Medina 17U splits twin bill to advance to Cheektowaga Tournament semifinals

The Medina Mustangs 17U baseball team earned a split of a doubleheader this afternoon to stay in contention for the title at the Cheektowaga Tournament.

Rebounding from a narrow 9-8 loss to the Knights, Medina earned the split by scoring in every inning for a 13-3 victory over the Lugnuts.

Medina is now 2-1 for the tournament which will continue at 12:30 p.m. Sunday as the No . 1 seeded Mustangs will play in the semifinals.

Knights 9, Medina  8
Trailing 8-6, the Knights pushed across three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on two singles, a double and a balk to nip Medina 9-8.

Down 6-2, Medina had rallied into what proved to be a brief 7-6 lead by scoring 5 times in the top of the sixth on RBI singles by JJ Prynn, Cam Noonan and Brady Christiaansen along with a bases loaded walk by Kolton Fletcher and an error. A walk and singles by Carter Woodworth and Gavin Heideman loaded the bases to set up the opportunity.

Earlier, Medina took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning on an RBI single by Woodworth and a steal of home by Colton Smith who had reached on a single.

However, the Knights answered with 3 runs in the home half of the third and 2 more in the fourth to take a 6-2 lead and the sea-saw battle was on.

Medina did cut the deficit to 9-8 with a run in the top of the seventh on an RBI sacrifice fly be Heideman but could not pull even.

Smith, Woodworth and Heideman each finished with a pair of hits.

Defensively, Medina turned a pair of double plays the first from Vinny Gray at shortstop to Heideman at first in the fourth inning and the second from Fletcher in right field to Christiaansen at catcher in the sixth.

Medina 13, Lugnuts 3
Leading by a narrow 2-1 margin, Medina erupted for 4 runs in the third inning and 5 more in the fourth to key the 13-3 win over the Lugnuts.

Heideman had a two-run double, Christiaansen an RBI single and Prynn an RBI sacrifice fly in the third inning. A single by Gray and a hit batter set up the threat.

Noonan then had a two-run single, Prynn an RBI single, Fletcher an RBI sacrifice bunt and Gray an RBI on a ground out in the fourth.

Noonan also had a two-run single in the first inning and Gray an RBI double in the fifth.

Noonan and Gray both finished with 3 hits.

Heideman and Noonan shared the pitching duties combining for a 1 hitter with 8 strikeouts.