Railriders sweep Doubleheader in Syracuse

The Railriders and the Chiefs continued their four game set in a doubleheader after yesterday's game was suspended due to heavy rain. 

Game 1

Dustin Antolin started for Syracuse. The Railriders went to Caleb Smith. After a groundout, Dustin Fowler hit a home run to right for a 1-0 Railriders lead. Miguel Andujar would hit a double to center. After a strikeout, Clint Frazier would hit a double to score Andujar for a 2-0 lead. Jake Cave would draw a walk but a groundout would end the Top of the first. Andrew Stevenson hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the first for the Chiefs. Adrian Sanchez drew a walk. After a flyout that moved Stevenson to third, he would score on a sacrifice fly to right by Clint Robinson to cut the lead to 2-1. A groundout would end the inning. Cito Culver hit a single. After a lineout, Mason Williams drew a walk. Mark Payton would hit a bunt single to load the bases. Back to back strikeouts would end the Top of the second. Irving Falu would hit a one out double. After a groundout, Burriss would hit a single to right but Falu would be thrown out at home for the final out of the inning. Clint Frazier hit a leadoff single but Antolin would get the next three outs to end the Top of the third. Stevenson hit a leadoff triple. Sanchez would reach on an error that would score Stevenson to tie the game at two. Brandon Snyder drew a walk then Robinson hit a double to score Snyder to give the Chiefs a 3-2 lead. After back to back strikeouts. Falu brought home Snyder and Robinson to make it a 5-2 lead. Kieboom drew a walk but a flyout would end the inning. Mason Williams would hit a home run with two outs to cut the lead to 5-3. Mark Payton would hit a double but a popout would end the Top of the fourth. Sanchez drew a one out walk but a strikeout and a groundout would end the inning. Frazier hit a single with one out, then Jake Cave drew a walk. Solano hit a single to load the bases. Culver would bring home Frazier on a sacrifice fly to left to make it 5-4. A forceout would end the threat. Smith threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders in the fifth. Sammy Solis came in to pitch for Syracuse. Williams hit a leadoff single and would move to second on a wild pitch. After a popout, Abiatal Avelino would draw a walk. Ji-Man Choi would hit a three run home run to center to make it 7-5 Railriders. Back to back groundouts would end the Top of the sixth. Kieboom would draw a walk but a popout and a double play would end the inning. After a lineout, Syracuse went to Erick Fedde out of the bullpen. Culver would reach on a error but a double play would end the frame. Sanchez would hit a leadoff single but Smith would retire the side in the seventh to end the inning. Mark Payton would draw a one out walk then Avelino hit a single but a groundout and a strikeout would end the inning. JP Feyereisen came in to pitch the eighth for the Railriders and threw a 1-2-3 inning. Neal Cotts came in to pitch the ninth for the Chiefs and threw a 1-2-3 inning. Stevenson hit a triple with one out and would score on a Sanchez RBI groundout to cut the lead to 7-6. Caleb Ramsey hit a single then Robinson walked but a lineout would end the game as the Railriders would take the first game of the doubleheader with a 7-6 victory. 

Game 2

Jaron Long got the start for Syracuse. Crestwood Grad Matt Wotherspoon got the start for the hometown Railriders. Long started the Top of the first with a 1-2-3 inning for the Chiefs. Wotherspoon answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own for the Railriders. Choi hit a leadoff single for the Railriders then Culver would double to move Choi to third. After a popout and a strikeout, Avelino hit a single to score Choi and Culver for a 2-0 Railriders lead. A strikeout would end the Top of the second. Wotherspoon threw another 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Frazier hit a two out single then Choi would hit a double to get Frazier to third. Frazier would score on a wild pitch for a 3-0 lead. A flyout would end the inning. For the third straight inning, Wotherspoon threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Long would throw a 1-2-3 inning for the Chiefs. Tyler Jones came in to pitch for the Railriders in the fourth. Stevenson hit a leadoff single. After a lineout and a caught stealing. Neftali Soto hit a single but a popout would end the inning. Eddy Rodriguez and Mason Williams led off with singles. After a flyout and a groundout, Ji-Man Choi would get intentionally walked but it would pay as the Chiefs would get a flyout to end the inning. Jones would throw a 1-2-3 fifth for the Railriders. Long threw another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth for the Chiefs. Caleb Ramsey hit a leadoff single. After a popout, Stevenson would reach on an error. After a strikeout, the Railriders would go to Tommy Layne and get another strikeout to keep the Chiefs off the board. Rafael Martin came in to pitch for Syracuse. Williams hit a one out single but a caught stealing and a strikeout would end the inning. Alejandro De Aza would keep the game alive with a two out single and Jhonatan Solano would get the Chiefs on the board with a double to score De Aza and it was 3-1 Railriders. A groundout would end the game as the Railriders would sweep the Chiefs in the doubleheader with a 3-1 lead. 

Syracuse takes first game over Railriders

The SWB Railriders and the Syracuse Chiefs started up a four game set in Syracuse. Edwin Jackson got the start for the Chiefs. The Railriders went to Joe Mantiply. Jackson started the game with a 1-2-3 top of the first. Stevenson led off with a single for Syracuse. Stevenson stole second then advanced to third on a throwing error. After a groundout, Stevenson would score on a Brandon Snyder sacrifice fly to left to make it 1-0 Chiefs. A strikeout would end the inning. Jake Cave drew a two out walk but a strikeout would end the Top of the second. Neftali Soto led off with a single then Alejandro De Aza drew a walk. The runners would move to second and third on a passed ball. Irving Falu would bring home Soto on an RBi's Fielder's Choice to third for a 2-0 Syracuse lead. Spencer Kieboom drew a walk. Eddy Rodriguez would throw out Falu at third. A strikeout would end the inning. Jackson threw a 1-2-3 third inning for the Chiefs. Mantiply answered with another 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Miguel Andujar and Ji-Man Choi drew one out walks. A forceout and a flyout. Nestor Cortes comes in to pitch for the Railriders. De Aza hit a single with two outs but a groundout would end the inning. Sammy Solis came in to pitch for the Chiefs. Rodriguez hit a single with two outs. Tyler Wade followed with a single then Dustin Fowler brought home Rodriguez to cut the Chiefs lead to 2-1. A strikeout would end the Top of the fifth. Game would go into a rain delay at the start of the bottom of the fifth. Cortes would throw a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. Cody Satterwhite came in to pitch for Syracuse. Jake Cave would tie the game 2-2 with a home run to right. Donovan Solano would single but a strikeout would end the Top of the sixth. Brandon Snyder drew a one out walk, but a flyout and a strikeout would end the sixth. Cito Culver, replacing Tyler Wade who was called up during the game, hit a single with one out. A popout and a strikeout would end the Top of the seventh. De Aza would hit a single to leadoff the inning for Syracuse. Falu hit a bunt single and an error moved De Aza and Falu up to second and third. Kieboom hit a single that score De Aza and Falu to make it 4-2 Syracuse. Emmanuel Burriss hit a single to bring home Kieboom for a 5-2 lead. After a strikeout, the Railriders would go to Ben Heller. A lineout and a pickoff would end the inning. Ji-Man Choi would hit a single, then get forced out at second on a Clint Frazier grounder. Jake Cave would hit a single but a double play would end the Top of the eighth. Heller would throw a 1-2-3 eighth to get to the ninth. Austin Adams would come in to pitch for Syracuse. Mark Payton and Rodriguez would draw walks to lead off the top of the ninth. Adams would get the final three outs to get the save as the Chiefs took the first game of the three game set with a 5-2 victory over the Railriders.

