Mingay leads team to G1 victory

WOOSTER — Cool as a cucumber on the mound. Hotter than a Fourth of July firecracker at the plate.

Those are the words that best described young Brady Mingay, who led his Wayne Insurance Group team to a 17-7 victory over Dyer Roche & Company in the opening game of the U10 Minors Wooster Youth Baseball City Series on Tuesday at Denton Fuller Field in the Miller Field complex on Portage Road.

Called upon to pitch for the first time this season, Mingay gamely struck out nine, walked only two and beaned two in his 3 2-3 innings of work on the bump. When he reached his 75-pitch limit with two outs in the top of the fourth, Mingay handed the ball over to teammate Breyden Snyder, who got the only batter he faced to ground out to second base to snuff out a Dyer Roche threat.

When Wayne Insurance plated five runs in the home half of the fourth, the game was called because of the 10-run rule.

The two teams will clash again Thursday at the same time and place. If Dyer Roche can prevail in that one, it will take a third game Monday in the best-of-three series to determine the champion. The teams advanced to the City Series after winning two playoff games apiece.

With a bat in his hand, Mingay proved to be a major factor as well, smashing four singles in his four trips to the dish, driving in three runs and scoring four times.

“He’s a good little player,” understated Wayne Insurance head coach Jorn Baxstrom, who was forced to go with Mingay on the hill because of the league’s pitch-count rules. The guidelines at the U10 level also limit each team to five runs per inning.

Dyer Roche gained the upper hand early, scoring five in the top of the first. But after that, the warriors in orange T-shirts managed just two more runs, both in the third.

Wayne Insurance, the “Boys in Black,” answered with three runs in the bottom of the first, four in the second, five in the third and five in the fourth.

For his role in the victory, Mingay received one of two game balls awarded by Baxstrom in the dugout following the game. The other one went to shortstop Luke DeRodes “for catching the ball with his face,” as Baxstrom joked to his players.

Indeed, DeRodes had quite a night in his own right. He got hit by a baseball during the pre-game warm-up and also was beaned while batting in the third inning. But his most alarming moment came in the top of the third when he was trying to field a lead-off, hard-hit grounder off the bat of DR’s Austin Hostetler. The ball took a wicked hop and bounced off DeRodes’ left cheekbone, sending him temporarily to the bench for ice and forcing Wayne Insurance to field just two in the outfield for the remainder of the inning.

DeRodes not only returned to action by batting in the bottom of the third, but also by heading back out to play defense in the fourth inning. As fate would have it, it was a high fly ball to right-center by DeRodes that drove in the game-ending 17th run.

After the victory, his cheekbone appeared no worse for the wear and he sported a big, happy smile.

A patient Baxstrom was grinning as well after watching his team rally back from the early five-run spurt by Dyer Roche.

“The most important thing at this level is that the kids keep their heads up and don’t take themselves out of the game by getting down if they’re down a couple of runs or if they don’t get a hit,” said Baxstrom. “There’s always next inning and there’s always the next game. You’ve just gotta be positive with ’em.”

The victors totaled 11 hits compared to eight for Dyer Roche. In addition to Mingay’s hot bat, Wayne Insurance had John Clay with three hits and Cole Kuzma with two.

Archie Mealey and Colton Lawrence each had two singles for Dyer Roche.

Danny Mealey was DR’s starting pitcher. Lawrence worked the third inning and Aiden Hoffman the fourth.

CREDIT: TOM RIFE