Medina blanks Akron to tighten N-O diamond race; Albion, Roy-Hart score narrow wins

Medina blanked host Akron 3-0 this afternoon to bunch the Niagara-Orleans League baseball title race into an even tighter four way battle.

Albion downed Barker 5-3 at Genesee Community College and Roy-Hart nipped Newfane 7-6 in the other games.

Those results leave defending champion Roy-Hart at 5-1, Albion and Akron both at 5-2 and Medina at 4-2. Wilson also has only one loss but the Lakemen have completed only three games and are at 2-1.

Trevor Luthart pitched the shutout for Medina scattering 4 hits and striking out 6.

The Mustangs scored once in the first inning on an error and twice in the sixth on a single by Nate Sherman and a double by Brett Riemer.

Interestingly, the win exactly avenged a 3-0 Medina loss to Akron in the N-O season opener.

Medina will next host a key game against Wilson at 7 p.m. Saturday as part of the Jeff Evoy Memorial Scholarship doubleheader.  Wilson will then face another key matchup against Roy-Hart on Monday to first finish a suspended game and then to play the regularly scheduled contest.

Albion 5, Barker 3
Trailing 3-1, Albion took the lead for good by scoring three times in the fifth inning on a double by Liam Ward, a triple by Bryce Prtichard and a sacrifice by Thomas Furmanski. Fumanski also plated the Purple Eagles first run with a double in the opening frame.

Winning pitcher Addison Christ helped himself by driving in an insurance run with a sixth inning single.

On the mound, Christ allowed 3 hits and struck out 4 in six innings of work. Ward hurled the final frame allowing no hits.

Preston Harris had a pair of hits for Barker which slips to 0-8.

Albion next faces Pembroke at 4 p.m. Saturday at Medina’s Vets Park as part of the Jeff Evoy Memorial Scholarship doubleheader.

Roy-Hart 7. Newfane 6
Trailing 4-1, Roy-Hart rallied for five runs in the fourth inning to take the lead for good. Walker Samanka had a two-run single, Al Xapsos and Charlie Bruning RBI singles and Noah Hardy a bunt for an RBI to key that uprising.

The Rams later added what proved to be the winning run in the fifth inning as Ben Schwab tripled and came home on a single by Charlie Brigham.

Newfane closed the gap to 7-6 by scoring once in the seventh. The Panthers still had two runners aboard but Rams relief hurler Charlie Bruning got out of the jam with a strikeout and a line out back to the mound to preserve the narrow win.

Xapsos finished with 3 hits as Schwab and Samanka both had 2.