Kiner moon shot, White pitching gem net 5-1 Monday win
Sawyer Kiner’s bat and Keagan White’s right arm made sure to extend the Aurora Cooperative Juniors’ season another day.
In an elimination game at Monday’s Class B area 4 district tournament in York, Aurora took an early lead and held off Central City 5-1 to advance to championship Tuesday at Levitt Stadium.
Aurora’s offense struggled the first time through the order with just one hit through the first 10 batters.
After Landen Hansen singled and Dylan Ronnau was hit by a pitch, Kiner sent a moon shot to left field, easily clearing the wall deep into the York football field bleachers, his first home run of the summer.
The three-run homer from Kiner proved to be more than enough offense on the mound for White, who tossed a complete game winner, allowing just one earned run on four hits with nine strikeouts and one walk. Six of those nine strikeouts were Central City batters going down looking.
Aurora loaded the bases in the fourth and was eventually able to plate two more runners to snag a 5-0 lead before White struck out two batters in the fourth and another in the fifth.
Central City’s lone run came in the sixth on a sacrifice fly, but White finished strong with a looking strikeout as well as two more fans in the bottom of the seventh.
Kiner carried the big swing with the three-run homer while Hansen, Mason Wiens and White also had hits for Aurora.
To qualify for the Class B state tournament that begins this weekend in Wayne, the Aurora Cooperative Juniors need two wins Tuesday night at Levitt Stadium.
Find updated results on Tuesday’s championship play on our website and in our weekly e-newsletter out Friday morning.
York 9, Aurora 6
The Aurora Cooperative Juniors’ postseason run hit a snag Sunday night, however, as they were unable to get past the host York Cornerstone Kings, falling 9-6.
York took the early advantage with a solo run in the first before plating three in the second to lead 4-0 despite the best efforts of Kiner on the mound.
Aurora’s offense caught fire in the third with five runs scored to snag its first lead of the night.
It started with a RBI single from Hansen in the No. 2 hole before Micah Shannon walked with the bases loaded to bring in a second.
From there, Wiens scored on a passed ball before a RBI hit from Knox Suchanek scored a pair, making it 5-4 Aurora.
Kiner settled in on the mound with two strikeouts in the third and kept Aurora out front. He finished with five innings thrown, allowing five earned runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts.
Aurora put two runners on in the fourth and fifth innings, but was unable to push any across as York jumped back out front, 6-5.
After York scored solo runs in the fifth and sixth innings to lead 9-5, Aurora’s final opportunity in the seventh came with some tension.
With two on and one out, Keagan White singled to drive in one and flip the lineup, but Aurora was unable to do any more damage.
Both teams had nine hits in the game as the Aurora Cooperative Juniors were led by Hansen and Bendorf, who each had two.
Aurora began the B-4 tournament as the No. 1 seed and had an opening-round bye, beginning play Saturday against Seward in a 7-2 win.
Despite Seward scoring the first run of the game in the first, Aurora got on the board in the third after Jack Carstensen scored on a wild pitch.
Seward responded in the fourth with its own run to lead 2-1, but the Aurora Cooperative Juniors plated two in the bottom half with RBIs from Tate Bendorf and Carstensen, leading 3-2.
From there, Aurora nailed Seward with a four-run fifth inning, highlighted by a RBI triple from Kiner as well as a RBI from White.
Carstensen and Kiner each had two hits in the game as those two with Shannon, Bendorf and White were all credited with RBIs.
Ronnau pitched five complete innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits with eight strikeouts.