Mustangs will face familiar foe in B semifinal

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Kolton Fletcher, shown here sliding into third base, and his Mustang teammates will host Fredonia in the Class B semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday at Vets Park.

Defending champion Medina will face a familiar foe in Thursday evening’s Section VI Class B baseball semifinal as the top seeded Mustangs will host No. 4 Fredonia at 7 p.m. at Vets Park.

It marks the second year in a row that Medina and Fredonia have met in the later rounds of the Section VI playoffs.

Last spring Medina nipped Fredonia 4-3 in the Class B championship game at Grand Island, a memorable contest that was interrupted in the seventh inning by a three hour rain delay.

Trailing 4-2, Medina regained the lead for good in the sea-saw contest by scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth inning as a single by Carter Woodworth drove in the tying run and Richard Keppler followed with a double to plate what proved to be the game winner.

Lighting and monsoon rains then halted play with one out in the top of the seventh. When play resumed three hours later Mustangs relief hurler Preston Woodworth quickly got the deciding last two outs registering a strikeout for the final out.

Medina brings a 19-1 record into Thursday’s semifinal while Fredonia is 12-8.

The Mustangs nipped Niagara-Orleans League rival Roy-Hart 3-2 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

The Hillbillies have advanced with a pair of shutout victories 11-0 over Newfane in the first round and 10-0 over Salamanca in the quarterfinals.

The victor will advance to Saturday’s Class B championship game which is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Frontier High School.