2024 Statesmen Win Deciding Game Three Against Wicked for Austin Metro Baseball League 18+ Spring Title
Statesmen 6, Wicked 4 (Game three in best-of-three Championship series)
Submitted by Jon Furman, Austin Statesmen manager
The Austin Statesmen were formed in 2022 as an expansion team in the Austin Metro Baseball League. As expected, there were a lot of growing pains on this team since many of the players had never played together. We put up two losing spring seasons and we couldn’t keep up very well. During the 2023 fall tryouts, we had drafted five players and three of them became major contributors. It was a combination of character and skills that made everything fit along with our veteran players that shifted the direction of the team.
Below is the 2024 Spring championship series recap against the Wicked:
Game one: **Wicked 9, Statesmen 3** Wicked claimed victory with a strong sixth inning, scoring five runs. After trailing early, they tied the game at three before taking the lead. Corey Freitag earned the win, allowing three runs over 3.1 innings, while Baumgart took the loss for Statesmen. Both teams had 11 hits, with notable performances from Cuellar, Mallory, and Carlson for Wicked, and Arriaga, Hernandez, and Sams for Statesmen.
Game two: **Statesmen 6, Wicked 2** Jack Engelmann led Statesmen to victory with 12 strikeouts over seven innings, allowing only two runs. Statesmen turned the game around in the fourth inning, scoring five runs. Aaron Cuellar took the loss for Wicked. Maley and Wynne were key hitters for Statesmen, while Waldman and Mercado drove in runs for Wicked.
Game three: **Statesmen 6, Wicked 4** Statesmen triumphed again, with a strong seventh inning that secured their lead. Mercado led Wicked with three RBIs, while Wynne had three for Statesmen. Engelmann earned the win in relief, and Rodriguez took the loss for Wicked. Statesmen’s patience at the plate resulted in six walks and four stolen bases. Overall, Wicked and Statesmen showcased competitive matches, with Statesmen winning two out of three games in the series.
Both Wicked and Statesmen showed intense competition throughout the series and we’ll be glad to do it all over again!