HAMBURG — When Medina’s Section VI Class B championship game against JFK ended and the teams were standing on the baselines, Medina head coach Chris Goyette was looking at his team celebrate with a wry smile on his face.
He was standing on the line with his arms crossed and a look of a proud father as his team was lifting the Section VI Class B trophy up into the air.
It’s a picture he’s only slightly gotten used to seeing over the last three years as Medina has completed a Section VI Class B three-peat with a 3-0 win over JFK, Saturday, at Frontier High School.
“It never gets old because every year as a coaching staff we treat every year as a new year because you get new kids,” Goyette said. “Every year you’re going to lose kids to graduation then you bring a new group in. It never gets old because we love to win and love to compete. We’re super proud of what we’ve built here since we took over in 2016.”
Medina did not wait very long to get off the snide with a two-run top of the first on three hits to take a 2-0 lead. Before the top of the third, Medina head coach Chris Goyette gathered his team in a huddle outside the dugout and gave his team a message. He told them to relax, and that they were playing out of character. The message sunk in as the Mustangs were able to score another run on a Preston Woodworth double to give his team a 3-0 lead.
Early on in the game, Goyette was encouraging his starter, Aidan Papaj to stay centered and slow down. He reiterated it multiple times but stopped when the junior started to cruise in the fourth and fifth innings. Through the first three innings, Papaj threw 61 pitches and gave up three hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
In the next four innings, he needed just 55 pitches for six strikeouts, while giving up two hits and not walking anybody. Papaj finished the day with a complete game shutout giving up five hits and walking two hitters while adding 11 strikeouts.
“I think my body was all over the place today and I just think that I need to stay within myself and not do too much,” Papaj said.
Despite the win, Medina struggled on the base paths with two players caught stealing and one being picked off. While the outs are not great, Goyette does not want to discourage his team’s aggressiveness. It’s been part of the team’s game all year and Medina is not changing it now. Goyette knows that if his team had saved those outs they might have been able to tack on a few more runs to its lead.
The fact that Medina has made it to the sectional title game and won it as many times as they have in recent years helped them in this one. They were able to figure it out when they were faced with adversity.
“It’s really about try to keep the kids in focus and in line and not make the moment too big because it’s really just another baseball game with a whole bunch of more people watching,” Goyette said. “So it’s really just a matter of managing the kids because they’re kids.”
Medina played on Tuesday at Frontier, taking on the winner of Section VI’s Class B crossover game. Visit lockportjournal.com for results of that game.