Positive finish: Mill Run closes regular season with 8-2 road win
REPUBLIC – Mill Run’s 8-2 road victory over WBAC Tuesday night clinched no worse than third place and a Fayette County Baseball League semifinal series against defending champion M&R Transit.
The team that will hold home-field advantage for the best-of-3 series depended on the outcome of Wednesday’s Carmichaels-M&R Transit game.
Mill Run (12-6) would have the advantage should M&R Transit (12-5) lose with Mill Run holding the season series, 2-1.
Carmichaels (13-2-1) has clinched first place and will play Oakland (Md.) in the semifinals.
“Yeah, of course, we like to play at home,” said Mill Run manager Ray Orndorff.
The veteran manager believes his squad is set for a successful playoff run.
“I think everyone will be eligible and ready to go. We’ll probably have Bill (Bendis), Beau (Bigam), Alan (VanSickle), and Kole (Koontz) all ready to go,” said Orndorff. “I think if we get some solid pitching and get solid defense, I honestly believe we can hit the ball around a little bit.
“But, I think the key is that we get some solid pitching and play solid defense.”
Orndorff added, “And, if we have runners in scoring position, we have to take advantage.”
Orndorff’s comment alluded to his squad stranding 12 runners, including the bases loaded in the top of the first inning with a chance to blow the game open early.
Kace Shearer singled to open the game and moved to third on Jonathan Kelly’s single. Kelly stole second and Beau Bigam walked to load the bases with no outs.
Josh Davison struck out Cole Shearer swinging, but Logan Kemp walked for an RBI.
Davison limited the damage by striking out Josh Burns and getting Hunter Smiley to ground out.
Kace Shearer doubled over the left field fence with two outs in the top of the second inning. He scored on Kelly’s triple.
WBAC tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Dylan Brosky was safe when his ground ball was misplayed to open the inning. Brosky scored on Donovan von Fradenburgh’s triple and scored on Trevor Stewart’s infield ground out.
Mill Run regained the lead in the top of the third inning, but, once again left the bases loaded after scoring two runs.
Logan Kemp walked with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch and took third on Josh Burns’ single. Logan Kemp beat the throw to the plate on Hunter Smiley’s grounder to give Mill Run the lead at 3-2.
Teran Kemp’s single loaded the bases. Burns scored on an infield ground ball out, but Davison ended the rally with a strikeout.
“We left a lot of guys on base. That’s something we’re going to need to correct as the playoffs move on,” said Orndorff. “It just seemed like it was one of those games, slow moving, marathon, whatever you want to describe it.
“We were able to chip away. Get a run here, get a run there. We were able to capitalize on nine walks, here and there.
“It just wasn’t one of those games where we were spot on.”
Mill Run added two runs in the top of the fifth inning on a misplayed ground ball, and two more in the sixth inning on Kelly’s two-run double.
Meanwhile, VanSickle held the WBAC offense at bay after the second inning. He allowed only two runners, both on infield errors, from the third through the fifth inning. He struck out five over the span, including the side in the fifth inning.
Bigam took over in the sixth inning. The left-hander allowed Colton Brightwell’s single with two strikeouts in the inning.
WBAC had one last gasp in the seventh inning after Aidan Ochs opened with a walk and advanced to third on Stewart’s single. Stewart took second on the throw.
But, Bigam bore down with a strikeout, infield pop fly and ground out.
WBAC closed with a 5-12-1 record.
“The season is definitely not where we wanted to end up. You know how every season goes. People go on vacation. People have jobs,” said Stewart. “We have our core. We just need the three or four pieces to fit in.
“We need to get guys to call people.I think the base is there to build on. We have six or seven guys who are reliable and come to every game.”
Stewart added, “I think next year we’re going to go out early and put a team together before they commit to play somewhere else.”