News: Tyler Wade got his call to the Yankees during the game due to the Starlin Castro injury. 

Railriders escape comeback from Red Sox

The Pawtucket Red Sox and the SWB Railriders finished up their four game series up on Sunday afternoon. Bryan Mitchell got the start for the Railriders. The Red Sox went to Jalen Beeks. Mitchell started with a 1-2-3 top of the first. Tyler Wade led off with a single for the Railriders but a flyout and a double play kept it scoreless after 1. Mitchell threw another 1-2-3 second for the Railriders. Rob Refsnyder would hit a single to left but would be forced out at second on a Clint Frazier grounder. Miguel Andujar hit a two run home run to left for a 2-0 Railriders lead. Back to back strikeouts would end the second. Matt Dominguez hit an infield single then Dan Butler followed with a double to get Dominguez to third. After a flyout and a strikeout, Ryan Court would hit a single that would score Dominguez and Butler to tie the game at two. A flyout would end the inning. Tyler Wade drew a one out walk and would steal second on the next batter. Jacoby Ellsbury hit a ground rule double to right-center to make it 3-2 Railriders. After a groundout, Refsnyder would draw a walk but a strikeout would end the third. Mitchell threw another 1-2-3 inning in the fourth. Donovan Solano hit a two out single but a strikeout would end the inning. Mitchell threw his second straight 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. Wade drew a leadoff walk. After back to back flyouts, Refsnyder hit a single but a strikeout would end the inning. Mitchell threw his third straight 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Marcus Walden came in to pitch the sixth for the Red Sox. Andujar hit a single to leadoff the inning. After a strikeout, Solano hit a single to move Andujar to third. Eddy Rodriguez brought home Andujar on a single to make it 4-2 Railriders. Wade drew a walk to load the bases then Ellsbury hit a single to right to score Solano for a 5-2 lead. Brandon Workman would come in to pitch for the Red Sox. Dustin Fowler brought home two on a single to make it 7-2. A forceout would make it 8-2 then a Clint Frazier single would bring home Refsnyder for the 9-2 advantage. A flyout would end the inning. JP Feyereisen came in to pitch for the Railriders. Blake Swihart drew a two out walk then Dominguez hit a single but a popout would end the Top half of the inning. Ty Buttrey would come in to pitch for Pawtucket. Jake Cave would hit a double then Solano would bring him home to make it 10-2 Railriders. Buttrey would retire the side to end the seventh. Ryan Court would hit a two out single then the Railriders would go to the bullpen once again and bring in Tommy Layne. Brian Bogusevic would draw a walk then Bryce Brentz would reach on a error that would score Court to make it 10-3. A groundout would end the inning. Frazier would hit a single with two outs but a groundout would end the inning. JR Graham would come in to pitch for the Railriders. Swihart hit a single to start off the ninth then Dominguez would draw a walk. After a strikeout, Jantzen Witte drew a walk to load the bases. After a lineout, Ryan Court brought home Dominguez on a bases loaded walk that made it 10-4. Bogusevic would bring home Dominguez and Witte to cut the lead to 10-6. Brentz would cut to one run as he would hit a three run home run to left center and it would be a 10-9 game. Matt Wotherspoon came in to get the save and would get a strikeout as the Railriders took three of four from the Red Sox. The final was 10-9.

Red Sox strike back, take down Railriders

The Railriders and the Red Sox continued their four game set on Saturday night at PNC Field. Dan Camarena got the start for the Railriders. The Red Sox went to Edgar Olmos. Camarena started the game with a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Tyler Wade drew a leadoff walk, but Olmos got the next three to keep it scoreless after one. Bryce Brentz drew a leadoff walk. A forceout got Brentz out at second on a grounder by Brian Bogusevic. Blake Swihart would hit a single then Allen Craig's single would load the bases. Matt Dominguez would hit a double to center to score Bogusevic and Swihart to make it 2-0 Red Sox. Heiker Meneses would hit a single that would score Craig and Dominguez for a 4-0 lead. A strikeout and a groundout would end the Top of the second. Ji-Man Choi and Miguel Andujar would draw a walk to lead off the inning but Olmos would retire the side to hold the four run lead after two. Brentz would hit a double to left with one out but a flyout and a groundout would end the third. Olmos threw a 1-2-3 third for the Red Sox. After Camarena got the first two batters out, the Railriders would go to Brady Lail in relief. Meneses would hit a single but a strikeout would end the Top of the fourth. Clint Frazier would draw a walk then Choi would follow by getting hit by a pitch. A double play and a groundout would end the fourth. Lail threw a 1-2-3 fifth for the Railriders. Cito Culver drew a leadoff walk. After a flyout and a strikeout, Jacoby Ellsberg hit a double to right, moving Culver to third. A popout would end the fifth. Bogusevic drew a leadoff walk then Swihart hit a double that would score Bogusevic to make it 5-0. Lail would retire the side to top of the sixth. Chandler Shepherd would come in to pitch the sixth for the Red Sox and threw a 1-2-3 inning. Lail threw a 1-2-3 seventh for the Railriders. Donovan Solano hit a leadoff single but Shepherd retired the next three outs to end the seventh. Brentz hit a double to leadoff the eighth. After a flyout and a groundout, Allen Craig would bring home Brentz on a single to make it 6-0. Matt Dominguez hit a two run home run to left to make it 8-0 Red Sox. A strikeout would end the Top half of the eighth. Jamie Callahan came in to pitch the eighth for the Red Sox. Clint Frazier drew a two out walk but a groundout would end the inning. Steve Selsky reached on a two out error but a groundout would get the Railriders to the bottom of the ninth. Callahan would throw a 1-2-3 inning as the Red Sox took the road victory with an 8-0 win at PNC Field. 

News: Jacoby Ellsbury is on a rehab assignment by the Yankees for today and tomorrow. 

