Junior Pioneers Punch First Ticket to AAABA Championship
JOHNSTOWN, PA – The Zanesville Junior Pioneers have been the underdog in this year’s AAABA tournament with only one win at the end of pool play.  But the Juniors defied the odds and are now playing for a national championship after a 4-3 win over Chicago-Metro Friday morning.
This is the second appearance in the final four for the Juniors and their first-ever trip to the championship game.
“We’re super excited,” head coach Dave Balo stated. “We have a bunch of really good kids. They’re playing unselfish baseball, and scraping everything they can to get a win”.
Zanesville came out firing right from the get-go against Chicago-Metro. Â ZHS senior-to-be Caden Mumaw delivered an infield single in the first inning to draw first blood. Â A few batters later, Drew Ritchie singled to right-center to give the Juniors a 2-0 edge.
While Chicago-Metro was being held scoreless by Zanesville starting pitcher Chris Sparks, the Pioneers tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning. Â Mumaw smacked an RBI triple and Dylan McDermott singled to put Zanesville ahead 4-0.
Chicago-Metro tallied two runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning to make things interesting. Â The Indians then held Zanesville scoreless and put up another run cut the lead to one run heading to the ninth inning.
Muskingum University junior and Zanesville grad Matty Lynn came on in relief to earn his second save in as many days and send the Junior Pioneers into unchartered waters. Balo said this tournament has been the pinnacle of his coaching career, but still expects his team to finish the job.
“We’re not happy with where we’re at. Â We’re going to be there and give it everything we have,” Balo said. Â “IÂ love the game. Â I love being around guys that want to compete. We have kids who want to compete and enjoy themselves.”
Zanesville will play Johnstown Paul Carpenter Capital Advisors on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the championship game. The host team beat the Cleveland Blaze, 7-6.
Photo credit: Suzy Every
