Haney’s homer,
Ubner’s Ks
lead Cooperstown
to baseball semifinals
By GREG KLEIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – Chris Ubner struck out 17 batters in six innings and Kendall Haney hit a solo home run to center field to give top seeded Cooperstown a 1-0 win over No. 9 South Louis in the Section III Class C quarterfinals Wednesday, June 9, at Doubleday Field.
Ubner gave up four walks and two hits, but had five innings where he got all three outs via strikeouts.
“He was throwing heat,” Cooperstown Coach Frank Miosek said.
Ubner’s Falcon counterpart, Colin Randall, did almost as well, giving up only three hits and striking out five batters. Even the game winner to Haney had a chance of being an out, but centerfielder Clayton Kraeger fell as the ball hit the top of his glove and Haney took four bases on the play. Both scorekeepers ruled it a home run.
Miosek also credited a fifth-inning defensive play by freshman catcher Emerson Toulson, who made a play after a passed ball on a third strike, keeping the ball away from the runner and getting him out at first.
“The throw was perfect. That was big, because the next guy walked,” Miosek said. “If they get two men on base, you never know what is going to happen.”
Haney also got the save, giving up one single in the seventh inning, but recording the final out with the tying run on third base.
The first two innings of the game were played Tuesday, but rain halted it, and the game was finished Wednesday.
Cooperstown will host fourth seeded Pulaski at 5 p.m., Thursday, June 10 at Doubleday Field, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s section title game. Because Doubleday Field is not available Saturday, that game is likely to be played on a neutral field, perhaps in the Utica area if two seed Thousand Islands advances, too, Cooperstown officials said.