Sectional 40: Weins leads Frankton over Shenandoah

Senior Landon Weins did it all on the baseball diamond Thursday night to lead Frankton over Shenandoah 4-3, to advance on to the sectional championship Monday afternoon.

Weins led off the bottom of the 1st inning with a solo homerun to dead centerfield, before tripling later in the game to deep right centerfield. The leadoff hitter set the tone at the top of the order, going 2-2 at the plate with a walk and scoring two runs. 

Frankton added a second run in the second inning with another solo homerun from the senior catcher, Curtis Delong, a no-doubter to left field. It was 2-0 in the third when Shenandoah answered with a couple runs of their own. After a lead off walk and a couple of errors by Frankton, the Raider top of the order manufactured 2 runs to tie the game up 2-2 after 3 1/2 innings.

Frankton responded in the bottom of the 4th by getting the leadoff hitter on on an error, advancing to second base. After 2 strikeouts by Raider pitcher Cy Stanley, another infield error allowed the go ahead run to cross the plate in the bottom of the 4th, pushing the score to 3-2 Frankton after 4 innings. 

Frankton added 1 more run in the 5th inning with a 2 out double by Will Harris, scoring Weins from third after his leadoff triple. Shenandoah would not go away though, scoring another run in the top of the 6th, making the score 4-3 heading into the 7th inning. 

Weins came on for the save in the top of the 7th. After striking out the first two Shenandoah hitters, junior second baseman Landen Freestone squared up a fastball to centerfield for a double. With the tying run at second base, Weins shut the door with his third strikeout of the inning, ending and winning the game 4-3 for Frankton.

Cy Stanley got the start for Shenandoah on the mound and threw 6 strong innings, competing and keeping the Raiders in the game all night. The senior lefthander gave up 4 runs, 2 on solo homeruns, allowed 6 total hits and struck out 6 hitters. 

Sophomore Ethan Bates got the start on the mound for Frankton, going 3.2 innings before running into trouble in the 4th inning. Bates finished with allowing 2 runs on 2 hits, striking out 3 and walking 5 hitters. Evan Doan came in in relief, picked up the win by allowing 1 run over 2.1 innings, striking out 1 and giving up 0 hits.

Frankton will advance to Monday's sectional championship game against Lapel at 1:00pm. 

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