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London Baseball League
Mitchell Astros win Ontario Baseball Senior 'C' Championship
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The Mitchell Senior Astros won the Ontario Baseball Senior 'C' title on Labour Day weekend, reeling off six straight wins including a 7 - 4 defeat of Barrie in the Championship game played in Thorold.

The Astros used a combination of veteran savvy and youthful exuberance which paid dividends in the title under hot, humid weather conditions, with a deep bench also instrumental in defeating all opponents.

Mitchell went undefeated in six games, winning the 12-team double knockout playoff tournament for the first time ever for a Mitchell Senior Baseball team. The current team is in their 12th year since starting up in 2004, winning a silver in 2011 and a bronze in 2010 at O.B.A.

In the championship game the Astros jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, then added a run in each of the next three innings including another insurance tally in the seventh and final inning. Rick Boon recorded the win, pitching five strong innings allowing three earned runs. John Fountain relieved, pitching the final two innings allowing one run, utilizing an effective knuckleball to keep the opponents off balance.

On the offensive side, Ian Klein and Jeremy Rose continued their strong weekend, each scoring twice with Klein reaching base four times and Rose three. Jamie Vivian, Jordan Pepper and Larry Scherbarth scored one run each. Shortstop Pepper, an 18-year old, made a perfect throw to catcher Adam Wolfe to nail a Barrie base runner in the first inning at the plate to highlight the defensive prowess.

Overall, Mitchell played flawless defence in the final and in the tournament, committing just five errors in the six games.

Mitchell started the tournament with an 11-6 win over Essex in their opener Friday, Sept. 4 scoring five runs in the top of the seventh inning with two out to break open a tie game. Vivian scored twice and picked up the win on the mound, pitching the final two innings in relief of Fountain's 3 2/3 innings of middle relif. Derek Smitjes was the starter but left the game in the second inning with a rib injury. Mitchell opened the game with three runs in the first inning with Klein, Matt Scott and Brian Glen all scoring and added a fourth run in the second but Essex came right back with four runs in the bottom of the second to tie it. The Astros scored twice in the fifth to take the lead but Essex tied the game again in the sixth only to see Mitchell rally in the last inning, Klein and Adam Wolfe each scored twice in the game.

In their second game on Saturday morning lefthander Scott Van Gerwen pitched a complete game gem defeating a solid Barrie team 3 - 2, allowing just five hits. Klein scored two runs and Scott scored the other. One highlight was Aaron Leppington dropping down a perfect squeeze bunt in the third inning to score Klein.

In the third game on Saturday afternoon, the Astros defeated Amherstburg 6-2 as Chris Wise hit a solo homerun and scored twice to pace the offence. Rose, Pepper, Leppington and Klein each scored once. Mitchell overcame a 2-1 deficit in the fifth inning when they scored three runs and added another run in the sixth and seventh innings for the win. Fountain recorded the win on the mound, pitching a complete game allowing just one earned run on six hits.

The fourth game saw the only two undefeated teams meet late on Saturday night when the Astros defeated Milton 11-7 in a slugfest. The Astros jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the fourth inning but Milton battled back with three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to get within reach. Wise lead the offence with two runs scored on a triple and a double. Andrew Wolfe, Smitjes and Klein each scored two times and Craig Skinner reached base three times. Midget call-up Pepper earned the win on the mound with relief help from Van Gerwen.

The tournament draw placed the final four remaining teams with Barrie defeating Milton on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. and Mitchell playing Orangeville at 11:30 a.m. Orangeville took a 3-0 lead in the first inning but Mitchell answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first to tie it as Klein, Rose and Wise all scored. After 3 1/2 innings of play the tournament convenor discovered that the Orangeville pitcher was not on their OBA-approved roster and after a delay, the game was forfeited to Mitchell.

Klein, Rose and Wise each had seven hits in the tournament to lead the offence with Klein scoring 10 runs from the leadoff spot in the batting order. All 14 position players had hits for Mitchell in the tournament as the team used a balanced offensive attack with a combination of timely hitting, good base running and the ability to manufacture runs at key points. Many quality at-bats took place where the Astros battled the opposing pitcher at important times to grind out an important go-ahead or insurance run. A very important insurance run was manufactured in the final game when Matt Scott beat out an infield hit, pinch runner Larry Scherbarth came in to run for Scott. The next batter Brian Glen worked a walk, then Jordan Pepper laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners over. With one out Jeremy Rose hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Scherbarth who made a perfect headfirst slide at home swiping the plate and just avoiding the tag to score a key insurance run which put the Astros up 3 runs going into the bottom of the seventh.

Mitchell went undefeated in the tournament and still had three pitchers ready to go if they would have needed to play another game.

This year's Astros team had 11 players that are products of Mitchell Minor Baseball. Team members are: Ian Klein, Craig Skinner, Aaron Leppington, Adam Wolfe (player-coach), Rick Boon, Jordan Pepper, Jeremy Rose, Doug Wolfe (manager), John Fountain, Scott Van Gerwen, Dave Haggitt, Matt Scott, Andrew Wolfe, Jamie Vivian, Larry Scherbarth, Brian Glen, Chris Wise, Derek Smitjes, Brian Smitjes (coach), Dan Bader


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