Royals baseball team claims 18th consecutive LCAA title

The Royal varsity baseball club claimed its 18th consecutive LCAA  
title last Tuesday in a makeup double-header at Dundee. The match was  
split, but Blissfield clinched the title in round one to maintain its  
status as the dominant team in the league.
        In the opener, Blissfield defeated Dundee — the team that had beaten  
Blissfield 12-1 in the District finals — by a nine-run margin. This  
time the Royals were refreshed and recharged, rather than spent from  
a three-hour battle in blazing heat. The defense was sharper,  
committing only one error, versus six in the previous matchup. The  
offense was stronger, getting many well-timed hits to rack up the runs.
        In the sixth inning, the Vikings closed the gap on the Royals,  
bringing the game within two points with a homerun and an RBI single.  
Ace pitcher Eric Schmidt was brought in to seal the deal - and he  
did. Schmidt kept the Vikings to one run, while the Royals notched  
eight in the top of the seventh for a 15-6 finish.
        Devin Moore pitched five innings, allowing seven hits and four  
earned runs. He walked one.
        Eric Schmidt pitched two innings in relief of Moore, allowing one  
hit and one earned run.
        Schmidt and Taylor Kuhn each hit a homerun. Kuhn also had a single  
and five RBIs. Tyler Watters was 3-4 with three singles. Ty Fuson was  
2-2 with a pair of singles. Moore was 2-4 with two base hits, and  
Josh Knorr contributed two singles.
        The Royals had less reason to give their all in game two. Blissfield  
led 5-3 going into the fourth, thanks in part to a three-run homer by  
Schmidt and a homerun by Watters.
        However, Dundee scored six runs in the fourth to take the lead. With  
Blissfield unable to score for the remainder of the game, the final  
score was 12-5, Dundee.
        Pitcher Garrick May was charged with the loss in relief of Knorr,  
who pitched two innings.
        Moore was 2-2 at bat with a single and a double. Knorr was 2-3, and  
May hit an RBI single.
        The Royals’ overall record for the 2011 season is 25-13.

- By James McClenathen