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Roth Brothers playoff push on hold due to rainout
By Brian Dzenis
STRUTHERS
When Roth Brothers is about to turn a corner, something always seems to get in the way. That’s the story of their season and it continued Friday night.
The 18-U Class B side was set to take down its second division leader in two weeks, leading Baird Brothers 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth when rain and lightning ended the game.
“It’s rough. We’ve had some tough patches and it was nice to come out here and just play sharp,” Roth second baseman Mikey Grazier said. “We were scrapping runs and playing good defense and the game gets canceled.”
At 7-8 for the season, Roth Brothers really need that win. In the league standings, the six teams with the best records advance to the postseason. Astro Falcons (13-2) and Baird Brothers (10-4) lead their respective Cene and Goldstone divisions. After those two is Knightline (10-4), Avalanche (9-6) and Creekside Fitness (9-6).
Roth manager Mike Cefalde said his team and Baird Brothers meet in the regular season finale as part of a doubleheader with Astro on the Fourth of July. As of press time, Cefalde said they can continue Friday’s game then if it’s needed to decide the playoff race.
“I think that’s what they’ll do,” Cefalde said. “If it’s a matter of importance, then we’ll make it up. if not, it’ll end.”
Roth Brothers was 1-3 in its last four games, responding well on Friday after a tough loss to Avalanche.
“We were pretty pleased with our effort. We just lost a heartbreaker the day before. The bases were loaded and we were up 4-2, then we go down 7-4 and we came back at 7-6 and still lost,” Cefalde said. “That Baird team has a few Division I players so we were happy with our effort.”
Roth Starter Johnny Medvec limited Baird to one run on four hits, striking out four and walking one. Ryan Housteau hit an RBI single and Wil Aey scored Timmy Sumner on a sacrifice fly. A fielder’s choice gave Roth Brothers its third run.
Ryan Weaver was on the hill for Baird, giving up three runs on three hits and three walks while striking out four. Dom Bucko of Butler, Pa., knocked home Boardman’s Coleman Stauffer for his team’s lone run.
The pieces are there for a playoff push. Among the returnees are the Vindicator’s Baseball Player of the Year, Michael Turner (Champion) and ace Tyler Srbinovich (Niles.) In two seasons, Srbinovich is 11-1. They’ve got a win over Astro to show they mean business.
“We have a very good team, we had 13 wins last year, we returned everybody but one and added some good players,” Cefalde said. “Our problem is we’re not hitting, if you’re not hitting in this league, you’re not going to win a lot of games.”
They have another playoff-type matchup today against Creekside Fitness at Cene Park.
“We have our full team. We can definitely turn this around and make the playoffs,” Grazier said. “We need to put the ball in play and just play good defense — that’s where we’ve given up a lot of runs — if we find ways to just keep the errors down and limit the damage, I think we’ll be fine.”