Update from Petrakis

6:22 p.m. - Congrats to Dubuque - 2011 EIHL champions. Dubuque prevailed 3-2 over the Ramblers in Sunday's championship game.

3:36 p.m. - Dubuque has beaten Farley. The Ramblers are set to take on Dubuque at about 3:45 in the EIHL Championship.

2:08 p.m. - The Ramblers defeated Cascade 3-1 in Sunday's EIHL semifinal game with Ryan Kelly earning the win on the mound. The other semifinal between Dubuque and Farley has just gotten underway. Key West (33-10) will meet the winner of that match up at 4 p.m. today with the EIHL crown on the line. More coverage coming.

Ramblers will try to re-capture magic at Sunday's championships

Saturday afternoon's 15-2 loss at the hands of Bernard was a tough one to swallow for a Key West team that enters Sunday's EIHL championships as the No. 2 seed. The Ramblers will look to quickly forget that drubbing as postseason play gets started on Sunday. The No. 2-seeded Ramblers (32-10) take on No. 3 Cascade at 12 p.m at Petrakis Park.

Ryan Kelly will take the mound for Key West. The right-hander, who has played college ball at Clarke, has been near perfect in his appearances so far. The Ramblers will rely on Kelly to help get them back to the lofty status they enjoyed at the beginning of 2011. Key West won two of the first three semi-pro tournaments (EIHL Preseason and Farley), but have struggled in recent tournaments as the team's pitching depth has been depleted.

The Ramblers 14-1 start set the bar at a near unattainable level, making an 18-9 stretch and no tournament championships since June 18 feel like somewhat of a letdown. But being disappointed about the most successful season in team history makes little sense.

The Ramblers' 32-10 mark in 2011 has set a new team record for victories in a season, also good enough to break the franchise's best single-season win percentage. This year's edition of the Ramblers has also set a new team-high for home runs (18) and has seen Dan Spain (.374 BA), Chris Briggs (.384 BA) and Cory Davidson (.356 BA) post all-league-type seasons at the plate. Throw in the contributions of Tim Carty, Sean O'Connor, Jared Munson, Ben Cottrell, Matt Knabel and company, and you get one of the best teams in the area.

Now that nucleus has its sights on the franchise's first-ever EIHL Championship. Should the Ramblers prevail over Cascade in the semifinals, they will play in the championship on Sunday at approximately 4 p.m. versus the Dubuque/Farley winner.

Ramblers defeat Worthington, prepare for EIHL playoffs

The Key West Ramblers scored three runs in the final three innings to pull away from Worthington and grab a 7-4 road win on Thursday night. The win pushed Key West to 31-9, tying the 2010 Ramblers for the most victories in franchise history.

Cam Stewart made his first career start on the mound, narrowly missing out on his first career victory. Stewart was pulled from the game after facing three batters in the sixth-inning. He left with men on first and second, the latter scoring to tie the game at 4-4 in the sixth.

Key West put up four runs through six innings by way of run-scoring RBI singles by Jared Munson and Cody Leach in the second before Leach's two-run single in the sixth gave the Ramblers a 4-3 lead.

Ryan Kelly notched an RBI single in the seventh, proving to be the game-winner. The Ramblers then added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth, keyed by a Matt Knabel double.

Kelly relieved Stewart in the sixth and pitched 2.2 scoreless innings and earned his second win of the season. Dan Spain pitched the ninth and picked up his second save.

The Ramblers now look forward to Bernard on Saturday at 12 p.m. before the EIHL playoffs get under way on Sunday. Key West earned the No. 2 seed in the league and drew No. 3-seeded Cascade. In the other match-up, No. 1 Dubuque will take on No. 4 Farley. All games will be played at Petrakis Park - homefield of the top-seeded Dubuque Blues.

Key West will battle Cascade at 12 p.m. with Dubuque and Farley set to follow. The two semifinal winners will meet in the championship game at approximately 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Ramblers fall to Dubuque once again

Lack of control from starting pitcher Ben Cottrell and a sloppy defensive effort gave the Ramblers little chance of competing with red-hot Dubuque in Wednesday night's quarterfinal match-up at the Dyersville Tournament. Dubuque beat Key West for the third time in five meetings this season, this time coming by a 9-2 score to advance Dubuque to the semifinals.

Cottrell looked sharp in a 1-2-3 first inning that included strikeouts of Ben Tressel and Aaron Saeugling, but struggled in the bottom of the second. Two of the first three Blues' hitters walked in the inning, leading to both runs after Matt Asche cracked a two-run single for the first runs of the game.

After a Kevin Carkeek RBI single in the third, the Ramblers (30-9) chipped a run off the lead in the fourth when Jared Munson scored Chris Briggs with a single. But Dubuque put up four runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to make it 9-1. Both rallies began with an error on the shortstop. The Blues took advantage and scored six unearned runs to put the game out of reach.

Munson's second run-scoring single, which occurred in the sixth was far too little, too late as Dubuque pitcher Ryan Doty earned another victory. Cottrell went 4.1 innings for Key West, allowing four hits, six walks and three earned runs, along with five strikeouts.

Munson and Briggs both went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles to lead Key West, who will return to action Thursday at 7 p.m. at Worthington.

Ramblers grab win No. 30 at Dyersville Tournament

The Ramblers continued to make themselves at home at Dyersville's Jenk Field on Sunday night as they notched a 4-1 win over Farley in the first round of the Dyersville Tournament and improved to 30-8 on the season.

