Storm players to play at Busch Stadium

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MANLIUS — Four members of the Bureau Valley Storm baseball team have played underneath the wind turbine at Bureau Valley High School. On Sunday, they will play underneath the Gateway Arch at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

John King, Ryan Hix, Michael Weidner and PJ Baker are playing for the Henry County Post 31 American Legion teams — King with the Henry Seniors and Hix, Weidner and Baker for the junior team.

On Sunday, the two Post 31 squads will combine to take on the Downs American Legion at Busch Stadium following the regular field’s residents, the St. Louis Cardinals’ game with the San Diego Padres that day.

King is a big Cubs fan, but he won’t mind running with the Redbirds on Sunday.

“Not at all. I’ll get to play on a major league field. There’s nothing cooler than that. It’s going to be awesome,” said King, who will also take in Saturday’s Cardinals-Padres game.

Being a Cubs fan, King said “it’d be nice to see if (the Cardinals) lose.”

To earn the right to play at Busch Stadium, Post 31’s general manager Ray Bergles said both the Henry and Downs legions had to sell 880 tickets for the Cardinals-Padres games. The Cardinals gave them a discount on the tickets, most of which are $34.50 face value, selling for $27.50 each.

As an incentive, Bergles said the top four individual player/sellers get to go on the field for batting practice before the Cardinals game and bring an item for players to autograph.

The Legion teams will play ball about a half hour after the big boys leave the field. They will play seven innings or two hours, which ever is shorter.

The Henry Legion has about 75 tickets left to sell, Bergles said. They are available by calling (309) 236-2149.

Bergles, who is married to Wyanet native Doris Danielson, was head boys’ basketball coach at Tri-Valley High School in Downs for five years.

• King, the 2008 BCR Player of the Year, had two hits in the seventh inning as Henry Seniors rallied for a 11-9 win over Streator on Sunday. Bergles said the game ended as Adam Haviland made a diving, game-saving catch with the bases loaded. King also dived for the ball, but avoided a collision with Haviland.

“We were afraid they would collide and have next year’s Geneseo and BVHS quarterbacks both hurt,” he said.

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