Railriders takes second straight against Pawtucket

The Railriders and the Pawtucket Red Sox their four game series on Friday night as Roger Clemens came to Moosic. Henry Owens got the start for the Red Sox. The Railriders started Caleb Smith. Mike Miller started with a single to left but a double play and a groundout would end the Top of the first. Tyler Austin hit a two out single to right then Ji-Man Choi drew a walk but a flyout would end the first inning scoreless. Smith threw a 1-2-3 second for the Railriders. With one out, Cito Culver, Mark Payton and Eddy Rodriguez each drew walks to load the bases. Culver would score on a fielder's choice for a 1-0 Railriders lead. Donovan Solano drew a walk to once again load the bases. A bases loaded walk by Tyler Austin increased the Railriders lead to 2-0. Choi would bring home Wade and Solano would make it 4-0 Railriders. A flyout would end the inning. Matt Dominguez hit a leadoff single to right but Smith would retire the side to keep the four run lead. Culver hit a one out double but a strikeout and a groundout would end the third. Steve Selsky would hit an infield single with one out. After a strikeout Brian Bogusevic hit a single to right and Selsky tried to score but a great relay would get Selsky out at the plate for the third out of the top of the fourth. Tyler Wade and Donovan Solano would lead off with walks but Owens would retire the next three batters to end the inning. Heiker Meneses hit an infield single and would go to second on a throwing error. Tim Roberson would hit a single that would score Meneses to make it 4-1. A strikeout would end the inning. Austin Meadows would come in to pitch for the Red Sox in the fifth. Mark Payton would draw a walk with two outs but a flyout would end the inning. Smith would throw a 1-2-3 sixth for the Railriders. Wade hit a leadoff single to right. He would steal second on the next batter. After a strikeout, Tyler Austin hit a double that would score Wade for a 5-1 lead. Austin would go to third on a groundout, then Clint Frazier would hit a triple to score Austin for a 6-1 advantage. Jake Cave brought home Frazier for a 7-1 lead. The Red Sox went to Noe Ramirez in relief. Cito Culver would hit a home run to left center for a 9-1 lead. Payton would reach on a fielding error, then a groundout would end the inning. Tyler Jones came in to pitch the seventh and threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Wade drew a leadoff walk but a double play and a flyout would end the seventh. Mike Miller and Ryan Court drew walks but a popout would end the Top half of the eighth. Choi would hit a single but a double play and a strikeout would end the eighth. Matt Wotherspoon came in to pitch for the Railriders in the ninth. Bryce Brentz and Bogusevic led off with singles. A groundout moved the runners, Brentz would score on a sacrifice fly to left by Dominguez to make it 9-2. A strikeout would end the game as the Railriders took the victory over Pawtucket 9-2. 

Railriders Blow Away Red Sox

The Railriders and the Pawtucket Red Sox started up their four game series at PNC Field on Thursday night. Kyle Kendrick got the start for the Red Sox. The Railriders sent Chance Adams to the mound. Steve Selsky drew a two out walk but a groundout ended the top of the first. Dustin Fowler hit a one out double to right. Fowler would steal third on the next batter. A lineout and a strikeout would end the inning scoreless. Adams would throw a 1-2-3 second for the Railriders. Jake Cave hit a solo shot to right with one out for a 1-0 lead. Mark Payton hit a single to left then Cito Culver followed with a double that got Payton to third. Eddy Rodriguez hit a single that scored Payton for a 2-0 lead. Tyler Wade would be hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a strikeout, Tyler Austin would hit a double to clear the bases for a 5-0 Railriders advantage. Ji-Man Choi hit a two run home run to right to increase it to 7-0. Andujar followed with a single but a flyout would end the inning. Adams would throw another 1-2-3 inning in the third for the Railriders. Kendrick got a 1-2-3 inning as well for the Red Sox in the third. For the third straight inning, Adams threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Tyler Austin hit a home run to right with two outs and an 8-0 lead. A groundout would end the inning. Brian Bogusevic drew a leadoff walk but Adams would retire the next three batters to keep the Red Sox off the board. Mark Payton hit a single to right then Cito Culver would hit a two run home run to make it 10-0 Railriders. A flyout would end the inning. Dan Butler would hit a double for the Red Sox first hit of the game. Adams would retire the side to end the Top half of the sixth. Kyle Martin would come in to pitch for the Red Sox in the sixth and would throw a 1-2-3 inning. Ben Heller came in to pitch the seventh for the Railriders. Bogusevic got the Red Sox on the board with a home run to right with one out. After a flyout, Jantzen Witte hit a single but a strikeout would end the Top half of the seventh. Jake Cave hit a two out single then Payton hit a double to score Cave for an 11-1 lead. Culver drew a walk but a forceout would end the inning. Dan Butler drew a walk then Mike Miller hit a single. After a strikeout, the Railriders would go to JR Graham in relief and would get a strikeout and a flyout would end the Top of the eighth. Tyler Wade drew a walk but an unassisted double play and a strikeout would end the inning. Graham would throw a 1-2-3 ninth as the Railriders took down the Red Sox 11-1. 

Syracuse salvages split with Railriders

The Syracuse Chiefs and the SWB Railriders finished up their series at PNC Field on Thursday night. Sean O'Sullivan got the start for Syracuse. The Railriders started Domingo Acevedo. Andrew Stevenson hit a one out single to center. After a strikeout, Clint Robinson hit a single to score Stevenson for a 1-0 Syracuse lead. A flyout would end the top of the first. O'Sullivan would throw a 1-2-3 first for the Chiefs. Adrian Sanchez would hit a leadoff single. A pickoff by Acevedo would get the Railriders the first out. Spencer Kieboom drew a walk but a popout and a groundout would end the Top half of the second. Miguel Andujar hit a two out single to right but a groundout would end the second. Wilmer Difo drew a leadoff walk, would advance to second on a balk. Stevenson would hit a single that would get Difo to third. Difo would score on a Brandon Snyder sacrifice fly to right for a 2-0 Syracuse lead. A strikeout and a flyout would end the third. Donovan Solano would draw a leadoff walk. After a strikeout, Jake Cave would hit a single to right. Cave would be forced out at second on a Dustin Fowler grounder. A groundout would end the third. Sanchez hit a double to center to lead off the fourth. After a strikeout and a groundout, Emanuel Burriss hit a single to center to score Sanchez for a 3-0 lead. Difo would draw a walk, then Stevenson would single home Burriss for a 4-0 advantage. A flyout would end the inning. Andujar drew a two out walk but a flyout would end the inning. Acevedo would throw a 1-2-3 fourth inning for the Railriders. O'Sullivan would answer with a 1-2-3 inning for the Chiefs. Kieboom hit a leadoff double to right. After a groundout, Burriss would hit a single to center to score Kieboom to make it 5-0 Chiefs. JP Feyereisen came in to pitch for the Railriders. A caught stealing and a groundout would end the inning. Dustin Fowler hit a leadoff single to center then Tyler Austin hit a two run home run to left to cut the Chiefs lead to 5-2. O'Sullivan would retire the next three batters to end the sixth. Stevenson reached on an error but Feyereisen would retire the next three to get to the bottom of the seventh. Sammy Solis came in to pitch the seventh for the Chiefs and would throw a 1-2-3 inning. Feyereisen threw a 1-2-3 eighth for the Railriders. Wander Suero came in to pitch the eighth for Syracuse. Dustin Fowler hit a single to right but a strikeout and a groundout would end the Top half of the eighth. Tommy Layne came in to pitch the ninth for the Railriders and throw a 1-2-3 inning. Andujar hit a one out single then was forced out at second on an Eddy Rodriguez grounder and would go to second on a throwing error. A flyout would end the game as the Chiefs salvaged the series as they took the final game of the series 5-2 over the Railriders.

