Wynot, Crofton win tourney openers
MENNO — Both the Wynot Expos and the Crofton Bluejays continued their District 6B tournament runs Tuesday night in Menno.
Neither game’s final result was available at press time, but regardless of outcome, losses would put them into Thursday’s loser’s bracket games while a win propels either squad into Saturday’s championship game.
Wynot, the No. 5 seed, took on top-seed Tabor, following a 6-5 win over Lesterville last Thursday to open up tournament play.
Jalen Wieseler went 6.2 innings, allowing three hits and three runs while Jackson Sudbeck came on in relief and allowed one earned run in 2.1 innings to earn the win.
Dawson Sudbeck went 3-for-4 and Wieseler went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Ryan Heimes finished 2-for-5.
“We got off to a good start in the game,” Wynot player/coach Lee Heimes said. “We were able to get some runners on base and score some early runs. We also took advantage of some errors that they had. Jalen also started very strong on the mound for us and we were able to play some good defense behind him.”
Wynot played Tabor, who they split with during the regular season. A loss would place the Expos in an 8 p.m. Thursday meeting against either Irene or Freeman while a victory means a District Final showdown against the winner of Crofton and Menno at 7 p.m., Saturday.
The No. 3 Bluejays opened up their title journey with a 4-2 win over No. 6 Freeman. They played No. 2 Menno Tuesday night where a loss would move Crofton into a loser’s bracket game against Scotland or Lesterville at 6 p.m., Thursday.
“Tyler Priest was really good on the mound,” Crofton player/coach Ben Hegge said of the win. “He tossed a complete game and he got better as the game went on. He’s done that all season: Put us on his back and carried the way.”
Crofton overcame a number of stranded runners.
“We went in facing undoubtably one of the top pitchers in our league,” Hegge said. “We ended up knocking off the bump in the fifth inning scoring three runs on him.”
Corey Roach led the Crofton offense with a double and single with an RBI.
Jared Wiebelhaus doubled, Nick Hegge had two hits, and Seth Wiebelhaus had a hit. Tyler Zimmerman and Alec Martin each added a baseknock as well.
“We lost last year to Freeman in the first round, so it was nice to get the win this season,” Hegge said.