By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN - A sunny, warm Monday afternoon greeted the Buchanan and River Valley varsity baseball teams for the opening of the Lakeland Conference season.
After nearly four hours of action, the Mustangs went home with one victory, taking a 4-2 opening game win.
The second game was called because of darkness with the score tied at five after seven innings of play. The game will be completed at a later date yet to be determined by the coaches.
In the opener, Buddy Williams picked up the loss in relief of starter Mitchell Plott. Williams came into the game in the fifth with the Bucks trailing 2-1. Buchanan tied the game at two in the bottom of the sixth ,but Williams was unable to shutdown the Mustangs in the top of the seventh as they pushed two runs across for the 4-2 win.
RV's Quinn Watkins recorded the win striking out nine while giving up just three hits in his complete game win. Brenson Stroman had a RBI single in the first inning. Buchanan made five errors in the opener.
In the second game, Buchanan scored a run in the first to take the early lead but the Mustangs came back with two runs in the second and third inning to take a 4-1 lead. Buchanan bounced back to tie the game with a three run fifth. "We did a pretty good job in the second half of the second game," Buchanan coach Dan Holloway said. "We have a lot of young guys in the lineup. We have 16 freshmen and this whole group likes to play. Everyday is a learning experience for our freshman and sophomores."
Each team added a run in the seventh suspending the game in a 5-5 deadlock.
In the game, Koziel had a double and scored two runs to lead the Buck offense. Brent Ruff singled in the tying run in the bottom of the seventh to extend the game. "Brent came up with a big single to tie the game. He's a senior and he stepped up when he needed to," Holloway said.
Buchanan will host Cassopolis next Monday at Memorial Field with game time scheduled at 4 p.m.