With Finch, win cinched

EDDIE ROBINSON
Star Beacon

June 25, 2009 01:00 am

— JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP — A deadlocked game was offset in the seventh inning by Jefferson Post 152’s Mike Finch with a double whacked into center field, bringing in his teammate Grant Wenger, resulting in a 3-2 America Legion victory over the Kingsville Post 743 Renegades at Cotton Field.
In the process, Post 152 avenged a loss from the night before.
Finch’s game-winning hit came only after three other hits in the four-hit inning. Adam Placek had been walked and Wenger followed with a base hit. Collin Butcher then bunted for a hit to load the bases for Jon York. York also hit a single, keeping the bases juiced and the rally alive for Finch.
Finch then delivered a double under pressure to make the difference in the outcome.
Butcher went 3-for-4, including a triple in the first inning, a double in the fifth and the crucial bunt in the seventh to load the bases.
“I was very proud of the way the team played today,” Butcher said. “We played well in every aspect of the game and that’s what it takes to win a baseball game. I’m very satisfied with today’s game and I hope we can keep playing this well for the rest of the season.”
Hits by Mitch Berrier and Kevin Placek brought in two runs for Post 152 in the second inning, which was matched by Post 743’s B.J. Severino and J.D. Drews hits driving in two runs in the third to keep the game tied 2-2 throughout the majority of the game.
Drews followed Butcher’s performance very closely, also going 3-for-4 with three singles. Overall, Kingsville was outhit by Jefferson, 12-7.
“It was a great game all the way around,” Post 152 manager Kerry Freeman, whose squad plays at Conneaut today at 6, said. “We played good defense, pitched well and we were hitting the ball.”
The game was kept close by each team’s pitchers. Kevin Placek pitched seven innings, allowing for only seven hits and striking out six for Jefferson. Placek was relieved Finch in the last two innings and finished, pitching two shutout innings with two strikeouts.
Kingsville’s pitching duplicated Jefferson’s act with its starter, Kevin Beduhn, who struck out two and allowed seven hits through five innings, when he was relieved by Severino, who struck out three and allowed five hits allowed.
Post 743 will host Wickliffe Post 7 today at Higgins Field, first pitch slated for 6:15 p.m.

Robinson is a freelance writer from Jefferson.

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