Roy-Hart bests Albion to lockup third straight N-O League baseball championship

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Gavyn Boyle steals second base beating the tag by Albion’s Addison Christ. The action took place during the Rams title clinching win over the visiting Purple Eagles this afternoon.

Putting a firm lock on a third straight league championship, Roy-Hart bested visiting Albion 8-3 this afternoon in a key Niagara-Orleans baseball game.

The victory boosts Roy-Hart’s N-O record to 10-1 with one game remaining, against runner-up Medina (7-3) on Monday. The loss drops Albion to 7-4.

Roy-Hart jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning without the benefit of a hit as the Rams capitalized on 4 walks, a hit batter and a passed ball.

Albion cut the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Isaiah Callicutt but the Purple Eagles would get no closer.

Roy-Hart shortstop Al Xapsos looks to turn a double play as Albion’s Vinnie Zona runs to second.

Roy-Hart got that one right back with interest by tallying twice in the home half of the fourth on an error to regain a 4-1 advantage. A single by Noah Hardy and a walk set up that threat.

Albion picked up a run in the fifth on a double steal play to cut the deficit to 4-2. A single by Callicutt and a walk set up that opportunity.

Roy-Hart later picked up four big insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 8-2 as a two-run single by winning pitcher Charlie Bruning and an RBI sacrifice fly by Gavyn Boyle highlighted the key uprising.

Albion though did make the finish interesting. The Purple Eagles quickly loaded the bases to open the seventh inning on consecutive singles by Callicutt, Vinnie Zona and Austin Dugan. Liam Ward followed up with an RBI single keeping the bases loaded.

However, Walker Samanka, who came on in relief in the sixth inning, got out of the bases loaded jam without further damage on two clutch strikeouts and a fly out to right field to lock up the Rams title quest.

Charlie Bruning picked up the win on the mound allowing 2 hits with 7 strikeouts and 8 walks in five and two-thirds innings of work. Samanaka allowed 4 hits and struck out 3 over the final inning and one-third.

Both defenses came up big early as Roy-Hart turned double plays in both the first and third innings. Charlie Brigham, Al Xapsos and Ben Schwab combined to turn the first and Xapsos teamed up with Schwab for the second. Albion had a double play in the second inning from Thomas Furmanski to Bryce Pritchard to Vinnie Zona which ended the frame by getting Roy-Hart’s lead runner out at home.

Wilson 7, Akron 0
Wilson (4-5) blanked Akron (8-4) 7-0 as John Bender allowed only one hit and struck out 11 in six and one-third innings of work on the mound. Bender also had a pair of hits as did Tanner Feeley. Bender and Tom Baia both banged out triples.

Batavia 5, Medina 4
Batavia scored twice in the seventh inning on a walk, a double an an error to nip visiting Medina 5-4 in a non league game.

Medina had only 3 hits a double by Brett Riemer and singles by Brian Fry and Alex Allis.

The Mustangs next host Wilson at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Evoy Memorial Scholarship game.

Oakfield-Alabama/Elba 8, Lyndonville 4
Oakfield-Alabama/Elba scored four runs in the seventh inning to lock up an 8-4 Genesee Region League victory over host Lyndonville.

Chase Stinson, Rolland Balcerzak, Oskar Heinsker and Noah Heinsler each had 2 hits for Lyndonville which scored 4 times in the seventh inning after leaving the bases loaded in both the fourth and sixth frames.

Holley evens record with two big wins

Holley romped past Oakfield-Alabama/Elba 18-5 and Alexander 19-7 this week in G-R contests to regain the .500 mark at 6-6.

Ryan Andrews had a home run, double and 5 RBIs for Holley against Oakfield as Matt Skehan and Brandon Dillenbeck both had 3 hits.

Andrews and Sammy Lammes both had 3 hits against Alexander.

In another G-R game, Notre Dame downed Kendall 11-7.