A baseball team made up of soon-to-be sophomores and juniors from schools in northwest Ohio finished their tournament season with a 2nd place finish in Elkhart Indiana and a 1st place finish at Adrian College in Adrian Michigan. In Elkhart, the tournament got off to a heart breaking start as the Tigers lost the opener 11-10 to the Michiana Vipers. The game turned out to be a preview of the championship game 2 days later. To get to the final, FCA mercy ruled the local Elkhart Titans 12-0, beat a tough Sturgis Swingmen team 4-2 and overmatched the Brandywine Bobcats in the semi-final 12-3.
The championship game against Michiana turned out to be the opposite of the high scoring game played earlier in the tournament but ended with the same result. Michiana won 4-2. Pettisville junior Noah Miller finished the weekend with a .385 batting average while scoring 4 runs. Fellow Pettisville junior Eli King went 7 for 14 for the weekend in the leadoff spot, scoring 8 times. Swanton standout catcher, junior Clayton Ringle, went 4 for 7 with 5 RBI’s in the semi-final and championship game. Wauseon was well represented with 4 players; junior Peyten Shadbolt pitched 8 innings giving up only 3 runs while striking out 4 and picking up the win in the semi-final game; sophomore Brady Rupp threw a complete game shutout allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk then started the championship game; sophomore Jac Flory threw out 5 of 7 attempted base stealers from behind the plate; and junior Caleb Andrews had a 10 strikeout performance in the 4-2 win against Sturgis and also hit .385 on the weekend. Wauseon junior Collin Stump, a P/1B, was out of action due to knee surgery.
The following weekend in the season finale for FCA at a beautiful astro-turf stadium at Adrian College, the team took home the big trophy. The Tigers went a perfect 4-0 to win the Diamondback Classic. In pool play, FCA beat a team from Milan Michigan rather easily 10-1 and followed that up with a 5-2 victory over Dearborn Michigan earning the #1 seed for the bracket portion. As it turned out, FCA would defeat the same 2 teams in the semi-final and final games. The Tigers defeated Milan 5-1, then Dearborn 6-0 to claim the title. Miller contributed with a 7 for 12 weekend at the plate to go along with 5 scoreless innings on the mound. King (CF), Flory (C) and Ringle (C/1B) played great defense all tournament long. Shadbolt went 5 for 9 to go along with 6 innings pitched while giving up 1 unearned run. Rupp had 4 innings of shutout pitching and added a homerun from the plate. Andrews got 2 wins on the mound, including the championship game, while striking out 6.
FCA finished the summer tournament season with a 10-5 record. They had two 2nd place trophies and one 1st place finish. They competed in Sylvania Ohio, Monroe Michigan, Elkhart Indiana and at Eastern Michigan University and Adrian College. Miller led the team with a .476 batting average and a .542 on base percentage. King was 1st on the team in runs scored with 14, Shadbolt led with 10 stolen bases and Rupp led FCA in homeruns. Shadbolt and Miller tied for the RBI lead with 10 a piece. Stump, before the injury, sported a .438 batting average with a .500 on base percentage. Andrews led the very tough pitching staff in innings, strikeouts, wins and 2nd in ERA with a 1.79. Other local pitchers and their ERA’s were: Miller- 1.27, Stump – 2.20, Rupp – 1.91, and Shadbolt – 2.85. Flory had a .414 on base percentage while routinely playing outstanding defense behind the plate. Ringle finished 2nd on the team in hits and extra base hits while only striking out once in 51 plate appearances.
Team members are: #0 Jac Flory (Wauseon), #3 Collin Stump (Wauseon), #5 Joshua Gordon (Anthony Wayne), #6 Tyler Roushia (Bryan), #8 Peyten Shadbolt (Wauseon), #11 Brady Rupp (Wauseon), #13 Noah Miller (Pettisville), #15 Clayton Ringle (Swanton), #17 Matthew Frank (Bryan), #22 Caleb Andrews (Wauseon), #25 Eli King (Pettisville), #33 Peyton Brown (Anthony Wayne).