Mustangs Almost Get Stung by Bees, But Gallop Away in First Place

The Strongsville High School baseball diamond finally dried out enough for the boys to play only their second home game of the season on Thursday. The Medina Bees came to town tied with the Mustangs for first place in the Northeast Ohio Conference, River Division, and did not make things easy for Coach Josh Sorge and the hometown boys.

"They're a scrappy team and swing the bats well," said Sorge, which was evident as the game developed.

Early excitement belonged to the Bees in the first inning. With runners at the corners, a passed ball by Mustang catcher Austin Legate gave Medina base runner Nick Martinez the appearance he could take home. But great hustle by Legate and pitcher Austin Pritchard closed the door on Martinez and inning number one without a score.

The Mustangs had three base runners of their own in the first but, like the Bees, failed to get any of them across the plate.

A quiet second and third innings was credited to outstanding pitching by both starters, Pritchard for the Mustangs (2-0) and Scott Sency for the Bees (4-0).

After the Bees were put down 1,2,3 in the top of the fourth, it was Mustangs' time to  get things rolling. A one-out single up the middle by Colin Houdek and a two-out single by Anthony Morino moved Houdek to third. Houdek then stole home off the lefty Sency and the Mustangs went up 1-0.

 The Bees tied things up in the top of the fifth. After back to back singles to start the inning, the Mustangs looked like they might get out of it when they turned a 6-4-3 double play. But junior Will Hiteshue stroked a single up the middle to tie the game at  one apiece.

The Mustangs answered in the bottom of the fifth using three singles and a Bees throwing error to score Forrest Perron and Nate Langhals and take a 3-1 lead.

Medina, not finished yet, chipped away at the Strongsville lead by scoring a run in both the sixth and seventh innings to send the game into extra frames.

Junior Connor Ryan came in to get the final out for the Mustangs in the seventh, then continued his magical ways on the mound as he shutdown the Bees 1,2,3 in the eighth.

Senior Colin Houdek led off the Mustnags' eighth with a routine grounder to short. But a throwing error allowed Houdek to get to second with no outs. After Legate sacrificed Houdek to third, Anthony Morino, who already had a single and double in three trips to the plate, was intentionally walked.

After a base running blunder, the Mustangs set the stage for the heroics of senior Nolan Schultz. With runners on first and second and two outs, Schultz drove the shot of the day over the left fielders head to score Morino. Game over, Mustangs win 4-3.

 "We got lucky. Making that many mistakes and still win, we got lucky," was how Sorge saw the game. Sorge, proud of how hard-working this group of Mustangs are, was pleased to show off their "I know we can come back and win attitude" that he states this group possesses.

While the Medina Bees, last year's district champs, drop to a very respectable 15-4 (8-1 conference), the Mustangs improve their overall record to 13-1 and take over sole possession of first place in the conference with a 7-0 mark.