Contributed Photo –  The patience the Miami Marlins have shown with lefty Julio Frias is paying off. He threw six strong innings Thursday and left with his team ahead, 3-1. The Muckdogs fell, 4-3. 

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The race for first-place in the Pinckey Division of the New York-Penn League got interesting on Thursday night as West Virginia scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to down the Batavia Muckdogs, 4-3.

Batavia is now in first place at 24-16 and West Virginia is 21-17, taking 2-of-3 from the Muckdogs.

Batavia returns home for three games Friday, Saturday and Sunday against Williamsport.

A bright spot for the Muckdogs was the pitching of Julio Frias, who pitched six strong innings, striking out six, five of them in the first three innings.he gave up four hits, one run and walked two.

Frias, 21, was signed out of Boca Chica, Dominican Republic by the Miami Marlins. The Marlins were patient with the young 6-foot-2 lefty, giving him two years with the Dominican Summer League Marlins and two years with the Gulf Coast League Marlins.

During that time, Frias, who started his career at 16, went 3-15 with an ERA close to five.

However, this season with Batavia, Frias is 3-1 with a 1.73 ERA and he has struck out 50 in 41.2 innings with 12 walks and 25 hits.

Batavia took a 1-0 lead in the second when Milton Smith II scored on a mild pitch with two outs, then West Virginia tied the game at 1-1 in the third.

In the top of the fifth, Nic Ready, crushed his 21st double of the season to left scoring J.D. Orr then Smith II then singled to left scoring Ready for a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, a sacrifice fly tied the game and a single by Nick Patten to score Matthew Fraizer won the game for West Virginia.

Orr forced two balks of West Virginia pitchers while he was on the bases with his unique leading style. He had the hit and walked three times and it now hitting .375 on the season. he also stole his 20th base of the season

Smith II had two hits a RBI (his 15th) and a run. Ready’s RBI was his 23rd on the season.

Andrew Turner had two hits for the Muckdogs while Dalvy Roasario and Jack Strunc also had hits.

M.D. Johnson had his fourth hold on the season, going 0.2 innings and Geremy Galindez had his first hold pitching 1.1 innings of perfect baseball with one strickout. Evan Brabrand took the loss, he is now 2-1 on the season.

Holley bested visiting Bloomfield 5-1 Wednesday evening to capture the Rochester District Youth Soccer League boys U17 Division championship.

Holley finishes the division season at 7-1-4 (25 points) just ahead of Scottsville at 6-2-4 (22 points).

Interestingly, Bloomfield also helped Holley’s bid to claim the division title by defeating Scottsville 4-1 in Scottsville’s season finale.

Kohl Morgan scored 3 goals to lead the Holley attack as J.J. Strathearn and Nate Nothnagle each chipped in with 1. Morgan finished the season as the division’s leading goal scorer.

Holley’s first year goalie Ethan Waldron, who anchored the defense, led the division with the least amount of goals scored on him.

The Lady Rams played to a 1-1 tie with host East Aurora Wednesday in a Buffalo and Western New York Junior Soccer League girls U17 Division game.

The Lady Rams took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal by Brooke Livergood but Aurora answered with a tally in the final 10 minutes of the second half to gain the tie.

Now at 3-2-3, the Lady Rams next host Holland at 6:45 on July 31 at Gasport.

Contributed Photo – Brendan Luthart

Medina High graduate Brendan Luthart is one of 17  members of the St. Bonaventure men’s lacrosse team who have earned spots on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll.

To be eligible for the MAAC Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher on a 4.0 scale.

As a team, the Bonnies posted a 3.11 cumulative GPA for their first season under head coach Randy Mearns.

Luthart was a freshman forward on the St. Bona squad this past season which was the team’s first in NCAA Division 1 competition. He garnered his first collegiate point by earning an assist in the game against Hobart.

During his scholastic career at Medina, Luthart scored over 100 goals and earned Brine All America as well as All-League and All-Section honors.

Luthart is majoring n Physical Education.

Contributed Photo – Milton Smith II gives a high-five to Troy Johnston (27), who hit his second home run of the season for the Batavia Muckdogs on Wednesday night. Johnston had two hits in the loss for the first-place Muckdogs.

MORGANTOWN, W. VA. – Nic Ready hit two home runs in a Muckdogs win on Tuesday, and two home runs were not enough on Wednesday for Batavia as they fell to the West Virginia Black Bears, 8-2.

Troy Johnston belted his second home run of the season for Batavia and shortstop Dalvy Rosario hit his first of the season. Both were solo shots. Johnston, a 17th round pick of the Miami Marlins this year out of Gonzaga had two hits.

Eli Villalobos took the loss for Batavia, throwing the first 2.2 innings, giving up three runs and he struck out four.

Brock Love and Joey Steele once again had strong outings in relief for the Muckdogs and both have an ERA of 0.00 on the season.

Love, a 34th round pick of Miami this year from Alabama, went 1.1 innings of perfect baseball and struck out one.

