Ramblers slated to play Rickardsville in Worthington first round

Key West will begin its defense of the 2012 Worthington Tournament championship when the 2013 event gets started later this month. The Ramblers will take on Rickardsville on Sunday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the 65th annual tournament's first round. (Full bracket below)

In last season's Worthington Tournament, Key West defeated Balltown (1-0), Rickardsville (4-2), Dubuque (5-0) and Peosta (10-5) to capture the Worthington title for the first time in team history. Andrew Redman tossed two shutouts to earn the tournament's Outstanding Pitcher award.

Dubuque ousts Key West in Bellevue

Dubuque got the best of Key West on Saturday evening in the first round of the Bellevue Tournament in the first of many meetings this season between the two titans of area semi-pro baseball. The Blues used the long ball to blow open a comfortable margin in the third inning on the way to a 7-1 victory. Dubuque has now won seven of the last 10 games against the Ramblers, who fell to 3-4 on the season.

Blues' shortstop Andy Danna cracked a three-run homer with one out in the third inning off of Key West starter Spencer Kuehn to boost their advantage to 5-0. Aaron Saeugling then belted a solo shot off Kuehn in the fourth to make it 6-0, providing more than enough support for Dubuque starting pitcher Mark Hennessey.

Kuehn was lifted for reliever Aaron Collins after four innings of work. Kuehn struck out six and allowed four earned runs on six hits and three walks. Collins fanned four Blues' hitters in his two innings on the mound.

The Ramblers got their lone run in the sixth inning when first baseman Chris Briggs plated shortstop Jayson Hinrichsen with a sacrifice fly. Briggs leads the team with seven RBIs on the season.

Hinrichsen went 2-for-2 with a double and a walk in his Key West debut. The Ramblers have now used 23 different position players already this season, while Kuehn became the sixth different player to start on the mound for Key West in 2013.

Dubuque got on top in the first inning with a pair of unearned runs, continuing an early-season theme. Rambler pitchers sport a solid 3.05 staff ERA, but they have suffered from a leaky defense that has allowed 13 unearned runs through the season's first seven games.

Key West will get two more shots at the Blues in the upcoming week. The two clubs will meet on Tuesday (7 p.m.) in a EIHL game in Peosta. They will then face off in another first-round tournament matchup on Saturday (7:30 p.m.) at the Farley Tournament.

Farley Tournament matches Key West with Dubuque

As the top dogs on the Eastern Iowa semi-pro circuit, Key West and Dubuque are all too familiar with meeting up in the first round of town tournaments. The two teams will battle once again when they begin play in the Farley Tournament on June 8. First pitch is slated for 7:30 p.m. (Full bracket below)

Dubuque defeated Key West 7-1 in the first round of the Bellevue Tournament on Saturday evening. Out of the seven town tournaments the Ramblers participated in last season, they were pitted against the Blues in the first round of three of those brackets. Key West went 3-6 against Dubuque in 2012.

Bellevue Tournament first round postponed until Saturday

Inclement weather has pushed the Bellevue Tournament first round back once again. The Ramblers are now scheduled to play Saturday (June 1) versus Dubuque at 5 p.m. The winner will then play again on Saturday night in the next round of the bracket.

The original tournament bracket had Key West pegged to play in Bellevue on May 26, but heavy rainfall in Eastern Iowa has wrecked havoc on the area semi-pro baseball schedule. The Ramblers have not played since May 21.

Tue/Wed/Thu games postponed; Bellevue Tourney moved to Friday

Updated: 8:56 p.m.

Key West's first game with Dubuque at the Bellevue Tournament has been pushed back again. The Ramblers will play the Blues at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. This is the only scheduled game this week due to postponements of games originally scheduled on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Tuesday and Wednesday road league games have been postponed due to rain. The fields at both Farley and Dyersville have been deemed unplayable. In addition, Thursday's scheduled home game with Balltown has been postponed.

Schedule update

Heavy rainfall over the last several days continues to push back the Bellevue Tournament. The Ramblers are now scheduled to play in the first round in Bellevue on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Dubuque. Key West has not played since beating Rickardsville 10-8 on May 21.

With the postponement of the Bellevue Tournament, the Ramblers' scheduled EIHL game with Farley on Tuesday night is back on. The infield at Farley Park is covered by a tarp, meaning the game will be played if the weather clears.

This week's schedule:
Tuesday: at Farley, 7 p.m.
Wednesday: at Dyersville, 7 p.m.
Thursday: vs. Dubuque (at Bellevue Tournament), 7 p.m.

Ramblers top Rickardsville in high-scoring affair

Key West took advantage of a sloppy Rickardsville defensive effort and piled up double-digit runs for a second-straight game on the way to a 10-8 victory on Tuesday. The Ramblers improved to 3-3 overall and avenged their 3-2 loss to Rickardsville over the weekend.

Key West struck for four first-inning runs on the benefit of only two hits. Four Rickardsville errors in the frame staked Rambler starting pitcher Zane Ridings to a 4-1 lead at the end of the first.

Ridings, who allowed an unearned run in the first, pitched scoreless frames in the second, third and fourth until tiring in the middle innings. He went six innings, surrendering five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks, as he moved to 2-0 in his first season with Key West.

The Ramblers led 8-5 when Ridings was pulled after six. First baseman Chris Briggs added a two-run triple in the fourth to provide a 7-1 cushion at the time. With the lead cut to 8-6, Key West tallied two more runs in the eighth thanks to back-to-back doubles from Matt Knabel and Luis Reyes.

Rickardsville threatened with two runs in the ninth off of reliever Brian McCabe. Dan Spain came in with one out and finally shut the door with the bases loaded.

Jose Stelluti (2-for-4), Briggs (2-for-5) and Tanner Denlinger (2-for-5) each notched two hits for Key West.

The Ramblers return to action on Wednesday when they take on East Dubuque in a Prairie League game at 7 p.m.