Anderson was on a roll. After high school’s varsity baseball team lost 12 of its first 16 games, mostly non-league games, they rebounded with 4 straight league wins. The tragedy was it could have been five.

In their last game of the season, Anderson scored seven runs in the sixth inning to outscore Corning 11-8, but the victory didn’t last. Anderson’s victory was forfeited by the Northern Athletic League.

Anderson coach Travis Nicolay had added a JV player to the varsity team’s man roster, which was down to nine players due to injury and vacation. The JV player’s season had ended earlier that day, so the coach promoted him for the varsity game. But by league rules, there must be a 24-hour time period between games when a player is called up. Nicolay said he wasn’t aware of the rule.

“We’ve got a young coach; he didn’t know,” Anderson Union High School Principal Mike Koontz said. “I found out about it and turned ourselves in. Even though all the JV player did was participate as a courtesy runner, the rules are clear.”

“It’s really a shame, I think we could have taken it all,” Nicolay said. “The guys are pretty bummed.”

In forfeiting the game, the Cubs’ tournament rating dropped from 5th to 9th. The tournament only takes the top eight seeds.

The Cubs finished the season with a record of 5-5 in the league and 8-13 overall. Nicolay credited the team for pulling together at the end of the season.

“We finally worked out some attitudes and got rid of some players, but we were left with real ball players,” Nicolay said.

Three Cubs players were nominated for All League honors by Nicolay: Kody Kraft (P,LF), Ty Meyer (SS), and Chris Williams (RF, LF).

The varsity team will lose four seniors for next year’s team. Nicolay pointed out that the whole infield was expected to return next year. The seniors leaving the team include Kody Kraft, Chris Williams, Brandon Howard and Phillip Allegreto.

Cubs final batting average leaders

• Ty Meyer — .512

• Kody Kraft — .405

• Chris Williams — .405

• Jake Smith — .303

• Hayden Pitt — .289