Cubs Top Pirates For 10U Hornets Club Crown

The Green Hornets 10U Cubs capped a dominant club baseball season by topping the Pirates 6-1 at Kinder Park on June 6 to win the Minors club championship.

The Cubs went 11-0-1 in the regular season and 2-0 in the playoffs to finish as undefeated club champions at 13-0-1 overall.

The team of Lukas Kurmayev, Braxton Barr, Andrew Webster, Andrew Kokoski, Ryan Cowell, Logan Jones, Conner Woodward, Jackson Eaton, Brady Talbot, Dominic Medile, Stephen Nunn, Jeremiah Hadden and Matthew Stimpson allowed only two total runs in its two playoff victories.

Talbot, Kokoski and Medile shared pitching duties throughout the season, and Talbot and Medile combined to shut down the Pirates in the championship.

The Cubs outhit the Pirates 6-2 in the final and committed no errors in the field to earn the victory.

Head coach Richard Kokoski, who coached the team with assistant coaches Chris Kokoski, Dave Cowell, Dr. Brady Barr and Analisa Webster, said the team focused first and foremost on having fun.

“The theme passed on to the team before the season started was ‘play hard, but most importantly, we are here to have fun,’” said Kokoski. “This team accomplished both goals as evidenced by the smiles we saw all season long.”

The runner-up Pirates had a nonetheless proud season, making a strong run to the league final. The Pirates went 8-6 overall during the regular season and earned the playoffs’ No. 3 seed before winning two playoff games to make the championship.

The team of Jacob Barlock, Kylen Belt, Austin Bowen, Keenan Chandler, Eric Clayton, Hal Cosler, Morgan Cumming, Luke DeBaugh, Brendan Johnston, Tony Macleay, Grover Perkins and Tristan Schultz hit 14 home runs during the regular season and, according to coach Jason Cosler, accepted a midseason challenge and improved steadily the rest of the way.

“The team was comprised of many former Green Hornets players, along with some who had either been out of baseball for a year or who had not played organized baseball before,” said Cosler, who coached the team with assistant coaches David Barlock and Jeff Clayton and team parent Karen Clayton. “It was a team that liked to have fun and play the game, but ultimately found its stride in playing hard. About halfway through the season and after a couple rough losses, I pointed out that their uniforms were just too clean. They took that as a challenge with lots of sliding, diving and just going all out after that. The team couldn’t come up with a big inning against the Cubs’ formidable pitching in the championship game, but they played hard until the last out. They played with heart the whole season. I’m proud of them for that.”