Medina tops Barker to capture N-O baseball championship outright as R-H downs Albion
Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Tyler Kroening slides safely into second base as Barker’s Isaac Monaco awaits the throw. The action took place during the Mustangs title clinching win at Vets Park this afternoon.
Defending champion Medina combined a 15-3 victory over Barker at Vets Park this afternoon with Roy-Hart’s 12-7 win over Albion to lock up outright possession of the Niagara-Orleans League baseball championship.
Medina, which has now captured the N-O title five of the last six seasons, improves to 10-0 in the league (15-1 overall). The Mustangs now hold a three game lead over runner-up Akron (7-3) with just two games remaining on the league schedule.
Breaking away from a scoreless deadlock, Medina scored 4 runs in the third inning on a two-run double by Brody Fry, an RBI triple by Aidan Papaj and a fielders choice play.
Keeping the momentum, the Mustangs upped the advantage to 7-0 with 3 runs in the fourth frame on a sacrifice fly by Fry, a fielders choice play and a bases loaded walk. A walk, a hit batter and a bunt single by Vinny Gray loaded the bases to set up the threat. Fry also had an RBI single in the fifth to up the Medina lead to 8-0.
Barker got on the scoreboard with 3 runs in the top of the sixth on a pair of bases loaded walks and a passed ball.
However, Medina got those back with interest by scoring seven times in the bottom of the sixth highlighted by a three-run double by Preston Woodworth, to close out the run rule contest. Three bases loaded walks and a hit batter accounted for the other runs in the inning.
Vinny Gray had 3 hits on the day and Fry 2 for the Mustangs.
Preston Woodworth earned the win on the mound as he allowed no runs and no hits with 7 strikeouts over the first 5 innings.
Medina next hosts Wilson at 7 p.m. Friday at Vets Park.
Roy-Hart 12, Albion 7
Roy-Hart scored 6 quick runs in the first inning on just one hit to key the 12-7 win at Albion.
A leadoff single by Sean Mettler was the Rams only hit of the big inning as three hit batters, two wild pitches and a bases loaded walk accounted for the tallies.
RBI singles by Evan Poeller and Jared Hy in the fourth inning upped the Roy-Hart lead to 8-2.
Albion did battle back with 5 runs in the home half of the fourth on couple of errors, a fielders choice play and an RBI single by Kaiden Froman to cut the deficit to 8-7 but the Purple Eagles could not pull even. Singles by Andrew Boyce, Elliott Trapiss and Nate Gibson set up the threat.
Roy-Hart answered back with 4 runs in the fifth frame on a two-run single by RJ Townsend, an RBI double by Gavin Heideman and an RBI single by Lincoln Murray to up the lead to 12-7 and lock up the win.
Mettler had a pair of hits on the day for the Rams as did Trapiss and Froman for the Purple Eagles.
The loss drops Albion to 6-3 while Roy-Hart evens its N-O record at 5-5.
Akron 14, Newfane 2
Akron moved into the runner-up spot in the N-O standings at 7-3 with a 14-2 win over Newfane as Ryan Owen, Collin Miller and Jackson Schlabach each had a pair of hits.
N-O Standings
Medina 10-0, Akron 7-3, Albion 6-3, Roy-Hart 5-5, Barker 3-7, Wilson 2-8, Newfane 2-9.
