Down four regulars and coming
off an unimpressive showing at the annual London Badger tournament the
Same Day Auto Stratford Nationals Minor Bantam Tier 1 rep team gutted out an exciting 4-1
victory over first place and previously undefeated Waterloo (12-0 on the season
coming in) in ICBA tier 1 action on Wednesday evening..
Naoto Fujita turned in another fine performance on the mound for the home side going six and a third innings allowing just the one earned run on four hits while striking out five, a well deserved W. Camden Daigle earned the save recording the final two outs.
Erik Smith knocked in a run and scored on a two out error on a Nathan Graff ground ball, Daigle had an RBI, Jack Whitehead added a RBI double and Michael Pauli also doubled to pace the National offense.
Tier 2 call ups Jackson Nickel and Maddux Keller contributed strong defensive play in the Nationals infield.
Last weekend the Nationals went 1-2 at the Badger tournament. Needing a win in game three to move on to Sunday play and despite only allowing two hits the Nationals fell 7-1 to Vaughn. Whitehead tripled and scored the lone National run.
Earlier in game two the National offense was led by a Caleb Musselman RBI triple in a 10-3 win over Walker Homesites (Windsor). Carter Stock and David Hynd combined on a one hitter allowing just one earned run. Pauli and Graff each had two hits and scored a run while Whitehead, Carter Musselman and Stock also had hits.
In game one a five run first inning deflated the Nationals early in an eventual 8-3 loss to WOBA. Fujita, Caleb Musselman and Pauli combined to allow five earned runs on six hits while striking out four. Smith, Daigle and Caleb and Carter Musselman all had hits for the Indians, Daigle and Caleb Musselman also knocking in runs.