By Staff
NILES – The Newton Park Knights, a 12-and-under baseball team composed of 10 players from Granger, Mishawaka, Niles, Osceola and Bristol, has qualified to participate in the Continental Amateur Baseball Association (CABA) World Series from July 20-27 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Knights earned their berth in the World Series by winning the Kalamazoo Grand Slam Challenge on the weekend of May 5-6.
In compiling a 50-4 record, they have won six of the eight tournaments in which they played this spring and summer and have earned berths in two other youth baseball association national tournaments.
Based out of Newton Park in Lakeville, Ind., the Knights have a team batting average of .393 and average 9.8 runs per game.
The pitching staff has limited opponents to a .198 batting average and has a 2.51 earned run average.
The members of the team are Ryan Brown, Cameron Glaze, Patrick Korman, Tanner Watson and Matt Wirick of Granger, Brendan Fraleigh of Mishawaka, Josh Clark and Ethan Zimmerman of Niles, Steven Smallwood from Osceola, and Matt Eppers from Bristol.
The Knights begin tournament play against the Indiana Bandits at 3 p.m. on Friday and then take on the WaCO MI Wolves at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.