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Babe Ruth World Series under way

  • Originally published July 28, 2012 at 1:03 a.m., updated July 28, 2012 at 1:20 a.m.

  • POOL PLAY

  • • 10:30 a.m., Ohio Valley vs. Pacific Northwest

    • 1:30 p.m., Pacific Southwest vs. Mid-Atlantic

    • 4:30 p.m., South Texas vs. Southwest

    • 7:30 p.m., Midwest Plains vs. Tri-County

    • 10:30 a.m., Pacific Northwest vs. New England

    • 1:30 p.m., Mid-Atlantic vs. Southeast

    • 4:30 p.m., ...

  • SHOW ALL »

    • POOL PLAY

    • 10:30 a.m., Ohio Valley vs. Pacific Northwest

    • 1:30 p.m., Pacific Southwest vs. Mid-Atlantic

    • 4:30 p.m., South Texas vs. Southwest

    • 7:30 p.m., Midwest Plains vs. Tri-County

    • 10:30 a.m., Pacific Northwest vs. New England

    • 1:30 p.m., Mid-Atlantic vs. Southeast

    • 4:30 p.m., Ohio Valley vs. South Texas

    • 7:30 p.m., Tri-County vs. Pacific Southwest

WEIMAR - The sun was unbearable and the humidity was stronger than advertised, but that didn't stop opening ceremony from going ahead as planned.

It might have received less fanfare than a similar ceremony in London, but the Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series meant every bit as much to those who took the field Friday evening. A trio of Texas teams were joined by opponents from Washington, upstate New York, Illinois and elsewhere on Strickland Field at Weimar Veterans Park.

Kole Bauer, a 16-year-old shortstop for the Midwest Plains regional champions from Bismark, N.D., found the humidity "pretty tough," but he's having a good time playing baseball and seeing new things.

"It was different," Bauer said, about riding a plane for the first time in his life. "I'm used to riding the bus around and stuff. I've wanted to (go) for forever. I've begged my parents to take me around on trips and stuff, but I'm always in sports all year so I haven't had the chance to go far away like that. It was pretty cool."

Players, like Bauer, as well as coaches and parents said their hosts in Weimar and the surrounding towns were very welcoming. For one night that hospitality extended onto the field.

Onondaga, N.Y. beat Tri-County, the host team, 8-0 Friday night in the opening game of the tournament.

The Mid Atlantic regional champions scored one run in the first inning and rode starting pitcher Ryan O'Kane the rest of the way in its comfortable victory. O'Kane, 17, pitched six shutout innings, allowing just three hits and a walk. At the plate the Le Moyne College signee was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs.

"Coming down here, we knew it was going to be a big game," O'Kane said. "We were playing the host team so we knew there would be a big crowd here. We came into it and we were excited about it."

O'Kane knew his curve ball was working for him in his warm-ups, and he went to it frequently Friday, striking out eight hitters.

Tony Neuendorff, the Tri-Counties manager gave the visitors credit for their aggressiveness-eight of their 10 hits came with two strikes.

"We didn't execute early on," Neuendorff said. "We let them dictate early on. We had a chance in the bottom of the first and we didn't execute. We had a chance to hit behind guys, but that's baseball."

It wasn't the way they wanted to get things started, but the Tri-Counties team has three more chances to make amends.

The tournament begins in full Saturday with four games, the first of which begins at 10:30 a.m. when the Ohio Valley regional champions from Lansing, Ill. play Port Angeles, Wash.

Even if Chris Spearson had to drive 20 hours from northern Illinois to watch his son, Austin, play for the Illinois team he was determined to make the trip.

"It's very exciting," said Spearson, who actively chronicled the scene Friday evening with his camcorder. "We've been to four straight state championships, three trips to the regionals, but this is our first World Series."