Little League baseball: Avon gets combo no-hitter to go with 28 runs to continue its strong start in Minors district play

AVON — When is 28 greater than 44? When you add in a no-hitter for good measure. While the Avon offense had another prolific performance Saturday, it was the pitching that stole the show as Mariano Melendez and Donovan Burcewicz combined to throw a no-hitter in a 28-1 three-inning win over Maumee in the District 7 Little League Minors (ages 8-10) tournament at Veterans Memorial Park. Melendez struck out all six hitters he faced and Burcewicz had two strikeouts while walking two and hitting a batter in an inning of work as Avon advanced to Monday's semifinal game against Bellevue, a 20-0 winner over Shelby in other action Saturday. Avon is two wins away from defending its district title. "I was a little less nervous today so that helped," Melendez said. "I knew our team was capable of scoring a lot of runs and they had my back." It probably helped Melendez that Avon, which was the visiting team in the game, took a 7-0 lead before he even took the mound. Avon picked up where it left off in Friday's 44-2 win over Elyria by sending 12 batters to the plate in the opening inning with Levi Salem and Keegan Shaughnessy hitting doubles. The offense didn't stop after the opening inning either. Avon scored 11 runs in the second inning and 10 in the third. Shaughnessy, Salem, Charles Love, Bryce Brunner, Ben Grimm and Cole Finefrock all had a perfect day in the batter's box. "It's just all working together," Avon coach Michael Burcewicz said. "We've got a good lineup and we can put guys anywhere in the lineup and they come through." Going back to the first inning of Friday's game, the Avon pitching staff has retired 17 of the last 21 hitters it's faced. Connor Sustarsic, who grounded out to the pitcher in the third inning, was the only Maumee player to put a ball in play Saturday. "We knew once we put this team together that our pitching staff was going to be deep," Burcewicz said. "We've only really gone through four guys in the last two days but I really think we could go eight, nine, even 10 deep. We have a lot more to see." Avon had seven extra-base hits, three from Shaughnessy, who went deep to left field in each of his first three at-bats. "I was just trying my best to put my bat on the ball and help us score," Shaughnessy said. "I tried to get a few out but they were just hitting the wall. "I think this team is better than last year. We have a lot of great ballplayers and power throughout the lineup. Plus we have a lot more pitchers this year." Avon isn't the only team putting up big numbers in the early rounds of the tournament. Through five winners bracket games, the averaging margin of victory has been 22 runs. Even taking out Avon's win against Elyria the average is still 17. For some players, winning games and putting up big numbers are the best parts of the Little League All-Star experience. For others, it's the little things that matter the most. Melendez was asked what his favorite part of the tournament has been. "The crowd has been big and really supportive, everyone on the team is nice," Melendez said. "And they have good food after the game." Avon 11u rolls Brody Mihalic had two hits and scored three runs and Josh Myers had two hits including a double as Avon downed Maumee 11-1 in five innings, in the opening round of the District 7 11u tournament in Maumee. Myers, who came out of the bullpen in the third inning, starting pitcher Julian Perniciaro and A.J. Malloy combined to hold Maumee to two hits. Avon will face Bellevue in the semifinals of the four-team tournament today at 3 p.m. with the winner advancing to Tuesday's finals. Avon had 10 stolen bases in the game with Mihalic leading the way with four. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.