Steele, a 30th round pick this year by there Marlins out of the University of San Francisco, tossed the eighth and struck out two without giving up a walk or a run.

Jackson Rose, a 2018 draft pick, threw three innings and struck out six without allowing a walk.

Batavia is now  24-15 and three games up on second place West Virginia (20-17) in the NYPL Pinckney Division. Third place State College also lost, and dropped to 19-20 with Mahoning Valley jumping ahead at 20-19. The Muckdogs are back in a battle with Lowell (23-13) for the best overall record in the league.

Batavia playsthis evening at West Virginia and returns toDwyer Stadium in Batavia Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Friday when the Muckdogs host Williamsport.

Dave Fischer had the first hole in one at the Par Me golf course on Brown Road in Albion in league play on Wednesday.

Fischer used a  pitching wedge to ace  hole 8, 125 yards, for his first hole in one.

The feat witnessed by Mike Dillon, Kermit Bradley, and Gordie Watt,

Improving to 10-0, The Albion 15 U team romped past Chili 17-4 Tuesday in a Brockport Pony League baseball game.

The win was ignited  by a 3 run triple by Kyle Sidari in the second inning.  Albion went on to score 3 more in that inning to go up 8-1.

In the fourth inning, Pom Siebert started off the offense with a single followed by a double from Jacob Hughson and a home run from Zach Colechecci to put Albion up 14-1.

Chili then started to  battle back scoring 3 in the fourth but Albion had strong defensive plays at the plate by Caden Uderitz, catcher, tagging out 2 in that inning.

Hughson finished the day with 2 hits and Colechecci 3 including a bases clearing triple in the 7th.

Barker 1 completed the round robin portion of the Barker 7 on 7 Summer Field Hockey League season with a 5-0-1 after defeating Roy-Hart 8-0 and Medina 5-3 on Monday.

Barker 2 downed Roy-Hart 8-1 in the other game.

Ginger Alexander scored 3 goals and Mia Herman 2 for Barker 1 in the win over Roy-Hart as Sophia Gerhardt, Kaedynce Schumacher and Ella Gooding each had 1.

Alexander also netted 3 goals in the win over Medina as Herman and Ella Fox both added 1.

Abby Blount scored 2 goals and Mary Flores 1 for Medina which finishes the regular season in second place at 3-2-1.

Barker 1 led 3-2 at halftime.

Natalie Bruning scored 3 goals, Brianna Bachman and Madelina Pavlock 2 and Rachel Hurtgam 1 for Barker 2 in the win over Roy-Hart whose goal was scored by Cheyenne Stillwell. Barker 2 finishes at 3-3 and R-H at 0-6.

Blount leads the league in scoring with 12 goals while Stillwell has 7 and Alexander, Braelin Taylor (Medina), Flores and Bruning 6 and Bachman and Madilyn Detscher (Barker 2) 5.

The playoffs will be held next Monday.  The semifinal match ups will have Roy-Hart vs. Barker 1 at 5 p.m. and Barker 2 vs. Medina at 6 p.m. The two semi winners will then meet in the championship game at 7:15 p.m.

MORGANTOWN, W. VA. – Nic Ready blasted his first Batavia Muckdog home run of the season Monday, then jumped on a bus after the game to play the West Virginia Black Bears Tuesday night.

He had a chance to stretch his legs, this time rounding the bases again.

With Batavia trailing 1-0 in the third, Ready, the NCAA Home Run Derby champion as a senior at Air Force Academy, blasted a two-out, 3-run home run.

As West Virginia (wearing their special Moonshiners uniforms) closed the lead to 5-2, Ready crushed another home run. That was it as Batavia cruised to an 8-3 victory.

For the game, Ready increased his average to .305 by going 3-for-5 and had a RBI double as well as he drove in six runs on the game.

Batavia catcher Andres Stormes also hit a home run, a solo shot as he went 2-for-3 with two runs.

Milton Smith II had a hit and a run and stole his 10th base of the season.

J.D. Orr, who jumped to the top spot in the NYPL average race with a .378 average, went 2-for-3 with two runs and two walks. Putting him on base means a steal, and Orr stole two bases and has 19 on the season.

Dalvy Rosario scored once and stole two bases, giving him nine on the season.

The win was big for Batavia, as the Muckdogs are 24-14 and gained a full game (up 4.0) on second place West Virginia (19-17) in the NYPL Pinckney Division. Third place State College also lost, and dropped to 19-19 with Mahoning Valley. The Muckdogs are back in a battle with Lowell (23-12) for the best overall record in the league.

On the mound, lefty Andrew Miller won his second straight to improve to 2-3 on the season. he went five strong innings with two strikeouts and did not walk a batter. Bryan Hoeing had his first career hold, going three innings and striking out two without allowing a walk. Josh Simpson, another lefty on manager Tom Lawless’ roster, pitched the ninth and struck out the final batter of the game.

Batavia has two more game in West Virginia, Wednesday and Thursday at 6:35 p.m. The team returns to  Dwyer Stadium in Batavia for games Friday, Saturday and Sunday.