Thoughts on the game: Tyler Austin might get a shot with the Yankees very soon if not this weekend. He's been hitting very well for the Railriders. Miguel Andujar had a very good game, recording two hits. Andrew Stevenson for Syracuse had a great series including a three hit game tonight.

News: Tyler Wade just got a day off today after playing almost every day in many different positions.

Syracuse 1 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 5
Railriders 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2

Syracuse
SS/CF Difo 3 1 0 0
CF/LF Stevenson 5 1 3 1
DH Snyder 3 0 0 1
1B Robinson 4 0 1 1
LF/RF Butler 4 0 0 0
3B/SS Sanchez 4 1 2 0
C Kieboom 3 1 1 0
RF Ramsey 3 0 0 0
3B Falu 1 0 0 0
2B Burriss 4 1 2 2

2B: Sanchez, Kieboom

Railriders
RF Cave 4 0 1 0
CF Fowler 4 1 2 0
1B Austin 4 1 1 2
DH Choi 4 0 0 0
LF Frazier 4 0 0 0
3B Andujar 3 0 2 0
C Higashioka 3 0 0 0
C Rodriguez 1 0 0 0
2B Solano 3 0 0 0
SS Culver 3 0 0 0

HR: Austin

Pitching
Syracuse
O'Sullivan (W) 6 IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 2 BB 5 K
Solis (H) 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K
Suero (S) 2 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 3 K

Railriders
Acevedo 5.1 IP 9 H 5 R 5 ER 3 BB 4 K
Feyreisen 2.2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 4 K
Layne 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K

Syracuse and Railriders split doubleheader

The Railriders and the Syracuse Chiefs continued their series with a doubleheader on Tuesday night. Game 1 had Edwin Jackson of Syracuse facing off against Bryan Mitchell of the Railriders.

Game 1

Mitchell started off the top of the first with a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Tyler Austin drew a two out walk but a strikeout ended the inning. Adrian Sanchez drew a two out walk but a groundout kept the Chiefs off the board. Donovan Solano was hit by a pitch with two outs but a lineout would end the second. Mitchell threw a 1-2-3 third for the Railriders. After a flyout for the first out, the Chiefs went to Sammy Solis in relief. After a groundout, Dustin Fowler hit his 12th home run of the season for a 1-0 Railriders lead. A lineout would end the inning. Mitchell threw his second straight 1-2-3 in the fourth for the Railriders. Nationals Top pitching prospect Erick Fedde came in to pitch for Syracuse. With two outs, Jake Cave hit a home run to left, his second straight game with a home run to make it 2-0 Railriders. A flyout ended the inning. Sanchez hit a one out double to right. The Railriders would go to the bullpen and bring in Tyler Webb. After a groundout, Spencer Kieboom hit a two run homer to tie the game at 2. A strikeout would end the Top of the fifth. Mark Payton led off with a home run to right to give the Railriders a 3-2 lead. Cito Culver hit a double to right but Fedde got the next three outs to end the inning. Wilmer Difo drew a leadoff walk. The Railriders would get Difo out at second on a bunt attempt. Brandon Snyder would reach on an error that would move Burriss and Snyder to second and third. After a strikeout, Alejandro De Aza got hit by a pitch. The Railriders would go to Tyler Jones and he would get a groundout to first to end the Top of the sixth. Austin Adams came in to pitch the sixth for the Chiefs. Jake Cave drew a two out walk but a strikeout kept him on first as they headed to the seventh. Andrew Stevenson hit a single to right then stole second base and got to third on a wild pitch. Kieboom hit a double to right to score Stevenson to tie the game at three. Irving Falu would come in as a pinch runner. After a groundout, Difo drew a walk. After a flyout, Falu would score on a wild pitch to make it 4-3 Syracuse. A strikeout would end the inning. Wander Suero would come in to pitch for the save in the ninth and would throw a 1-2-3 inning as the Chiefs snapped the Railriders five game winning streak with a 4-3 victory. 

Game 2 

Joe Mantiply started the game for the Railriders. The Chiefs started Taylor Hill. Brandon Snyder drew a two out walk but a strikeout would end the Top of the first. Tyler Wade and Miguel Andujar each hit singles to start the bottom of the first. Tyler Austin would hit a three run home run to center for a 3-0 Railriders lead. Hill would retire the side to prevent anymore damage. Andrew Stevenson hit a two out single then Irving Falu followed with a single to left. Caleb Ramsey would bring home Stevenson on a single to cut the lead to 3-1. A lineout would end the inning. Mark Payton hit a bunt single but a flyout and a caught stealing would end the inning. Adrian Sanchez would hit a leadoff single to left but a double play and a flyout would end the Top of the third. Hill threw a 1-2-3 third for the Chiefs. Crestwood Grad Matt Wotherspoon came in to pitch for the Railriders. Joey Butler hit a leadoff single to right but a flyout and a double play would get the Railriders to the bottom of the fourth. Cave hit a two out triple to center but a groundout would end the inning. Falu would hit a leadoff single to center then steal second on the next batter then Caleb Ramsey hit a single to right that moved Falu. After a strikeout, Falu would score on a sacrifice fly to right by Adrian Sanchez to make it 3-2. A flyout would end the inning. Mark Payton would hit a single to lead off the fifth. After back to back strikeouts, Miguel Andujar hit a double to left to get Payton to third. Tyler Austin would draw a walk to load the bases. Ji-Man Choi would clear the bases on a triple to right to make it 6-2 Railriders. Clint Frazier would draw a walk then the Chiefs went to Neal Cotts out of the bullpen and would get a strikeout to end the fifth. Wotherspoon would throw a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Rafael Martin came in to pitch for the Chiefs and threw a 1-2-3 inning. JR Graham came in to pitch for the Railriders in the seventh. Falu would reach on catcher's interference with one out. After a strikeout, Difo hit a single to center to keep the game alive. Sanchez would draw a walk to load the bases but Graham would get a forceout to give the Railriders a split of the doubleheader with a 6-2 victory.

