By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
STRYKER (April 30, 2025) – A short time ago Fayette held a 4-1 lead late at North Central with Caden Leininger on the mound. Leininger left that game in the late innings and North Central rallied for a 10-4 win.
Wednesday night at Stryker, again Leininger was in control heading into the seventh with a 4-2 lead over the Panthers.
However, this time Eagle coach Matt Maginn let the senior right-hander go into the seventh, and Leininger made good with his coach’s confidence, finishing up a three-hitter and a 7-2 Fayette victory.
It was the Eagles’ first BBC victory and made them 3-8 overall. Stryker is now 1-10 and still searching for their first BBC win.
“Caden has pitched really well this year,” Maginn stated postgame. “We made a mistake and took him out in the seventh against North Central and learned from that.”
“He was at about the same pitch count today as he was there. The defense helped him today and we got enough hits to help him.”
Leininger and Stryker’s Daniel Donovan each worked out of two-out trouble in the first and matched zeroes on the scoreboard going into the third.
Fayette finally broke through when Mason Leininger singled up the middle, stole second and came home when Caden Leininger bounced a base hit through a cavernous hole on the right side for a 1-0 Fayette lead.
Leininger on the mound got out of a jam in the third after walking the first two hitters. He got Jacob Myers to fly out to center and when the runner at second wandered too far off, he was doubled off to help Fayette keep a goose egg on the board.
Stryker knotted the game in the fourth thanks to a fielding snafu by the Eagles. Will Donovan singled, stole second and third to put a runner in scoring position with one down.
Leininger got Cooper Stuckey to bounce to the mound but when Donovan tried to score, he ended up in a rundown and got the plate when Zander Johnston’s throw went wild to tie the game.
However instead of going into the woe-is-me mode, Fayette got that run back plus two more in the fifth without a hit.
Mason Leininger reached on a throwing error and on ball four to Dane Andrews, the ball skipped away and when the throw from Eli Capps got away, Leininger scored for a 2-1 Fayette advantage.
Two walks, two wild pitches and an error later, Fayette took a 4-1 bulge into the bottom of the fifth.
“We have been talking about it,” Maginn explained of playing through mistakes. “Make a mistake and get ready for the next play, you just have to clear your head and be ready to go and tonight we did that.”
“There have been nights we didn’t do that and have multiple errors. That’s part of boys being boys and learning from mistakes.”
Stryker shaved a run off that margin in the sixth. Myers tripled to deep right, and with Leininger going out of the windup, Myers stole home to make it 4-2.
After a 16 strikeout, four walk night, the pitches added up for Donovan and Myers came in for relief in the seventh.
An error, Carter Lavinder’s base hit that turned into a run scoring triple due to a misread in the outfield added one run, then a wild pitch, walk and three more wild pitches plated two more to open up a 7-2 gap.
“You hit the ball and put it in play, get some base runners and put some pressure on the defense, good things can happen,” Maginn said.
Leininger walked four on the day and struck out six Panthers getting the complete game win. Donovan allowed just four hits but was hampered by five Stryker errors.
FHS 001 030 3 – 7 4 1
SHS 000 101 0 – 2 3 5
Records: FHS 3-8, 1-5 BBC; SHS 1-10; 0-6 BBC
WINNING PITCHER: C. Leininger (7 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts)
LOSING PITCHER: D. Donovan (6 innings, 3 hits, 4 runs, 1 earned, 4 walks, 16 strikeouts) Other: Myers
LEADING HITTERS: (Fayette) Lavinder – triple, single, RBI; C. Leininger – 2 singles, RBI, 2 runs; (Stryker) Myers – triple, single