team event.

Strong pitching performances and timely, powerful hitting lifted the Blazers past all the competition.

For the tournament, the Blazers put 49 runs on the board and had 58 hits, combining for a team batting average of .374. Among the hits, 13 went for extra bases, including five homers and eight doubles.

Escalon players on the team include Peter Krumeich, Brian Lynn, Jesse Miguel and K.J.Vandagriff.

Outfielder Vandagriff was one of the hitting stars for the Blazers in the Fourth of July tournament, his efforts including three RBIs and a home run in the opening game win, an 11-6 victory over the Sparks Bombers. He also had two hits, two RBI singles in a 9-4 win over El Molino and had a two-run double in an easy 11-1 victory over El Dorado.

Earlier action this summer saw the team fall just short of the championship in the Father's Day Classic in Sacramento, losing a 4-3 contest in the semifinals. Prior to the loss, the team had ripped off three wins in a row, topping the Walnut Creek Patriots, Shingle Springs and the Whittier Devils.

Vandagriff had a double in the win over Walnut Creek and a sac fly against Shingle Springs. Lynn had two hits in the game vs. Shingle Springs and Krumeich recorded the last six outs in relief on the mound without allowing a runner to reach base.

Krumeich stepped up offensively in the win over Whittier, notching a two-run double and also scoring after reaching base with a single.

In the semifinal against the Orinda 925s, the Blazers lost a 4-3 decision in eight innings, the final inning played under the International Tiebreaker rules. Krumeich, who had pitched three-and-two-thirds innings of hitless relief, took the hard luck loss on an error that allowed the winning run to score.

Vandagriff had a two-run double in the game to help the Blazers' effort.

Among the Escalon players for the Tri-Valley Blazers, Miguel is hitting .500, Lynn checks in at .316, Krumeich at .304 and Vandagriff at .294. Krumeich has driven in six runs, Vandagriff has notched 10 RBIs.

On the mound, Krumeich has pitched 10 1/3 innings, facing 42 batters. He has allowed eight hits and walked three while striking out 10 and given up four earned runs, compiling a 2.71 earned run average.