Jun 27, 2019 | Trevor Russwurm | 138 views
Peewee OBA Split Home & Home With Listowel, Win in Woodstock
The Mitchell Stratford RV Peewee OBA Astros went 2-1 during a busy stretch of three games in five days, splitting a home and home with the Listowel Legionnaires followed by a road win in Woodstock.
The Astros hosted Highway 23 rival Listowel for the first time this season on June 22nd, with Caleb Templeman drawing the start. The Legionnaires scored quickly for a 2-0 lead after their first at-bat. Templeman would settle in after that, allowing only two more runs with six strikeouts before reaching his pitch count limit with one batter remaining and giving way to Jack Miller to finish up the 16-6 win.
The Mitchell offense was consistently strong all day, scoring every inning led by Joel Meinen, Jarrett Van Bakel, and Jack Miller who each crossed the plate three times. Josh French, Dominic Marshall, and Kellen Russwurm each scored twice. Van Bakel recorded the only Astro extra base hit, and Meinen and Miller reached base in every at bat.
Bent on revenge, Listowel hosted the Astros three nights later at Jacksvonville Park, with French taking the hill for the locals. Similar to the first matchup between these two opponents, the visitors took a quick 2-0 lead. Templeman clubbed a one-out triple to the gap in right-centre, scoring on French's RBI base hit. Van Bakel would drive in French with the third straight hit. The teams traded strong pitching and defense for four more innings, with the score tied 4-4 midway through the 5th inning. Listowel would open things up in the bottom half on a couple of Mitchell errors and five consecutive base hits, chasing French. Keegan Priestap entered in relief, allowing one run on three hits, as the Astros dropped an 8-5 decision. Jordan Visneskie had two triples, and Miller added an RBI double.
Looking to get back on the winning train, the Astros traveled to Woodstock on June 26th with Visneskie getting the ball to start. After two scoreless innings, Mitchell got on the board first as Carson Harmer's RBI groundout scored Miller who had opened the inning with a single. The Wranglers answered back in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead. Following a scoreless 4th where the Astros had bases loaded with one out and couldn't deliver, the visitors opened things up sending 11 batters to the plate in the 5th and scoring 7 runs to take an 8-1 lead. After Russwurm was hit by a pitch, a Priestap walk and Marshall infield single led to a 2-run double by French and RBI double by Visneskie, and the Astro bats were rolling. Ryan Hubbard would come on in relief of Visneskie for the last two innings, giving up two runs on three hits for an 11-5 final.