After coming up empty a week ago, the Albion Cornerstone Juniors had a nice rebound and posted a 2-1 record in American Legion baseball action this past week.
Cornerstone dropped a third straight decision Tuesday before a 7-1 win Thursday over Wayne and an 8-4 Sunday victory at St. Paul boosted its season record to 7-4.
The Albion Juniors look to keep that momentum rolling with home games this week against TBS (Tuesday) and Twin Plains (Wednesday, 5:30) before competing in the annual Central City Tournament Saturday and Sunday. Cornerstone will play York (12 noon) and DCB (2:30) Saturday at Kernel Field, then face Shelton-Gibbon (5:00) and Central City (7:30) Sunday.
PWG 5, Albion Jrs 4
Visiting PWG produced the final rally in a seesaw contest Tuesday, June 17, at Leon Nelson Memorial Field and nipped Cornerstone 5-4 – the Albion Juniors’ third straight loss.
Cornerstone fought back throughout the game and took its first lead, 4-3, in the bottom of the sixth when Andrew Rasmussen was hit by a pitch and scored after stealing two bases.
Despite a solid complete-game effort, Scott Ketteler couldn’t hold that advantage in the seventh. Chase Nordhues led off the frame for PWG with a double and scored on a single by Conner Wood. Wood stole second base, then raced home with the go-ahead run on a single by Chandler Doncheski.
Albion Jrs 7, Wayne-Wakefield 1
Smiles returned to the Albion dugout Thursday as Cornerstone notched a commanding and satisfying 7-1 victory over visiting Wayne/Wakefield.
Cornerstone broke a 1-1 tie with two in the bottom of the third and Wayne-Wakefield could only advance runners as far as second base two more times in the final four innings.
Albion took a 1-0 lead in the second when Zwiebel drove in Henry and, after Wayne-Wakefield knotted the score in the top of the third, went back on top with Ketteler’s RBI double in the bottom of the frame. Ketteler also scored on a groundout after stealing third.
Ketteler added another run in the fifth, reaching on an error and coming home on a passed ball. Albion got some final insurance in the bottom of the sixth, tacking on three final runs.
Albion Jrs 8, St. Paul 4
The Albion Juniors served up a little revenge to go with its second straight win Sunday at St. Paul. Cornerstone defeated the hosts 8-4 just one week after St. Paul took a 5-4 decision in Albion.
The game featured an explosive start, both teams scoring four runs in the first inning.
Ketteler got Albion going with a one-out double and scored when Kramer reached by error. Henry then blasted a two-run home run and Valasek singled, eventually scoring on a passed ball.
St. Paul answered right back in the bottom of the inning. Consecutive walks, a triple, single and double tied the score before Kramer came on in relief and left the bases loaded with a strikeout.
From there, Kramer silenced the hosts, stranding a runner at third after a leadoff double in the second and again leaving a runner at third base in the fifth with a strikeout.
Henry singled and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth and Cornerstone added three final runs in the top of the seventh – the big blow a two-run double by Tanner Schafer.
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