Railriders take fifth straight, beat Syracuse

The Syracuse Chiefs and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders started up a four game series at PNC Field. The Railriders are coming off a four game sweep of Buffalo. The Chiefs are coming to PNC Field on a two game losing streak. Brady Lail gets the start for the Railriders tonight. The Chiefs went to Greg Ross. Wilmer Difo hit a leadoff double to right. After a strikeout and a flyout, Clint Robinson walked but a flyout would end the Top half of the first. Dustin Fowler hit a one out double to right. Fowler would steal third then score on the throwing error for a 1-0 lead. A flyout and a groundout would end the first. Lail threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Clint Frazier hit a triple to right to lead off the bottom of the second. Frazier would be out at home on a Miguel Andujar grounder. Jake Cave would hit a single to left to get Andujar to third. Donovan Solano would score Andujar on a single to center to make it 2-0 Railriders. A flyout and a groundout ended the second. Lail threw another 1-2-3 inning in the third for the Railriders. Ross answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own for the Chiefs. Robinson drew a one out walk then Alejandro De Aza hit a single to left but a popout and a flyout ended the top of the fourth. Frazier hit a leadoff single to center but a double play and a groundout would end the inning. Adrian Sanchez hit a leadoff double to left. After a popout, Sanchez went to third on a flyout then Emmanuel Burriss hit a bloop single that scored Sanchez to cut it to 2-1. A popout would end the Top of the fifth. Donovan Solano lead off with a single to right. After a double play, Tyler Wade drew a walk then Dustin Fowler hit a two run home run to make it 4-1. A strikeout would end the inning. Lail would throw another 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Ross would answer with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth. After Lail got the next two outs, they would bring in Tommy Layne out of the bullpen and would get a popout to get to the seventh inning stretch. Jake Cave hit a leadoff single to center but would be caught stealing second on the next batter. Solano would hit a ground-rule double to left-center then Wilkin Castillo drew a walk. Neal Cotts would come in to pitch for the Chiefs. Tyler Wade would draw a walk but back to back strikeouts would end the seventh. Layne would throw a 1-2-3 eighth for the Railriders. Trevor Gott would come in to pitch the eighth for the Chiefs. Andujar would hit a two out single to right then Jake Cave would hit a two run home run to left for a 6-1 advantage. A groundout would end the eighth. Ben Heller came in to pitch the ninth for the Railriders. Clint Robinson would draw a walk to start off the ninth but Heller would retire the side to give the Railriders their fourth straight victory 6-1 over Syracuse.

Thoughts on the game: Dustin Fowler had a great start to the homestand. He went 2 for 4 with a double and a home run with two RBIs. Donovan Solano had a great game at the plate as well, going 3 for 4 with two RBIs and a double. Jake Cave had 3, including his first home run in AAA this season. Brady Lail had a great game on the mound, going 6 and 2/3, giving up one run on four hits and struck out three.

News: Earlier in the day, it was announced that Gleyber Torres would go under Tommy John surgery on his non-throwing elbow. He will miss the rest of the season and will be back in time for spring training in 2018.

Syracuse 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Railriders 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 x 6

Syracuse
CF Difo 4 0 1 0
2B Burriss 4 0 1 1
1B Snyder 4 0 0 0
DH Robinson 1 0 0 0
RF De Aza 4 0 1 0
C Solano 4 0 0 0
LF Stevenson 4 0 0 0
SS Sanchez 3 1 1 0
3B Falu 3 0 0 0

2B: Difo

Railriders
SS Wade 2 1 0 0
CF Fowler 4 2 2 2
1B Austin 4 0 0 0
DH Choi 4 0 0 0
RF Frazier 4 0 2 0
3B Andujar 4 2 1 0
LF Cave 4 1 3 2
2B Solano 4 0 3 1
C Castillo 2 0 0 0

2B: Fowler, Solano
3B: Frazier
HR: Fowler, Cave

Pitching
Syracuse
Ross (L) 6.1 IP 9 H 4 R 4 ER 2 BB 2 K
Cotts 0.2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K
Gott 1 IP 2 H 2 R 2 ER 0 BB 1 K

Railriders
Lail (W) 6.2 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 2 BB 3 K
Layne (H) 1.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K
Heller 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 1 K

Hitting their stride

The Railriders have been playing their best stretch of baseball as of late. They took two out of three against Rochester at home and swept Buffalo in Buffalo. They are currently only three games out of first and are the top leader for the Wild Card Spot. There was some movement this week with some injuries to a couple Yankees. Gleyber Torres was put on the 7 day DL with an injury. With all that out of the way, let's go to the Three Stars of the Week.

Third Star: Tyler Wade: This players always seems to be on the three stars doesn't he? Well, who can blame me when he does a good job in the leadoff spot. He had 12 hits, two of them doubles and one was a triple with an RBI.

Second Star: Tyler Austin: Austin has been playing very well since his assignment. He was tied in the week's lead in RBIs at five with Clint Frazier. This week he had four doubles, a triple and five RBIs.

First Star: Caleb Smith: He's been a relatively unknown pitcher, but has slowly being noticed. He's 5-0 on the season with a 2.44 ERA and 66 strikeouts. This week, he was 2-0 with 10 strikeouts, throwing a rain shortned complete game shutout.

Here is what the local pro players are doing currently.

Matt Wotherspoon (Crestwood): Currently with the Railriders, Wotherspoon has appeared in two games with the Railriders. He has a 1.95 ERA with 5 strikeouts in 4 and 2/3 innings.

Mike Papi (Tunkhannock): Currently with the Cleveland Indians Triple-A club, the Columbus Clippers. He's been in 21 games. Hitting .209 with a double, a home run and 13 RBIs.

Cory Spangenberg (Abington Heights): Currently playing with the San Diego Padres. He's played in 45 games. Spangenberg has a .269 batting average with six doubles, four home runs and 12 RBIs.

Joe McCarthy (Scranton): Currently playing with Double-A Montgomery in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. He's appeared in 64 games, hitting .300 with 19 doubles, three triples, a home run and 22 RBIs. He's also stolen 11 bases on the year.

Kyle McMyne (Old Forge): Currently with Triple-A Louisville in the Reds organization. He's appeared in 25 games. He's 2-1 with a 3.19 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 42 and 1/3 innings

Chris Sweeney (Crestwood): Currently with the Frontier League's Evansville Otters. Sweeney is hitting .279 with four doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs.

Max Kranick (Valley View): Currently awaiting assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tony Hernandez (Hazleton Area): Currently awaiting assignment by the New York Yankees.

MLB Draft
The Kansas City Royals selected both Hazleton Area Grad Sal Biasi and Valley West Grad Justin Vought. Both will have a month to decide if they will sign. Biasi would go back to Penn State for his senior year. Vought would go to Maryland for three years if he elected to not sign.

