Purple Eagles edge past Raiders

Moving back above the .500 mark at 3-2, Albion trimmed host Barker 5-3 this afternoon in a Niagara-Orleans League baseball game.

Brady Meakin spearheaded the Albion offense with three hits, including a double and triple, as JJ Downs chipped in with 2 hits.

Evan Pappalardo, who had a no hitter going into the sixth inning, went the distance on the mound for Albion giving up only 2 hits with 12 strikeouts.

Albion scored two quick runs in the first inning on a double by Meakin and a fielders choice play off the bat of Aaron Burnside. A single by Downs ignited that uprising.

The Purple Eagles upped the advantage to 4-0 by scoring once in the second on a single by Randy Eblacker and once in the third on a triple by Meakin and sacrifice fly by Burnside.

Barker though rallied for three runs in the bottom of the third without the benefit of a hit to cut the deficit to 4-3 but the Raiders could not pull even.

Albion added an insurance run in the seventh on a single by Meakin and an error.

The loss drops Barker to 2-4.

In the other two completed N-O games, Newfane (4-1) nipped CSAT (1-2) 2-1 on a sixth inning fielders choice play off there bat of Nick O’Lay and Akron (3-2) defeated Wilson (0-5) 14-3. Will Newton also had 3 hits for Newfane and Derek Srock registered 3 strikeouts over the last two innings to earn the win in relief.