Baseball recap: ACME, Jr. ACME, Legion

Van Wert independent sports

Saturday was a busy day for Van Wert’s Legion, ACME and Jr. ACME baseball teams, as Legion Post 178 finished the regular season, the ACME team rallied from a big deficit in district competition and the Jr. ACME team played at the state tournament.

Van Wert 10 Elida 8

LIMA — Van Wert rallied from an early 7-0 deficit to defeat Elida 10-8 on Saturday. The win means the Cougars will play for the ACME district championship at 5 p.m. today at Shawnee High School.

Elida led 3-0 after one inning and 7-0 after two, but Van Wert (11-2-3) plated a pair of runs in the third, three in the fourth and five more in the fifth to complete the rally.

Parker Conrad led the Cougars with two hits and a pair of RBIs, Jacob Place had a hit and drove in two runs, and Kaiden Bates (double, triple) and Keaton Brown finished with two hits. Bates, Brown and Conrad also scored two runs apiece.

Conrad pitched into the second inning and allowed seven runs (just two earned) on three hits while striking out one and walking four. Josh Halker pitched the remainder of the game and held the Bulldogs to one run on six hits, while fanning six and walking three.

Each team committed four errors in the game.

Van Wert will face St. Mary’s Memorial in the district championship game at 5 p.m. today at Shawnee. The Cougars defeated the Roughriders 2-1 on Friday.

Legion Post 178 9 Ottawa Fighting 63rd 4

OTTAWA — Van Wert American Legion Post 178 snapped a 0-0 tie with five runs in the third and the team went on to enjoy a 9-4 nine inning win over Ottawa Fighting 63rd on Saturday.

It was the regular season finale for Post 178 (12-11).

Jaden Youtsey, who led the way with two hits, three RBIs and three runs scored, tripled in Louie Hoersten, Alex Schneider and Derek Luersman in the third and Jon Lee drove in Youtsey with a single in the fifth and a double in the seventh. Lee finished with two hits and three RBIs.

All four of Fighting 63rd’s runs came in the eighth inning.

Post 178 has a bye in this week’s district tournament and will play an opponent to be determined.

Coldwater 13 Van Wert 3 (Jr. ACME)

ARCHBOLD – Van Wert led 2-0 entering the bottom of the third inning, but Coldwater exploded for nine runs in the home half of the inning, and the Cavaliers went on to win 13-3 at the Jr. ACME State Tournament on Saturday.

Gavin McMichaels had three of Van Wert’s six hits, while Dierks Knoch finished with two hits and an RBI. Xavier Okuley had the other hit for the Cougars, who finished the season 7-6.