By Staff
The Niles 13-year-old travel baseball team split a pair of league games in Kalamazoo over the weekend.
On Friday night Niles lost to the Kalamazoo Central 14s. A sloppy first inning led to six unearned runs and put Niles behind early. Nick Fedore pitched a strong complete game but the Viking comeback fell short in the 7-6 defeat.
Keith Prak, Alex Welch and Jamie Simpson each had two hits for Niles.
On Saturday Niles defeated the West Michigan Vipers 8-7. The Vipers, who are the No. 1 rated USSSA team in the state, jumped out to an early lead against Niles starter Jamie Simpson.
Niles began its comeback when Fedore smashed a 350-foot three-run home run to left field to give Niles a 6-4 lead.
The Vipers then took a 7-6 lead but Niles tied the game on Keith Prak's fifth-inning RBI double.
With the game tied at seven with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and Kyle Prak on second base, the Vipers elected to intentionally walk Simpson to face Fedore. That proved to be a mistake as Fedore hit a long blast off the left field fence to win the game for Niles.
David Ralston earned the win with four strong innings of relief and the help of Dan Holland who made several excellent defensive plays at first.
Welch chipped in with two hits for Niles, which is now 8-4 in league play and 15-6 overall.