Mid-Sussex wins Senior League Baseball title, photo by Glenn Frazer
(Smyrna, DE) Mid-Sussex grabbed an early lead, then had to come from behind to secure the Delaware Little League “senior division” championship 9-6 over Camden-Wyoming.
The Millsboro and Georgetown senior league programs (ages 14-16) combined this year to form Mid-Sussex in District 3, and the “merger” proved to be quite successful. After falling in the opening round Thursday to District 2 champ (Naamans), the Mid-Sussex team defeated Naamans in an elimination game on Saturday. That result set up a meeting with District 1 host Camden-Wyoming, and since Mid-Sussex already had one loss, they would need to win twice to secure the state title.
The District 3 champs won Monday 5-3 to force a second and “winner-take-all” game for a spot in the Eastern Regional. One of the interesting facts about that win on Monday was the decision by Pete Onuschak to leave Georgia at 4:00 AM to pitch in the 7:00 PM game. He arrived exactly one hour before the scheduled first pitch. He then went on to throw a complete game allowing only 1 earned run while striking out 8, thus sending his team into Tuesday night’s final.
Mid-Sussex scored three times in the 1st inning on a hit batter, catcher’s interference, and a solo home run by catcher Chet Furmanek. Camden-Wyoming cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the 3rd as Jordan Sims singled and Conner Heritage doubled to lead off the inning. They both scored on a wild pitch and an RBI by Rhett Lancaster. Mid-Sussex answered as Furmanek doubled and scored in the bottom of the 3rd to make the score 4-2.
In the top of the fifth inning, Camden-Wyoming loaded the bases with 2 outs and Colby Rall smashed a grand slam homer to left field, giving his team their first lead of the night at 6-4. That advantage would last just one inning as Mid-Sussex scored five runs in the 6th frame on 5 hits, a walk and an error. Furmanek again reached base on a fielder’s choice that also resulted in an error and plated 2 runs. Later in the inning, A-J Hollerback doubled in two more runs sending the Mid-Sussex fans into a frenzy. Kole Swain retired the side in order in the 7th to end the contest and secure a state championship.
Rall went 2-for-3 with a double and his grand slam for Camden-Wyoming. Furmanek was 3-for-4 and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Kole Swain recorded 6 strikeouts in a complete game win. Mid-Sussex will travel to Bangor, Maine for the Eastern Regionals that starts July 19th.
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