Railriders complete sweep in rain-shortened game

The SWB Railriders and the Buffalo Bisons finished up their series on Sunday afternoon. The Railriders looked to complete the sweep in Buffalo before they would return to PNC Field on Monday. Caleb Smith got the start for the Railriders. The Bisons went to Glenn Sparkman. Tyler Wade started it off on a single to center. After a forceout that got Wade out at second on a Dustin Fowler grounder, Donovan Solano would hit a double to right to score Fowler to make it 1-0 Railriders. Solano would move to third on a passed ball. Tyler Austin would bring home Solano on a sacrifice fly to center for a 2-0 advantage. A groundout would end the inning. Ian Parmley hit a leadoff bunt single but Smith would retire the side to keep 2-0 Railriders after one. Mark Payton would draw a two out walk but a strikeout would end the Top half of the second. Christian Lopes drew a two out walk but a lineout would end the second. Sparkman threw a 1-2-3 third for the Bisons. Smith answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Jake Cave hit a double to right with two outs but a flyout ended the inning. The game ended up in a rain delay. Smith stayed in the game and threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders. Chris Smith came in to pitch for the Bisons. Mark Payton hit a leadoff single but Smith would retire the side in the fifth to keep it 2-0 going to the bottom of the fifth. Smith threw another 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders in the fifth. Smith threw a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. Jake Elmore reached on an error then Gregorio Petit drew a walk but Elmore got caught stealing third for the third out of the inning. Jake Cave would hit a single to center to lead off the seventh. After a popout, Mark Payton hit a double to left, moving Cave to third. A strikeout and a popout would end the Top of the seventh. Smith threw a 1-2-3 seventh for the Railriders. The second rain delay happened in the eighth and they would call the game and the Railriders would complete the sweep with a 2-0 victory over Buffalo. 

A Fond Farewell

Well with this article, the 2016-2017 High School Sports season comes to a close. A lot of memories happened over the course of the year, at least to me and several teams this season and we'll look at those over the course of this article.

A MAGICAL RUN

Nanticoke's boys basketball team wasn't expected to do much this year. Especially after losing several seniors in Brent Piontkowski, Scott Stout and Ed Lukowski. The emergence of sophomore Nate Kreitzer helped them, as well as great senior leadership. They ended up losing a heartbreaker to Scranton Prep then beating Meyers for the third place spot for the 4A State Bid. People believed they would be one and done but they made a big comeback in the fourth quarter against Bethlehem Catholic to win. They then knocked off Conwell-Egan to advance to the State Quarterfinals. In the State Quarterfinals, their hot shooting got them past West Philadelphia. They would lose to eventual State Champion Imhotep Charter but the run they made will be remembered for years to come. 

WVC Baseball and Softball State Runs

Not too often do several teams go through a big state run but Tunkhannock and Hazleton Area softball made big runs into the State Tournament and made it to the State Finals at Penn State. They may have fallen but they proved how good they can be, especially with the young players they have. Not to be outdone, the Holy Redeemer baseball team made a run to Happy Valley, falling to Central Martinsburg.

The Streak

In something not many saw coming, the Dallas Mountaineers at the end of April were 2-6 with injuries to their ace Lee Eckert and to senior Charles Giacometti before the season began. They could have given in and said it was a lost season and just have it as a building year with the young players they have in their lineup. They would knock off Pittston Area to snap a four game losing streak and never looked back. They would end up going 7-6, tied for the Division and would knock off Tunkhannock to claim the Division 2 title. They would hold off an upset bid by the Trojans of Nanticoke, then knock off Tunkhannock for a fourth time this season. They survived to beat Valley View to claim the District Title. They blew away Athens, then shutout West York. They would advance to the State Finals with a victory over East Pennsboro. They then finished the season with a 13 game winning by beating South Park 5-0 to claim the 4A State Baseball Championship.

Upset Specials

In the softball playoffs, the semifinals and finals had some big upsets occur. The Nanticoke Trojanettes were thought to be a big time State Contender in 4A but would end being upset by Wyoming Area in the 4A Semifinals. The Holy Redeemer Lady Royals were believed to be on their way to a third straight State Championship but Mid Valley beat them in the District Final in extra innings. Not to take away anything from those teams, both of them had great seasons. 

Crestwood Baseball Surprises

The Crestwood baseball team had their best season yet. They would claim their first Division Title since 1986. They would defeat North Pocono 4-2 to advance into a semifinal matchup with rival Valley West. Coming in, it could've been believed that the Spartans would make the District Final, especially after the Spartans went up 2-0 and with ace Nate Baranski on the mound. A huge infield single by the 9 hitter changed the game, the next three batters had RBIs to give the Comets the lead. They would tie the game in the seventh but in the bottom of the eighth, Steve Wegener hit a fly ball to center to score Colin Macko to get the Comets to the District Final. They would fall to Wallenpaupack 6-1 but with several players returning next season, they could be in this situation again. 

That is going to do it for the final HS Weekly Article for the 2016-2017 season. I'll be following the Railriders this summer so stay tuned for that. The HS articles will return on August 20th. The first HS Football countdown should be August 6th, depending on how much I get done. I thank you all for reading all season long and hope you enjoyed it. 

Railriders take two in Buffalo

The Railriders and the Buffalo Bisons played a doubleheader on Saturday night. Game 1's starter for the Railriders was Chance Adams. The starter for Buffalo in Game 1 is Mike Bolsinger. 

Game 1

Tyler Wade led off with a single to right but Bolsinger would retire the next three to get to the bottom of the first. Adams would throw a 1-2-3 first for the Railriders. Clint Frazier hit a leadoff single to right but Adams would get the next three outs to keep the Bisons off the board. Raffy Lopez drew a one out walk. After a flyout, Shane Optiz hit a single to left then Jake Elmore drew a walk to load the bases but a strikeout ended the second. Tyler Wade hit a triple to right with one out. Dustin Fowler hit a single to score Wade to make it 1-0 Railriders. A flyout and a popout would end the Top of the third. Adams threw a 1-2-3 third for the Railriders. Gleyber Torres would hit a double to left with one out. Mark Payton hit a single but Torres would be out at the plate trying to score for the second out. Lopez would throw out Payton trying to steal second for the last out of the fourth. Lopez would hit a one out double, then Jason Leblebijian hit a single to right to get Lopez to third. Lopez would score on a sacrifice fly to left by Opitz to tie the game at one. A flyout would end the inning. Cito Culver hit a double to left. Culver would move to third on a wild pitch. Culver would score on an RBI groundout by Eddy Rodriguez to make it 2-1 Railriders. Tyler Wade would draw a walk. Buffalo went to Matt Dermody in relief. Dustin Fowler hit a single to center, both would move one base on a double steal. Buffalo elected to intentionally walk Tyler Austin to load the bases. After a strikeout, Clint Frazier would bring home Wade and Fowler would score on a throwing error for a 4-1 lead. A forceout would end the Top of the fifth. Roemon Fields hit a leadoff single to left and Ian Parmley followed with a bunt single. A flyout and a double play to end the fifth. Wil Browning would come in to pitch the sixth for the Bisons. Eddy Rodriguez would draw a two walk but a groundout would end the Top half of the sixth. Mike Ohlman drew a leadoff and the Railriders would go to Joe Mantiply out of the bullpen and would get the next three outs to end the sixth. Fowler hit a leadoff single then stole second on the next batter. Tyler Austin would hit a double to right to score Fowler to make it 5-1. Ji-Man Choi would hit a double to left to get Austin to third. After a flyout, Donovan Solano would hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Austin for a 6-1 lead. A groundout would end the Top of the seventh. Elmore would hit a double to right to lead off the inning. Elmore would go to third on a groundout and then score on an RBI groundout by Ian Parmley to make it 6-2. A strikeout would end the game as the Railriders took Game 1 6-2 over the Buffalo Bisons.

