Woltkamp stars in early going for Ramblers

It's been somewhat of an up-and-down run for the Key West Ramblers, who are coming off a 49-7 banner 2016 season. After a 1-2 start to 2017, Key West rattled off four victories in a row and advanced to the semifinals of the Bellevue Tournament. The Ramblers settled for a third-place finish, defeating Holy Cross, 9-1, in the consolation game. Key West now stands at 8-5 overall (3-1 EIHL, 2-2 PL).

Nick Woltkamp has been a force at the plate and on the mound. After batting .350 and logging a team record 122.2 innings in 2016, Woltkamp is hitting .421 with 10 extra base hits (including five triples) while appearing in all 13 games so far in 2017. He's made eight appearances on the mound, covering 30.2 innings with a 3.23 ERA and 3-1 record.

The team's best pitching performance to this point belongs to Andrew Redman, who fired a seven-inning, one-hit shutout and faced just one hitter over the minimum in the 2-0 win over Rickardsville at the Bellevue Tournament. Redman struck out seven hitters without surrendering a single walk. Redman entered the season with a career 1.66 ERA since he first put on a Rambler uniform in 2007.

A slow starter in recent years, first baseman Chris Briggs is off to a red hot start. He's gone 11-for-24 (.458) over nine games played. In Thursday's (June 8) come-from-behind win at Dyersville, Briggs went 3-for-4 with a clutch two-run homer in the seventh and final inning. Working in relief, Woltkamp protected a 9-8 lead by working around a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh.

Other players that have gotten off to strong starts are Anthony Razo (.400 BA, HR, 10 RBI, 1.190 OPS), Ben Oglesby (.371 BA, .463 OBP, 7 steals) and Redman (.364 BA, HR, 9 RBI, 1.075 OPS). Both Brett LaMere and Woltkamp have played in all 13 games. Oglesby has played in 12.

Despite being no-hit twice this season, Key West is batting .298 with a .403 on-base percentage as a team. The Ramblers have outscored their opponents by a combined total of 84-43. Their pitching staff owns a solid 3.38 ERA though it would like to decrease its walk rate (4.9 free passes per nine innings).

Key West will have another shot at claiming its first tournament championship of 2017 when the Farley Tournament gets underway on Saturday (June 10). The Ramblers have drawn Cascade in a matchup set for a 5:30 p.m. first pitch. John Knabel has led Key West to three Farley Tournament titles (2011, 2014, 2016), including two of the last three.

View tournament brackets:
-Farley
-Worthington
-Cascade