Midland 18U team featuring several Southwest Ohio players wins Connie Mack World Series

The maize and gold of the Midland Redskins 18U national baseball team dog-piled yet again at Ricketts Park in Farmington, New Mexico, Friday night, winning its 17th Connie Mack World Series title.

The Redskins defeated D-Bat United out of Dallas, Texas 9-8. Midland had leads of 4-0, then 9-5 in the bottom of the seventh, but escaped to celebrate yet again.

Will Murphy of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy came on with runners on the corners in the seventh and Midland clinging to a 9-7 lead. He gave up a single to make it 9-8 but Hunter Smith of D-Bat was thrown out at second. Murphy then coaxed a fly out from Patrick Engskov that Midland right fielder Tate Farquhar ran down to end the contest and give the Redskins another trophy and banner.

It's the first Connie Mack crown for Midland since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 stopping the tourney and the Redskins being stopped short of the final last year.

Riley Nelson and Isaac Wachsmann drove in two runs each for the Redskins. Of the Southwest Ohio players, Elder catcher Luke Vaughn was 1-for-2 and scored a pair of runs. Princeton's Andrew Edrington was the starting designated hitter and also scored. West Clermont pitcher Trevor Ziegler worked one-third of an inning in the game.

In 2017, 2018 and 2019 manager Dave Evans and his Midland crew won three straight. Those squads featured current professional players Luke Waddell (Loveland/Georgia Tech (now in AA ball with Braves), Cal Conley (Loveland/West Clermont/Texas Tech/Class A Braves) and Zade Richardson (New Richmond/Cardinals/now Braves Class A). Recent Xavier grad Lane Flamm of New Richmond was also instrumental in those seasons.

This season, Midland stormed back after losing its opening pool play game, 9-8, to the Florida Renegades on a game-ending balk. Moeller's Clay Burdette was 2-for-3 driving in a run in that game with Elder's Vaughn going 1-for-2 and CHCA's Murphy throwing a scoreless inning of relief.

Later that Friday night, July 22, Midland defeated the Texas Stix 13-5 with Chase Herrell, a rising senior at Milford, throwing five innings allowing four hits, five runs and striking out four.

On July 23, the Redskins beat the Colton (California) Nighthawks 6-2. Princeton rising senior Edrington was 1-for-3 with a run scored while West Clermont rising seniors Ziegler and Nathan Taylor each had an inning of work. Both had a strikeout with Ziegler having a scoreless frame and Taylor allowing a run.

After an off day, Midland blanked UBC National 8-0 as Vaughn was 1-for-3 scoring a run. On July 26, they beat the Florida Legends 4-3 in comeback fashion, then downed D-Bat United 4-2 this past Thursday to reach Friday's semifinal. In their opening game rematch with the Colton Nighthawks, Midland won handily, 9-1, as Vaughn drove in two runs with a double and scored a pair. Vaughn was the team's regular catcher throughout the series.

It was an all-Cincinnati battery for the final out with Murphy and Vaughn wrapping up the title in their rematch with D-Bat United.

Several area players were on the squad during their regular-season run, but the roster had to be whittled down for the trip to New Mexico. Also on the travel squad was Batavia pitcher Jared Teke who will be going to Northern Kentucky.

Moeller's Burdette is a rising junior heading to Ohio State, while West Clermont's Ziegler and Taylor will be Cincinnati Bearcats.

Vaughn is a rising senior for Elder who is committed to Central Florida and Edrington is a rising senior at Princeton committed to Clemson. Centerville's Matthew Graveline just graduated and is set to be an Ohio State Buckeye.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Several Southwest Ohio baseball players enjoy Midland's national title