Medina wins to complete County League 12U Division regular season title campaign
Medina put the finishing touch on outright possession of the regular season title by downing visiting Carlton 16-5 Thursday evening in the Orleans County Short Season Baseball League 12U Division regular season finale.
Medina finishes the regular season at 9-1 and will be the No. 1 seed for the playoffs on September 12.
In the other regular season ending games, Elba downed Rotary 6-2 and St. Mary’s/Barre nipped Sandstone 3-2.
Ironically, the semifinal round of the playoffs will be a rematch of the regular season finales with No. 1 Medina vs. No. 4 Carlton at 1 p.m. and No. 2 Rotary vs. No. 3 Elba at 10 a.m.. The final will be at 4 p.m. all at the Midget League Field.
Carlton did jump out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning on a leadoff triple by Noah Kowalski, a run producing double by Gavin Boyce and RBI singles by Caidyn Wilson and Colin Macllin.
However, Medina quickly rebounded to take the lead for good at 5-3 by scoring twice in the home half of the first and three times in the second.
The first inning tallies came home on a double by Joe Reese, a single by Aleks Seefeldt and a fielders choice play while the second inning runs crossed the plate on a double by Lathan McEwen-Miller, a triple by Tyler Raduns and a single by Nick Wetherbee.
Medina then broke the game wide open with five run scoring bursts in both the third and fourth innings. A two-run triple by Ryan Pegelow and an RBI single by Thomas Miesch highlighted the third inning uprising while Hadrian Batista had a grand slam home run and Seefeldt an RBI single in the fourth.
Splitting the time on the mound, Pegelow registered 8 strikeouts and Carlos Doval 7.
Drew Boyce had a two-run homer for Carlton in the fifth inning.
Elba scored all six of its runs in the first inning on a rash of walks and an error to key the win over Rotary.
Kaiden Froman had a triple for Rotary.
St. Mary’s/Barre nipped Sandstone on an RBI double by Mason Snook in the second inning to snap a 2-2 tie.
St. Mary’s/Barre’s other runs came in the first inning on a two-run home run by Nate Gibson.
Sandstone tied the game on a triple by Drew Pritchard and a single by Jonah Elsenheimer.
Charlie Ward registered 8 strikeouts in four innings of relief work on the mound for St. Mary’s/Barre while Omer Fugate went the distance for Sandstone notching 10 strikeouts.
Final Standings: Medina 9-1, Rotary 7-3, Elba 5-5, Carlton 3-7, St. Mary’s/Barre 3-7, Sandstone 3-7.
September 12 Playoffs – Semifinals: Elba vs. Rotary, 10 a.m.; Carlton vs. Medina, 1 p.m.; Finals, 4 p.m. All games at the Midget League Field.