Mustangs have had good success at Regional

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 2 June 2022 at 9:48 am

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Joe Rosenbeck hurled Medina past Sodus in the Far West Regional at Dwyer Stadium in Batavia in 2003 in Medina’s first ever appearance in the state playoffs.

Saturday Section VI champion Medina will begin state playoff competition when the Mustangs take on the Section V champion (either Palmyra Macedon or Bath Haverlng) in the Class B Far West Regional at 2 p.m. at Monroe Community College.

The victor will advance to the state Class B semifinals on June 10 at Binghamton.

This will be Medina’s third trip to the state playoffs. The Mustangs are 2-0 in previous Far West Regional appearances having defeated Sodus 4-0 in 2003 at Batavia’s Dwyer Stadium and LeRoy 10-2 in 2019 at Lockport.

In the win over Sodus, Joe Rosenbeck hurled a 1 hit shutout with 9 strikeouts and the Mustangs scored three times in the fourth inning on two fielders choice plays and an RBI single by Matt Heiligenthaler.

In the more recent victory over LeRoy, Medina broke the game open with two big back-to-back scoring innings. The Mustangs scored four in the third inning on two-run singles by both AJ Seefeldt and winning pitcher Trevor Luthart and five in the fourth as Chris Goyette had a two-run single and Seefeldt and Zach Fike boh added RBI singles.

Interestingly, in all four players on the roster from that 2019 squad are starters on this year’s team including Fike, Xander Payne, Joe Cecchini and Aidan Paul.

The Mustangs will find out this evening who their Saturday opponent will be as Pal-Mac and Bath are scheduled to play for the Section V Class B title at 5 p.m. after being rained out Wednesday. Pal-Mac, which captured the Section V Class B1 title is 22-0 on the season and Bath, which is the B-2 champion, is 19-2.

Zach Fike, at left, takes a throw for an out at first base and Joe Cecchini makes a catch in the outfield for Medina during the Mustangs 2019 Far West Regional win over LeRoy at Lockport. The duo join Xander Payne and Aidan Paul who were all on the 2019 squad’s roster and are now starters for this season’s team which is headed back to the state playoffs.