Sep 06, 2022 | Trevor Russwurm | 564 views
15U OBA Astros Capture Provincial Championship!
Hayden Nicholson's bases-loaded walk-off deep fly ball well beyond a drawn-in outfield clinched the 15U 'C' OBA Championship for the Mitchell Sherman Plumbing 15U OBA Astros on Labour Day Weekend in Essex. The Astros went 6-1 for the weekend, suffering only a 12-9 loss to eventual finalist hometown Essex Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
Heading to the bottom of the 5th inning with an 11-3 lead, the Astros were hungry for two more runs to put their opponent away with a 10-run mercy after five innings. Carson Harmer led off the inning with a single, promptly stole second and third, and scored on Kellen Russwurm's RBI groundout. Jordan Visneskie echoed Harmer, following up with a single and also stealing both second and third. With the mercy run on third base with one out, Essex elected to internationally walk both Jack Miller and Ethan Jarmuth, putting the force on and drawing the outfield in to take away a short fly ball. Pinch hitter Nicholson jumped on a fastball, promptly crushing it to deep centre field and scoring Visneskie with the championship-clinching run and the celebration was on!
Starter Joel Meinen spun a complete game victory in the final, scattering eight hits over five innings while striking out a pair and maintaining excellent control with only one walk. The Astros established the running game heavily, stealing a total of ten bases in the game including five by Visneskie. Harmer and Visneskie led with three runs scored each, and Russwurm and Jarmuth each plated a pair. In traditional Astro fashion, the locals jumped on the bats quickly in the bottom of the first putting up four runs as Essex pitching struggled with control giving up two walks to Harmer and Russwurm to start the game, and RBI base hits by Visneskie, Charlie Geiger, and Jarmuth. Harmer dealt the big blow in the second inning, belting a bases-clearing triple to build a 9-0 lead and never look back.
The Astros opened tournament play on Friday afternoon with a 1pm match in Leamington vs Port Dover, a completely unfamiliar opponent. Astros ace Keegan Priestap took the mound to start the tournament, and he delivered a gem facing only ten batters through three innings with six strikeouts. The high-octane disciplined Astro offense struck early and often, pounding out eight hits and drawing ten walks for a 19-0 lopsided victory.
The second game of the day would take the Astros to the Essex HQ diamond, ending in a 15-6 win over the Tecumseh Rangers as starter Meinen shared the pitching duties with Geiger, Charlie Wolfe, and Ryan Klumper. Leadoff batter Marshall reached base four times, scoring all four times. Russwurm would score three runs, and Harmer and Visneskie would each add a pair. Extra-base hits were recorded by Marshall, Visneskie, Nicholson, and Payton Wood.
Directionally now in the winner's bracket, the next opponent would be the host team Essex Yellow Jackets. An early bad inning quickly turned a 4-2 lead into a 7-4 deficit, and Essex would go on to defeat the Astros 12-9. Starter Harmer was relieved early by Jarmuth who maxed out his available pitch count before yielding to Geiger to finish out the game. Russwurm and Visneskie each stroked RBI triples in the loss to leave Essex and Lucan-Ilderton as the remaining undefeated teams in the tournament.
Facing elimination with one more loss, the Astros squared off again on Saturday evening with Tecumseh in a 3 1/2 hour slugfest, coming out on top 20-14. Starter Klumper worked his way through 3 1/3 innings, departing with an 11-7 lead as Visneskie took over for short relief. Needing to save pitching for Sunday, Visneskie was pulled after 1 1/3 innings of work, yielding to Russwurm to finish out the game. Marshall again would reach base four times, scoring all four runs. Russwurm would lead with five RBI's, and Harmer paced the attack going 4-for-4 and falling a home run short of the cycle while adding three runs scored and driving in three. Meinen's stick was also hot, going 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored, two RBI's, and a walk.
The Astros were now into the final four on Sunday morning, drawing undefeated Lucan-Ilderton Athletics, while Essex faced Wyoming. The Astros would hand the Athletics their first loss of the tournament, soundly defeating them with a 12-2 mercy behind a one-hitter from Priestap with six strikeouts. After a quick first inning, Lucan-Ilderton looked to get something started in the second inning with the leadoff hitter aboard with a base hit, but he was promptly gunned down by catcher Russwurm on a steal attempt, nullifying any further attempts to steal for the balance of the game. With leadoff hitter Marshall nursing a sore shoulder, Harmer took over the duties, leading with a 2-for-3 performance with a walk and three runs scored. Two runs each were also scored by Jarmuth, Wolfe, and Logan Verberne, all first year players that along with Ryan Klumper stepped up huge to help carry the team to the title. Verberne would finish 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI's to help pace the attack and Visneskie would seal the mercy win with an inside-the-park grand slam home run in the fifth inning.
Essex would indirectly help the Mitchell cause by knocking out Wyoming, earning Mitchell the bye to the final while Lucan-Ilderton and Essex had to play the extra rainy Sunday game to determine who would face the Astros for the title.
A great weekend and season had by all, proud of these boys and all they have accomplished over the years, with a combination of five total OBA Champions across both 'D' and 'C' levels for several of them. Parents, thank you for all of your support, as always you've been our biggest cheerleaders and fans all season!
Coach Wurm