By Dan Machovina
PBR Ohio Assistant Scouting Director

STRONGSVILLE, OH – Two Division I teams, the Strongsville Mustangs (9-3, 5-2) (Ranked No. 16 Division I) and The Medina Bees (9-9, 4-3) squared off in a Northeast Ohio Conference matchup. Strongsville would come away with the win beating Medina 4-1.

If you were a college recruiter looking for a pitcher then you would have wanted to be at Strongsville High school for this game as Strongsville would send out ace starter right-handed pitcher junior, Alex Barnes (pictured right) (Ranked number 36 in Ohio’s 2015 class) while Medina would start their number one pitcher in big righty Austin Havekost (Ranked number 4 in Ohio’s 2015 class, and number 23 overall). Both starters would go the distance in the game.

Strongsville was first to strike in the bottom half of the first inning. Medina starter, Havekost issued two free passes to begin the inning. Cleanup hitter Caleb Thomas drove in the first run as he stroked an RBI single. Then junior catcher, Jake Bokar (Ranked number 115 in Ohio’s 2015 class) smoked a ground ball past the Medina third-baseman giving the Mustangs an early 3-0 lead.

With the score 3-0 going into the bottom of the fourth, the Mustangs looked to add some insurance runs. Nine-hole hitter Ryan Frank delivered a clutch RBI double down the left-field line giving Strongsville a 4-0 lead going into the fifth.

Medina would answer back with their lone run of the game in the top of the fifth. Havekost recorded the lone Medina RBI on the day when he grounded out to short allowing a Medina runner to score from third.

The score would finish locked at 4-1 in favor of DI No. 16 Strongsville.

Notables

Alex Barnes - Complete Game, 1 Earned, 6 Hits, 1 BB, 2 K

To view scouting notes about Havekost, Barnes, as well as games across Ohio, please visit the Ohio High School Scouting Blog. The blog gets updated throughout the week.

To discuss this game, please visit our partner JJHuddle.