Jun 08, 2016 | Trevor Russwurm | 390 views
Rookies Survive Late-Inning Threat To Remain Undefeated
The Stickhandler Tier 1 Major Rookie Astros hosted the Lucan-Ilderton Athletics on June 8th, narrowly escaping with a 13-12 win to keep their undefeated season intact. Holding a 12-5 lead after 6 innings of play, some mental mistakes led to a 7-run Athletics assault in the top of the 7th to tie the game. The Astros rallied in the bottom half to steal the victory, loading the bases on two base hits and an infield error to set the stage as Zach Houben drove in Ben Medhurst with the winning run.
After allowing the leadoff Athletics batter to come around and score, Mitchell answered back in the bottom of the first with their own 7-run outburst highlighted by Kellen Russwurm's towering grand slam home run to straightaway centre. Jordan Visneskie, Joel Meinen, and Darius Ladd would also drive in runs during the opening inning.
The locals would have another big inning in the third, plating 4 more runs with Hayden Nicholson's 2-run single establishing an 11-3 lead.
Additional RBI's were contributed by Charlie Geiger with a pair, and Jack Miller, Russwurm, Medhurst, and Meinen would each score twice.
Houben had an outstanding catch on a sinking soft hit near the pitcher, and catcher Meinen snared a fly ball in foul territory behind the plate to highlight the defense.
The locals take to the road again this weekend, participating in the 8-team Wyoming Rookie tournament.