Union County’s Justin Witter
CENTERVILLE. Ind. – The Union County baseball team completed its run through the Tri-Eastern Conference on Wednesday as the Patriots defeated Centerville 9-1.
“This is one of our goals,” Union County Head Coach Jeff Mathews said of his team’s league title. “The boys played pretty well this year and Joey (Weller) was dominant in every game he pitched.”
With an 8-0 mark in the conference, the third-ranked Patriots are 21-3 heading into Saturday’s doubleheader against Seton Catholic at Earlham College.
The Patriots finish the regular season next week against Franklin County before the Class 2A sectional at Centerville begins a few days later.
“We’re all gearing towards that,” Mathews said of the post-season. “We’re getting ready to make that stretch run. I think we’re ready.”
After two scoreless innings on Wednesday, the Patriots broke open the contest with four runs in the top of the third.
Cameron Donovan and Weller knocked in the first two runs with sacrifice flies.
Justin Witter followed with a RBI single before the Patriots added another score on an error.
One inning later, the Patriots went on top 7-0.
Mason Miller had a run-scoring double and Witter drove in two more with a single.
Centerville (8-10, 2-6) got the scoreboard in the fifth when Chris Pritchett picked up a RBI on a fielder’s choice.
In the sixth, Zander Kottka finished the scoring with a two-run single for the Patriots.
Weller went six innings on the mound for the Patriots as he held the Bulldogs to three hits with five strikeouts. Miller pitched the seventh.
Michael Brewer, Zach Montour and Brent Cones had the hits for Centerville.
Cameron Newman worked four innings for the Bulldogs, while Tommy Fordonski tossed the final three frames.