By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The Tigers and Royals split a pair of games in Little League play at Thomas Stadium.
In the first game, the Tigers posted a 6-2 victory as they out hit the Royals, 8-3.
Zeke Legus picked up the mound victory for the Tigers, while Derik Nichols took the loss.
Cameron Smallman had a pair of hits for the Tigers, who also got singles from Kyle Balge, Wayne Marazita, Aaron Grooms, Art Gaul, Trevor Gray and Legus.
Ricky Briand, Andrew Brawley and Nichols all had hits for the Tigers.
In the second game, the Royals got their revenge with a 17-6 victory.
The Royals finished with nine hits, led by Brawley with three and Briand with a single and double.
Also collecting hits were Tom Flynn, Casey Deranck and Dave Schoenlebor.
Brad Ritchey was the winning pitcher.
The Tigers had just three hits in the contest. John Norton doubled, while Marazita and Gaul both singled.
Marazita took the loss.
Indians…6
Rangers…8
The first place (Junior Division) Rangers improved to 11-3 with the victory over the Indians, who were looking for their first win of the season.
The Indians gave the Rangers all they wanted before falling.
Brendon Nichols picked up the victory for the Rangers, who got two hits each from Jeremy Zimmerman, Dustin Bell, Alex Grishaber and Riley Robson.
Also picking up a hit was Mike Schoenlebor.
David Sokolowski suffered the loss for the Indians.
He also led the team with a pair of singles and a triple. Patrick VanKirk and Josh Alphanar both had two hits.
Also collecting hits were Jordan Harper, Tyler Smith and Donte Stevens.
Cubs…12
Astros…10
The Cubs grabbed an early lead, however, the Astros scored eight runs between the third and fourth innings to make a game of it.
The Cubs scored seven times in the final inning to put out the victory.
Tyler Hartman picked up the mound victory.
Rashad Harris doubled and singled to lead the Cubs offensively, while Jason Andrew and Hartman both singled.
The Astros got two hits from Matt Dodge and Jacob Frazier. Picking up a hit were Bryan Evans, Bradley Millen and Sam Clark.
Frazier suffered the loss on the hill for the Astros.