Game 2

In Game 2, Buffalo gave the ball to Lucas Harrell. The Railriders started Adonis Rosa. Harrell started the Top of the first with a 1-2-3 inning. Rosa would answer with a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Jake Cave would hit a two out single to center and Cito Culver threw a walk but a strikeout would end the threat. Leblebijian hit an infield single with one out then Jarrod Saltalamachia reached on an error. A strikeout and a groundout ended the inning. Tyler Wade hit an infield single with one out. After a popout, Donovan Solano would hit an infield single but a strikeout would end the Top of the third. Jake Elmore would hit a two out single. Elmore would be out trying to steal second to end the third. Barrell would throw a 1-2-3 inning for Buffalo. Jason Leblebijian hit a two out double to left but a flyout ended the inning. Tyler Wade drew a two out walk but a forceout would end the inning. Christian Lopes hit a ground-rule double to left center, then Opitz hit an infield single and Lopes went to third. Lopes would be out at home on a fielder's choice. After a strikeout, Elmore would hit a single but they would get the out at home for the third out to keep the game scoreless. Chad Girodo came in to pitch for the Bisons in the sixth. Ji-Man Choi would hit a bunt single then Clint Frazier would draw a walk. After a forceout at second, Cito Culver would bring home Choi on a single to center to make it 1-0 Railriders, but they would get the out at third for the third out of the inning. Rosa threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders in the sixth. Wilkin Castillo hit a solo home run to left with one out for a 2-0 Railriders lead. Tyler Wade hit an infield single. After a groundout, the Bisons went to Leonel Campos in relief. Solano hit a single to right and Wade would go to third. Hi-Man would bring home Wade on a double to right for a 3-0 lead. Solano would be at third and would score on a wild pitch on the next batter for a 4-0 advantage. A strikeout would end the Top of the seventh. Tyler Webb would come in to pitch for the Railriders in the seventh. Lopes draws a one out walk. After a strikeout, Jonathan Diaz would keep the game alive with a single to center but a flyout would end the game as the Railriders finished the sweep of the doubleheader 4-0 over Buffalo.

News: Gleyber Torres left the game early due to an elbow injury. X-rays were negative, will go under more evaluation when the team returns to Scranton on Monday.

Railriders roll in Buffalo

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders and the Buffalo Bisons started up a three game series in Buffalo on Friday night. Luis Santiago got the start for Buffalo. The Railriders started Domingo Acevedo. Santos started the first inning 1-2-3. Acevedo answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Gleyber Torres hit a two out single but a strikeout kept the game scoreless going to the bottom of the second. Mike Ohlman drew a leadoff walk. After back to back flyouts, Jake Elmore drew a walk but a flyout ended the second. Wilkin Castillo hit a one out double to right, then Tyler Wade walked. Dustin Fowler would hit a double to center to score Castillo and Wade for a 2-0 Railriders lead. Fowler would go to third on a wild pitch. Tyler Austin would draw a walk, then Fowler would score on a sacrifice fly to center by Ji-Man Choi for a 3-0 lead. A strikeout would end the inning. Gregorio Petit drew a two out walk but a popout would end the third. Torres would hit a double to right then Donovan Solano drew a walk. After a strikeout and a flyout, Tyler Wade would hit a double to left to score Torres for a 4-0 lead. A strikeout would end the inning. Mike Ohlman hit a single to center to leadoff the bottom of the fourth but Acevedo would retire the next three to keep the four run lead. Santos threw a 1-2-3 fifth for the Bisons. Ian Parmley hit a two out double to left then Petit hit a single to score Parmley to cut it to 4-1. Rowdy Tellez and Ohlman drew walks to load the bases, but a flyout would end the inning. Murphy Smith would come in to pitch for the Bisons in the sixth. Torres led off with a walk then Solano would single but Torres would be out trying to go to third. A flyout and a lineout would end the Top of the sixth. Acevedo threw a 1-2-3 sixth for the Railriders. Wade led off with a single to center then Dustin Fowler followed with a single to left. Tyler Austin would bring home Wade on a single to make it 5-1 Railriders. After a popout, Clint Frazier would hit his 12th home run of the season, a three run shot to left to make it 8-1. Torres hit a single to left. After a lineout, Mark Payton would draw a walk but a groundout would end the Top half of the inning. Acevedo threw another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh for the Railriders. John Stilson would come in to pitch for the Bisons in the eighth. Wade would hit a triple to center with two outs, but a groundout would end the top of the eighth. Tommy Layne came in to pitch the eighth for the Railriders and threw a 1-2-3 inning. Stilson would throw a 1-2-3 ninth for the Bisons. Jason Leblebijian drew a leadoff walk but Layne would get a 6-4-3 double play for the first two outs. The Railriders would go to Ben Heller for the final out and he would get a flyout to center to give the Railriders an 8-1 victory over Buffalo.

Thoughts on the game: Acevedo had a great game on the mound. He went seven innings, gave up three hits and struck four while giving up one run. Gleyber Torres had a great game, getting three hits and Clint Frazier hit a home run.

News: Several transactions happened today. Mason Williams and Kyle Higashioka were called up due to the injuries to Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks. Ben Heller and Tommy Layne reported to the Railriders. Giovanny Gallegos was sent down but has not reported just yet,

Railriders 0 0 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 8
Buffalo 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1

Railriders
2B Wade 4 2 2 1
CF Fowler 5 2 2 2
DH Austin 4 1 2 1
1B Choi 4 0 0 1
RF Frazier 5 1 1 3
SS Torres 4 1 3 0
3B Solano 4 0 1 0
LF Payton 3 0 0 0
C Castillo

2B: Castillo, Fowler, Torres, Wade
3B: Austin
HR: Frazier

Buffalo
CF Parmley 4 1 1 0
3B Petit 3 0 1 1
1B Tellez 3 0 0 0
C Ohlman 2 0 1 0
DH Saltalmacchia 4 0 0 0
2B Lebleijian 3 0 0 0
LF Elmore 3 0 0 0
RF Opitz 4 0 0 0
SS Diaz 3 0 0 0

2B: Parmley

Pitching
Railriders
Acevedo (W) 7 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 5 BB 4 K
Layne 1.2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K
Heller 0.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K

Buffalo
Santos (L) 5 IP 5 H 4 R 4 ER 3 BB 10 K
Smith 2 IP 6 H 4 R 4 ER 2 BB 0 K
Stilson 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 3 K