Few places have been friendlier to Key West this season than Dyersville - the site of the team's EIHL preseason championship back in May. It was May 21 when the Ramblers defeated Farley 7-1 in the championship game and took home the season's first tournament crown.

In a battle of top-area hurlers on Sunday, the Ramblers' Sean O'Connor got the best of Farley's Andy Seabrooke. O'Connor allowed five hits and only one run, while striking out six in a seven-inning complete game. With the victory, O'Connor moved to 9-1 on the season, placing him just one win shy of the team's single-season record (held by both Ben Cottrell and Ned Schauff).

At the plate, the Ramblers managed just four hits on the night, but made all of them count. Key West drew first blood immediately with a pair of runs in the top of the first. Dan Spain's RBI double scored Tanner Denlinger, who led off the game with a walk. Chris Briggs then connected on an RBI double of his own to plate Spain.

Key West added a tally in the third when Cory Davidson stole second and Spain swiped home on the throw to second. The Rambler lead held at 3-0 until Farley got its lone run in the fourth inning.

Denlinger followed that up with a solo shot to lead off the top of the fifth to make it 4-1. It was Denlinger's first career semi-pro home run.

Farley attempted to mount a rally in the bottom of the fifth as it put runners at second and third with only one away. O'Connor struck out Seabrooke before intentionally walking Chris Kerper to load the bases with two outs. Farley's Scott Harris then hit a dribbler in front of the plate. Catcher Matt Knabel pounced and beat the runner from third to the plate to get the force out and end the inning.

The Ramblers now advance to Wednesday's 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal game in Dyersville as they renew their rivalry with Dubuque. The two teams have split the first four games in the season series with three of those contests decided by a single run. Ben Cottrell and Ryan Doty are the expected starting pitchers for Wednesday night's duel.

Carty, Spain go deep in 7-4 win at Rickardsville

Tim Carty got the Ramblers on the board with a first inning solo homer and they never looked back on the way to a 7-4 road win over Rickardsville on Friday night. Dan Spain also popped a home run, giving him his first longball of the season.

Even more impressive was Spain's effort on the mound. He turned in his best pitching peformance of 2011, going seven innings and giving up only two hits and one unearned run. He tallied six strikeouts on the night.

After Carty's first-inning blast, Key West (29-8) continued to tack onto the lead against Rickardsville starter Ryan Mabe. The Ramblers got two in the second inning, highlighted by a Chad Crabill RBI single. Spain's two-run homer in the sixth made the score 5-0. Rickardsville got its first run in the bottom half of the sixth but the Ramblers added two more in the seventh on a two-run Cory Davidson single.

Jared Munson relieved Spain in the eighth inning. Munson's wildness and an error aided Rickardsville's three-run eighth as the scored tightened to 7-4. After the Ramblers failed to score in the ninth, Rickardsville made it interesting by loading the bases with three singles. But Munson coaxed a strikeout and a fly out to end the game and put Key West within two victories of the team record, set back in 2008.

Four Ramblers collected at least two hits in Friday's affair. Ben Cottrell remains the team's hottest hitter as he went 3-for-4. Spain also posted three hits and two RBIs. Carty and Davidson both went 2-for-5. Tim Felderman paced Rickardsville with a 2-for-4 night.

Saturday's scheduled game with East Dubuque was postponed, meaning the Ramblers next game is Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Dyersville Tournament against Farley.

Ramblers split pair of home games

The Ramblers split a pair of EIHL home games in Peosta this week, falling to Cascade 7-4 on Tuesday before rebounding with a 4-1 win over Dyersville on Wednesday. Key West (28-8) got stellar pitching performances from its starters on both nights.

Curt Dixon, making his last start of the season for the Ramblers, went six strong against Cascade and departed with a 2-1 lead. He gave up just five hits and one walk before turning it over to Dan Spain, who threw the last three innings in relief.

Spain would allow six runs but was let down by his defense. Two Key West errors in the seventh helped Cascade put up two unearned runs to take a 3-2 lead. The Ramblers would regain the lead in the bottom of the eighth after a Ben Cottrell RBI single and a passed ball that scored Chris Briggs made it 4-3.

But the Ramblers again struggled defensively in the ninth inning. Regan Tekas led off with a walk and was followed by a Tom Andrews double. Andrews should have been retired earlier in the at-bat, but his foul pop up was dropped and gave him a second life. After back-to-back walks issued by Spain, Nate McQuillen's sacrifice fly gave Cascade a 5-4 lead before the Reds tacked on two more. Pat Weber earned the win in relief for Cascade.

Cottrell continued his hot-hitting, going 3-for-4, making him the only Rambler with two or more hits. Tuesday's loss was the first of the season versus Cascade. Key West is now 3-1 against Cascade.

The Ramblers got back to action Wednesday and defeated Dyersville 4-1 on the strength of a seven-inning, complete game performance by Cottrell on the mound. The right-hander struck out five and gave up six hits and one walk. He improved his mark to 4-1 on the season.

Dyersville led 1-0 after the second inning and held that lead until the bottom of the sixth when the Ramblers got all four of their runs. Tyler Sincock led off with a walk, Spain reached on an error and both moved up after a wild pitch. Jared Munson then came through with a two-run single and was followed by an RBI double by Briggs and a run-scoring single by Matt Knabel.

Briggs and Spain each went 2-for-3 to lead Key West.

The Ramblers now look forward to Friday's 7 p.m. EIHL match up at Rickardsville. Key West lost the only meeting between the two teams this season back on June 21.