Aug 22, 2021 | Trevor Russwurm | 543 views
15U OBA Astros Win, Tie With Kingsville
The Mitchell 15U OBA Astros started off strong in the Final Four of the OBA 15U 'D' Provincial Championship, recording a win and a tie against Kingsville on opening weekend.
Hosting Kingsville on August 21st, starter Keegan Priestap recorded his second consecutive strong complete game victory in leading the Astros to a 9-3 victory at Cooper Field.
After a tidy 1-2-3 to open the first inning, the Astro bats went to work as Carson Harmer and Kellen Russwurm reached based safely, pulled off a double-steal, and scored on a sac fly by Caleb Templeman and a Kingsville error. The teams traded runs back and forth until Mitchell opened things up in the fifth with Templeman clearing the bases on a base hit and throwing error to take an 8-3 lead. Hayden Nicholson would add an insurance run in the final frame to end the score at 9-3. Strong defensive plays were made by CF Dominic Marshall gunning down a runner at home to end a second inning rally, and SS Harmer turning an unassisted double-play to end the fifth.
Travelling to Kingsville on August 22nd for the back half of the home-and-home, the locals struck early in the opening inning again as Jarrett Van Bakel opened the game with a base hit, scoring on Jordan Visneskie's RBI groundout. Kingsville answered with three runs back in the bottom half on two hits, a hit batsman, and an infield error, and quickly the Astros faced a 3-1 deficit. Kingsville would increase the lead to 5-1 in the fourth on a string of base hits that found holes. Down 5-2 in the bottom of the 6th, the Astros would rally for a pair of runs on Wade Campbell's two-run single to close the gap to 5-4 . Russwurm led off the bottom of the 7th with a walk, scoring the game-tying run on a Visneskie RBI double down the right field line.
Starter Templeman tossed 5 2/3 innings with 8 strikeouts before reaching the max daily pitch count, giving way to reliever Brennan Ward to get the final four outs and preserve the 5-5 tie.