Cavs knock off Flyers

MARIA STEIN - Marion Local held a 3-1 lead on Coldwater after four innings on Wednesday night.

That lead didn't last, though.

The Cavaliers evened the score with two runs in the fifth and went ahead with two more in the seventh to defeat the Flyers 5-3 in ACME action at the Airport.

Coldwater won its second straight game in improving to 2-3. Marion Local lost for the first time as it dropped to 3-1.

The Cavs left runners on second and third in the first inning, then left the bags full in their next at-bat. But Cole Frilling opened the fourth with his second single of the game. He moved to second on Aaron Brunswick's errant pickoff throw to first. An RBI double by Mitch Niekamp made it 1-0.

Frilling was in control from the mound through the first three innings, but he walked Kendall Bruns and Brandon Fleck to launch the home fourth. Nate Ungruhn's sacrifice bunt was mishandled to set up a bases-loaded situation for Kyle Muhlenkamp, who tied the score at 1-all by taking ball four on a 3-2 count. Kyle Francis gave Marion the lead with an RBI single and Reece Hess made it 3-1 with another RBI walk.

That advantage, however, was erased by the Cavs with three cracks of the bat in the fifth.

Austin Riethman hit an RBI triple to deep left to score Jacob Wenning after he had singled with one out. One pitch later, Alex Wourms tied the score with an RBI single.

"Offensively, we sure had the baserunners, but we left five on in the first two innings," Coldwater coach Tom Brunswick said. "We were able to get key hits later by Austin Riethman and Alex Wourms to tie it up."

An inning later, Coldwater's first two hitters reached base as Jake Hemmelgarn and Niekamp hit singles. But Aaron Brunswick followed with a strikeout. He was then helped by his defense as first baseman Reece Eifert back-handed a hard grounder by Noah Miller, stepped on first and threw to second to complete an inning-ending double play.

Aaron Brunswick's defense let him down in the seventh, though.

Wenning reached on an error before stealing second and third. A soft grounder to third by Wourms allowed Wenning to score the game-winning run. Frilling and Myles Blasingame extended the inning with singles. Frilling scored an insurance run when the ball got past the third baseman on his steal attempt.

"The key to scoring that last run was getting Jacob Wenning to steal third so we had him over there with only one out," coach Brunswick said.

"We had two bad throws," Marion Local coach Glenn Griesdorn said. "We had a pickoff throw that went to the outfield and we had that throw (to third). It's tough to get one run against Coldwater. When you're trying to get two, it's even that much tougher. … But I'm happy with what we did. We didn't get a couple of bunts down, which could have made a difference."

Frilling threw a complete-game, three-hitter for Coldwater. He struck out eight and walked four.

"Cole did a nice job on the mound," Tom Brunswick said. "He had trouble in the fourth when he gave up some free passes and they came around to score. But I thought he got stronger as the game went on."

Aaron Brunswick also went the distance for the Flyers, allowing 12 hits while striking out four and walking two.

"He's not overpowering," Griesdorn said of Aaron Brunswick. "He just throws strikes. We might have walked one or two. But good teams get through one or two walks."

Frilling had three hits to lead the offense for Coldwater. Wenning, Hemmelgarn and Niekamp all added two.

The Cavs travel to St. Henry for a Friday night doubleheader beginning at 6 p.m. The Flyers travel to Fort Recovery on Friday for a 6:30 p.m. game.