NEWARK — Preston Woodworth had a tough act to follow.
The Medina sophomore got the ball Wednesday evening, four days after teammate Brody Fry’s no-hitter in the Section VI finals. What’s more, the right-hander was facing Wellsville, the only team to beat the Mustangs to date.
Woodworth was more than up for the challenge, and Medina’s mission for a state championship remained alive. His three-hitter with 11 strikeouts carried the Mustangs to a 6-2 win over the Section V champions in a Class B subregional at Colburn Park.
“He’s gotten better every year, and every start this year,” Medina coach Chris Goyette said of Woodworth, who improved to 10-0 with a 0.45 ERA. “He just keeps on getting stronger and stronger and stronger. The sky’s the limit for the kid because he’s super, ultra talented. … He’s just dialed in right now.”
And as a result, the Mustangs (22-1) are headed to regional play against Section IV winner Oneonta at 2 p.m. Saturday at Frontier High School. Win there, and it’s back to Binghamton for the state semifinals, where Medina suffered a 5-3 loss to eventual champion Spackenkill a year ago.
“We’re pretty motivated,” Woodworth said. “It all starts at practice, just having good practices. Compared to last year, I’d say we want it more because that loss in the semifinals at states was pretty heartbreaking. We really want it this year.”
Both runs Woodworth allowed Wednesday were unearned. Of his 11 strikeouts, six were looking, including three straight to end the game. He issued only one walk and hit one batter.
His brother, senior Carter Woodworth, gave him the lead before he even took the mound, hitting a two-out, two-run single in the top of the first inning.
“It made me feel more confident in myself when I went out there,” Preston Woodworth said. “It’s always good to start off early.”
Medina avenged a 4-1 loss to the Lions, whom they defeated in last year’s Far West Regional 8-3. Facing them on May 10 was beneficial, Goyette said.
“We knew what we were up against, and we purposely didn’t throw our best pitchers against them,” he said. “We kind of threw our No. 3 and No. 4, and even our No. 3 and No. 4 really kind of held them at bay besides a couple fly balls in that game that were dropped. It was kind of the same thing tonight.
“It really helped seeing them after we beat them last year, seeing them midseason and seeing what they have this year. We’re really good at adjusting in our pitching compared to how we think the hitters perform.”
Some timely hitting allowed the Mustangs to knock out Wellsville starter Tyler Vogel in the fourth inning.
Tyler Kroening had a two-run double to make it 4-0 in the fourth — his second straight two-RBI game from the No. 9 spot in the lineup.
“Getting Tyler back this year after a year off has been huge,” Goyette said. “He’s basically our bottom leadoff hitter. He puts really good at-bats against really good pitching … a really good job of putting the bat on the ball.”
Preston Woodworth tripled and scored in the fifth, where Ryleigh Culver added an RBI single for Medina.
Aiden Cowburn led off the fourth with a double — the first hit Woodworth allowed — and Trenton Green had both RBIs for Wellsville (16-4).
Goyette said the Mustangs didn’t need any extra motivation against the Lions.
“They know what their goal is, they know what they’re capabilities as a team are,” he said, “and our goal was always to get to this point, then just get to the next game — try to get ourselves back at another shot at Binghamton. Because that game last year could’ve swung either way.”
As far as facing Oneonta next, Goyette said, “I watched a little bit of video on them. Other than that, I really don’t know much, but it is what it is. We’ll show up and play and compete, and we’ve got Brody going. We’ll see if they can hit him.”