Baseball Districts: Union City, Quincy and Bronson bow out of postseason

SCHOOLCRAFT, MI. - The Union City Chargers dropped a heart breaker in the first round in defense of their Division Three Baseball District title on Saturday, falling to the Centreville Bulldogs by the score of 2-1 in an eighth inning walk off in the semifinals of the D3 District 82 tournament.

Union City kicked off the scoring with a run in the first inning as Phoenix Elkins hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field, scoring Rick Austin, giving the Chargers the early 1-0 lead.

Both pitching staffs and defense buckled down after the early going as the teams proceeded to play six innings of back-and-forth baseball. Neither team could get back on the scoreboard as each team had their chances.   Centreville was unable to break through until absolute crunch time, scoring the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning on a J. Sikanas Jr. single to right field, allowing B. Miller to score to tie up the game at 1-1. With a runner at third the Bulldogs had a chance to win things in the seventh however the next batter, V. Jines, hit a fly ball that was tracked down by Union City center fielder Owen Jackson for the third out of the inning, meaning we were headed to extra innings.

Union City got one runner on in the top of the eighth inning but could not get him past first, with the game still tied 1-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth.

Centreville led off the inning by putting a runner on due to an infield error as M. Swanwick found his way to first base. After a pop fly was tracked down in foul territory for the first out, Swanwick stole second base, putting a runner in scoring position. Two pitches later it was K. Carpenter hitting a hard ground ball to right field, allowing Swanwick to score on the play as the Bulldogs took the 2-1 win in dramatic walk off fashion.

Eli Payne took the loss on the mound for the Chargers after throwing two-thirds of an inning in relief. Payne allowed two hits and one run, which was unearned. Ryan Zweng pitched solid in the start, throwing six and two-thirds of an inning, allowing four hits and one run with five walks and 10 strikeouts.

Aidan Decker had the only multi-hit game for Union City, going 2 for 4 with two singles. Also adding to the Charger effort was Rick Austin with two walks and a run scored; Ryan Zweng with a single; Phoenix Elkins with a single and an RBI; Tyler Wagley with a single; Luke Watson with a walk; and Eli Payne with a walk.

With the loss the Union City Chargers finish their season at 23-12 overall. The Chargers will now say goodbye to a talented group of seniors including Phoenix Elkins, Jakob Fosmore, Luke Watson, Alex Hull, and Tyler Wagley.

Centreville went on to win the D3 District 82 championship with another exciting victory, defeating the Constantine Falcons 7-6 for the win.

Quincy bows out of Districts with loss to Homer 

HANOVER, MI. - The Quincy Orioles saw their spectacular 2023 season come to a tough end Saturday as the Orioles fell to Big 8 rival Homer by the score of 7-0 in the semifinals of the D3 District baseball tournament.

Homer jumped all over Quincy early, scoring two runs in the first inning, three in the second, and two in the fourth to find their seven runs, while Quincy was unable to plate a runner throughout the game.

Homer out hit Quincy 8-5 in the game and took advantage of three Quincy fielding errors.

Brady Mescher took the loss on the mound in his final start as an Oriole, throwing five solid innings, allowing seven hits and seven runs, only two earned, with three walks and three strikeouts.

Dreyden Feltner pitched the final inning of play, allowing one hit with one walk.

Quincy recorded five hits as Ryan Kempter, Hunter Tinervia, Alex Barry, Ethan Copas, and Jimmy Maynard all had singles. Kempter and Mason Graves both added a walk drawn.

With the heartbreaking loss the Quincy Orioles saw their season come to an end with a record of 18-12 overall on the year.

Homer meanwhile went on to fall to Jonesville in the district final by the score of 5-3.

Bronson falls short versus Constantine in D3 District semifinals 

SCHOOLCRAFT, MI. - The Bronson Vikings saw their 2023 season come to a close Saturday afternoon, falling to the Constantine Falcons by the score of 5-0 in the Division Three District 82 baseball tournament.

The game was a scoreless affair for much of the day as the teams went five full innings without a run being scored. A big fifth inning for Constantine which saw the Falcons score five runs proved to be the difference as the Vikings fell 5-0.

Seth Withington pitched great in the tough loss, throwing all six innings while allowing four hits and five runs, only one of which was earned, with three walks.

Bronson was only able to notch a pair of hits as Seth Withington and Ashton Wells both had singles.

With the tough loss the Bronson Vikings see their 2023 season come to a close with a record of 8-21 overall.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Baseball Districts: Union City, Quincy and Bronson bow out of postseason