From left, Warren’s Micah Passmore, Mitch Grosch, Aidan Morrison, Austyn Cummings, Ryan Rafalski and Nick Hussey pose after the Erie Steelheads 16u championship game at the Mountaineer Cup Championship at the home of the West Virginia Mountaineers. Morrison and Cummings’ Mid-Atlantic Red Sox team was scheduled to play following the Steelheads’ game at WVU, but they won their championship via forfeit. Both teams and players have enjoyed very successful summers.

GRANVILLE, W. Va. – The Erie Steelheads came up just short in their bid for the Mountaineer Cup Championship.

The Mid-Atlantic Red Sox 16U rallied from a 4-1 deficit to beat the Steelies in the finals at Monongalia County Ballpark, home of the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Trailing 1-0, the Steelies (26-8) scored four runs in the third inning, which started with an Aidan Kelly RBI 2-run single.

Matt Shepard (McDowell) scored on a passed ball and Warren’s Ryan Rafalski hit a sacrifice fly to give Erie the lead.

Garrett Newsome (Gonzaga College High School/Washington D.C.) got the Red Sox within one in the third on a 2-run double.

The Steelies took a 5-3 lead in the top of the fourth on Matt Shepard’s RBI single.

Newsome’s RBI groundout in the fifth tied the game and an error allowed two more runs to score.

The Steelies threatened in the seventh, as Mason Bender (Fairview) scored on a passed ball, but Peter Yanes (St. Albans/Washington D.C.) got a strikeout of Harbor Creek’s Cam Williamson to end it.

Rafalski tossed a scoreless inning on the mound with a strikeout and a walk, while Micah Passmore (catcher-left field) was 1-for-4 and Mitch Grosch 0-for-3 with a walk.

Grosch pitched two innings, allowing one run on a hit and two walks, striking out two.

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The Mid-Atlantic Red Sox 17u, featuring Warren’s Aidan Morrison and Austyn Cummings, were scheduled to play right after the Steelheads in their championship, but their opponents were forced to forfeit because they ran out of pitchers.