CARY, N.C. – Trailing by four and down to its final three outs, Canes Midwest (4-2) put up a five spot to come back and earn a 6-4 comeback victory over Texas Senators Scout Team (3-2-1) in the bronze medal matchup at the 16U National Team Championships in North Carolina. 

This is Canes Midwest’s first medal finish at the event.

With this win, Canes Midwest collected its fourth victory, losing only two throughout the tournament. Over the four days, Mason Barth led the team with nine hits, followed by Owen Jenkins with six, who led the squad in RBIs with seven. Will Coleman paced the pitching staff with 7.0 innings, only giving up one hit with no earned runs to finish out the weekend. Most notably, the bronze medal victory saw hits from five different Canes players with RBIs from four of them.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• David Ramirez picked up Texas Senators’ first hit of the ball game on a single to left. Jack Buerkle immediately followed with a double to put both runners in scoring position. A single from William Hill drove them both in on a line drive to right and gave his team its first lead going into the fourth.
• In the bottom of the fourth, Nolan Moore walked, stole second, and was moved to third on a bunt from Gus Begert. A perfectly executed squeeze bunt from Clayton Namken scored Moore to make it a three run margin.
• The Senators added one more in the fourth on Buerkle’s second double of the day to score Ramirez and extend Texas Senators’ lead to 4-0.
• In the top of the seventh Canes Midwest put up a five spot to mark a remarkable comeback, coming on six base hits and a walk.
• Barth began the inning with a ground ball single to left. Jaden Fauske followed by sending a line drive double to right field. The first run for Canes came on Jenkin’s line drive to right to score both Barth and Fauske. Immediately following was a single from Elijah Bennett. An RBI grounder from Coleman plated Jamie Hernandez, but it was the line drive from Drew Graft that tied the game.
• The winning run, and the fifth of the inning for Canes, came on a single from Tanner Thomas to score Graft. The momentum carried into the bottom of the inning where a single from David Ramirez was quickly halted by three quick outs and the sealed victory.

NOTABLE STATS

• Barth went 2-for-4 with one run scored while pitching 3.2 innings, giving up four earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts.
• Graft went 2-for-3 with an RBI, but the only extra base hit came from Fauske, which was a double in the top of the seventh.
• Fauske would also garner the victory, going 3.1 innings with no earned runs and one strikeout.
• Buerkle picked up two hits, both doubles, with one RBI, while Ramirez also posted a multi-hit performance, going 2-for-2 with two runs scored.
• Hernandez pitched 6.0 shutout innings, but would take the loss after allowing four runs on seven hits in the seventh.

Canes Midwest won bronze and are the second runner-ups in the 16U National Team Championships in North Carolina, while Texas Senators Scout Team finished fourth in the tournament.