Barre, Rotary win Midget playoff openers

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Barre’s Jacob Neal slides into third base during Tuesday’s playoff win over Vets. Defending for Vets are Payton Robinson and Logan Stoick.

The Barre Cubs defeated the visiting Vets 18 to 7 and Rotary trimmed St. Mary’s 4-2 Tuesday to open the first round of the playoffs in 12u Albion Midget League action.

Barre 18 Vets 7
A big 11 run first inning proved to be key for Barre.  A grand slam home run by Jason Conn and a three- run homer by Josh Bovenzi highlighted the inning that also included doubles by Nathan Gibson and Nick Harling and singles by Owen Bentley, Lucas Martin and Conn.

Bentley, Harling and Martin added singles in the second inning and Jacob Neal cleared the bases with a triple.

Conn, Bovenzi and Bentley finished the night with 3 hits each, as Gibson, Harling and Martin finished with 2 each.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Jacob Edwards was the winning pitcher on Tuesday, striking out 11 for the Rotary-Lions.

John Bianchi lead the way for Vets with 2 hits.  Bryer Dysard, Hunter Lonnen, Brandon Nashburn, Brody Vercruysse and Peyton Robinson also all had hits.

Barre will visit Carlton in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Rotary-Lions 4 St. Mary’s 2
The low-scoring game featured strong pitching from starters Jacob Edwards for Rotary-Lions and Nick Radder for St. Mary’s. Edwards struck out 11 in working into the fifth inning. Xavier Byrd came on to get the final outs for Rotary-Lions.

Radder, Blake Preston and Jack Kinter combined to strike out 16 batters for St. Mary’s.

Kaiden Froman had 3 hits for Rotary-Lions, including a triple. Leah Pawlak singled and scored and Edwards also had two hits, including a double.

Xavier Penafiel had the lone hit for St. Mary’s, with Aaron Sugar and Isaac Sugar scoring the team’s runs.

Rotary next visits Sandstone in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday.