Mental, physical errors too much for Mustangs
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By Jon Fleck
For the Mirror
Trailing Mount Union 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth of the District 6 Class 2A championship game, Portage came to life when Kaden Claar lined a 3-run double just inside the first-base bag that pulled the top-seeded Mustangs to within a run.
That was the end of the Portage comeback, however, as Mount Union promptly answered with an 8-spot in the top of the sixth on its way to a 12-3 victory Saturday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
"We had some adversity there, but our guys battled back," Mt. Union coach Tim Hicks said. "Portage is a disciplined team. They're going to hit from top to bottom. You can't ever let up. Keep the pressure on. Keep taking good swings, and keep scoring runs."
Dayvon Wilson led off the sixth with a triple and drove in two later in the inning with another triple. Add that to his two-RBI single in the first, the Trojans' first baseman finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs.
Braylon Knable tripled in the inning as well, knocking in two, while Bryce Danish and Ryan Plank each had an RBI double.
Cameron Donaldson went 3-for-4 with three singles, two runs and an RBI.
"This is a big accomplishment for us. We've been talking about this since week one of March," Wilson said. "We wanted to come here to the finals, play Mount Union baseball and win."
Portage, which entered the game a perfect 20-0, banged out nine hits, but had a pair of potential rallies snuffed out when runners got picked off first base following a strikeout in both the second and fourth innings.
In addition, Mount Union pitchers Ryan Scott and Danish combined for 13 strikeouts and just one walk.
"It was one of those days where we didn't play well mentally or physically," Portage coach Larry McCabe said. "You can't win ballgames where you have 21 outs, and you strike out 13 times. You've gotta' put the ball in play and challenge the defense. We also have a rule of two walks allowed. We gave up five. Those two things right there took away our chance to win the game."
Andrew Miko and Jace Irvin each went 2-for-3 for the Mustangs.
Both teams advance to the first round of the PIAA playoffs, which start June 6. Mount Union plays the third-place team out of District 7. Portage gets the District 7 or District 5 winner depending on the results of a Wednesday play-in game.
"That'll be the start of the third season. We just finished the second season. We got into the districts and got to the championship. Just didn't work out for us," McCabe said. "We'll continue working on fundamentals, do a little bit of live stuff whenever we can and just continue to improve as a team."
MOUNT UNION (12): Danish cf-p 521, Donaldson ss 423, Knable c 412, W. Chrisemer cr 010, Atherton 2b 422, Hunsinger 3b 401, Robinson rf-cf 311, Wilson 1b 423, Plank lf 311, Scott p 000, L. Chrisemer dh-rf 400. Totals - 35 12 14.
PORTAGE (3): Alexander p-ss 310, Claar ss-2b 401, Miko cf-ss-p 302, Scarton 1b-p 301, Irvin c 302, Jubina 3b 301, Kargo 2b-lf-cf 311, Moore lf-rf 300, Stauski rf-1b 311. Totals - 3 9 2.
Score by innings
Mount Union……………..310 008 0 - 12 14 0
Portage……………………..000 030 0 - 3 9 2
E-Kargo, Alexander. 2B-Robinson, Danish, Plank, Kargo, Claar, Irvin. 3b-Knable, Wilson 2. RBI-Wilson 4, Atherton, Danish, Donaldson, Knable 2, Plank. WP-Scott. LP-Alexander. SO-Scott 8, Danish 5. Alexander 5, Scarton 1, Miko 1. BB-Danish 1, Alexander 3, Scarton 1, Miko 1.
Records: Mount Union (21-2); Portage (20-1).