KAU wins national title

Kennett area baseball team plays against China for world championship today

TAYLOR, MICH. » There’s no better Junior League team than KAU in America. On Saturday night, KAU, (Kennett and Unionville) coached by Matt Patterson, won the U.S. Championship by crushing North Carolina, 15 to 2 in the Junior Leagues. The local Chester County Junior League team has not lost a game all year, and will face a tough China team at noon Sunday for the World Series title. The game will be telecast live on ESPN 2.

After a relatively close 5-2 win over North Carolina Wednesday night, KAU faced North Carolina/ S.E. again Saturday for the U.S. Championship in Taylor, Michigan.

After spotting North Carolina to a one-run lead in the bottom of the first inning, a seven-run second inning propelled KAU via a

lead-off walk by Dan Kane, who then advanced to second on a fielder’s choice by Louis Sharpe and then KAU blew things open with RBI singles by Scott Hansen and Thomas Edmonds, followed by a 2 RBI double by Jack Regenye. From there, N.C. went to their reliever and Nick Patterson greeted him with a three-run shot to center field to put KAU up7to1.

In the top of the fourth inning, KAU tacked on three more runs to go up 10 to 1 through hits by Regenye and Patterson. Thereafter, North Carolina scored another run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 102, followed by yet another break through by KAU in the top of the fifth with five runs on two walks, a hit batter, as well as, timely hits by Regenye, Patterson, and Sharp.

On the day, KAU scored 15 runs on 11 hits with Jack Regenye 3-4 2RBI’s, Matt Patterson 2-4 HR, 4 RBI’s, and Scott Hansen 2-3 2 RBI’s leading the way.

This is the third time that a KAU team has made it to the World Series but have never won the big game.

While the bats were a highlight for KAU, Patrick Methlie did an outstanding job going the distance holding North Carolina in check allowing two runs on only three hits.

Going into the World Series this week, the KAU East Team had not lost a single game during their playoff run through District, Sectional, State, and Regional tournaments, outscoring their opponents 150-19 in that span.

From a KAU organization perspective, this is the third time that a KAU team has made it to a World Series; 2013 Senior League, 2014 Big League , and now Junior League.

KAU/East plays China at noon for the World Championship, as a result of China beating the Latin American team in extra innings by a score of 4-3.

CHRIS JARMUZ — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA The KAU team members are the national Junior League champions.

FRAN MAYE — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA It was standing room only at the Grain Restaurant in Kennett Square Saturday night, which live-streamed the KAU championship baseball game.