Kocher dominant as Dallas takes State Title

The South Park Eagles and the Dallas Mountaineers came to Penn State to play for the 4A Baseball State Championship. Nick Kocher got the start for the Mountaineers. Kyle Thompson started on the mound for the Eagles. Adam Morris hit a one out single. After a flyout, Wagner would hit an infield single but a strikeout would end the Top half of the first. Thompson would throw a 1-2-3 inning to keep it scoreless after one. Roell hit a one out single but Kocher would get back to back strikeouts to keep the Eagles off the board. Mike Collins drew a one out walk then Will McCrum hit a single but a 6-3 double play would end the inning. Kocher would throw his first 1-2-3 inning in the third. Charles Giacometti drew a leadoff walk then moved to second on a Christo Huntington sacrifice bunt and moved to third on a passed ball. Back to back strikeouts would keep the game scoreless after three. Wagner would hit a leadoff single, then Kentzel drew a walk. Kocher would get back to back strikeouts for the first two outs then Vaupel hit a single to left but Wagner would try to score but Patton threw home to get him out to end the fourth inning. Mike Luksic would strike out swinging on a wild pitch and reach first, then Nick Kocher hit a single. Mike Collins would use a sacrifice bunt to move the runners but he reached on a throwing error and Luksic would score to make it 1-0 Mountaineers. Will McCrum hit a hard single to score Kovalick to make it 2-0. After a popout, Giacometti would draw a walk but a strikeout and a flyout would end the inning. Groff would draw a walk. After a strikeout and a forceout at second. Thompson would reach on an error but a forceout would end the Top half of the fifth. Kevin Vaupel would come in to pitch for the Eagles. Nick Kocher hit a two out single but a groundout would end the inning. Steve Moore would hit a one out single but a popout and a strikeout would keep the Eagles off the board. McCrum hit a single to left, then South Park went to Tanner Pantuso out of the bullpen. Drew Patton would draw a walk and get lifted for a pinch runner in Andrew Kovalick. Giacometti would use a sacrifice bunt that would be misplayed and McCrum would score for a 3-0 lead. After a strikeout, Darren Kerdesky would hit a triple to score Kovalick and Giacometti to make it 5-0. A flyout and a groundout would end the inning. Josh Lydon would come in to pitch the seventh for the Mountaineers. He would get a flyout to right for the first out, then would get a diving catch by Nick Kocher in left for the second then finally Lydon would get a popout to Mike Luksic for the final out as the Mountaineers took the 4A Baseball State Championship 5-0 over the South Park Eagles. The win was their 13th in a row.

Thoughts on the game: Congrats to the Dallas Mountaineers on their State Championship!! Nick Kocher pitched a great game on the mound, whenever he was in a pressure situation, he seemed to get a strikeout or a big out to keep South Park off the scoreboard. He also had a big diving catch in left in the seventh to prevent a hit. Not to give just Nick Kocher credit, Will McCrum had a great game, going 3 for 3 with an RBI. Darren Kerdesky's triple broke the game open with an 2 RBI triple in the sixth. It's pretty amazing what this baseball team has done. They lost four in a row at midseason and then rolled after that to a Division title, to the District title and then the State Championship in 4A. Just an amazing run.

South Park 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dallas 0 0 0 2 0 3 x 5

South Park
SS Bywalski 4 0 0 0
CF Morris 3 0 1 0
P/2B Thompson 3 0 0 0
3B Wagner 3 0 2 0
1B Kentzel 2 0 0 0
RF Moore 3 0 1 0
LF Roell 3 0 1 0
2B Vaughn 0 0 0 0
DH Vaupel 3 0 1 0
P Pantuso 0 0 0 0
C Groff 2 0 0 0

Dallas
CF Kerdesky 4 0 1 2
2B Barrett 4 0 0 0
3B Luksic 4 1 0 0
P/LF Kocher 3 1 2 0
RF Collins 1 0 0 0
SS McCrum 3 1 3 1
LF Patton 2 0 0 0
LF Lewis 0 0 0 0
PR Kovalick 0 1 0 0
P Lydon 0 0 0 0
C Mathers 0 0 0 0
DH Giacometti 0 1 0 0
1B Huntington 2 0 0 0

3B: Kerdesky

Pitching
South Park
Thompson (L) 4 IP 19 BF 2 R 1 ER 5 K 3 BB
Vaupel 1+ IP 5 BF 1 R 1 ER 2 H 0 K 0 BB
Pantuso 1 IP 6 BF 2 R 1 ER 1 H 1 K 1 BB

Dallas
Kocher (W) 6 IP 26 BF 0 R 0 ER 6 H 9 K 2 BB
Lydon 1 IP 3 BF 0 R 0 ER 0 H 0 K 0 BB

Red Wings Pull Away to Avoid Sweep

The Railriders and the Rochester Red Wings completed their three game series on Thursday night at PNC Field. Aaron Slegars got the start for the Red Wings. Bryan Mitchell got the start for the Railriders. Zack Granite drew a leadoff walk, but a double play and a flyout would end the Top of the first. Tyler Wade would hit an infield single, he would steal second on the next batter. Wade went to third on a groundout. Tyler Austin would hit a single to right that scored Wade for a 1-0 Railriders lead. Ji-Man Choi would hit a single to left but a forceout and a lineout ended the first inning. Mitchell threw a 1-2-3 second inning for the Railriders. Donovan Solano would hit a single to center with one out. Slegars would hit back-to-back strikeouts to keep it a one run deficit. Bengie Gonzalez hit a two out triple to center then Granite hit a single to tie the game at one. JB Shuck would hit a double but Granite would be out at the plate for the third out. Ji-Man Choi would hit a two out single to center. Clint Frazier would draw a walk but a forceout would end the inning. Mitch Garver hit an infield single with one out. After a flyout, a wild pitch would move Garver to second. ByungHo Park would bring home Garver on a single to center to make it 2-1 Red Wings. Park would go to second on the throw. Crestwood Grad Matt Wotherspoon came in to pitch for the Railriders. Niko Goodrum hit a single to right that scored Park for a 3-1 lead. Leonardo Reginatto hit a single to right that moved Goodrum to third. Bengie Gonzalez would bring him home on a single to center To increase the lead to 4-1. Granite drew a walk but a groundout would end the inning. Donovan Solano would hit a single to center with one out but a strikeout and a flyout would end the inning. Matt Hague would draw a leadoff walk but Wotherspoon would retire the next three batters to end the Top of the fifth. Ji-Man Choi would drew a two out walk but a flyout would end the inning. Bengie Gonzalez would draw a two out walk but a flyout would end the Red Wings turn at-bat. Alan Busneitz came in to pitch the sixth for the Red Wings. Mason Williams would hit a single to right with one out but would be out trying to stretch it out to a double for the second out. A strikeout would end the sixth. JP Feyereisen would come in to pitch the seventh for the Railriders and would throw a 1-2-3 inning. Tyler Wade hit a single to left. Wade would move to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout to third. Wade would score on a wild pitch to cut the Red Wings lead to 4-2. A popout would end the inning. Goodrum drew a two out walk then Reginatto hit a single to right but a groundout would end the Top half of the eighth. Trevor Hildenberger came in to pitch the eighth for Rochester. Gleyber Torres hit a two out single to center but a strikeout would get the Red Wings to the ninth. Tyler Jones came in to pitch the ninth for the Railriders. Granite hit a double to left to lead off the ninth. Granite would move to third on a groundout. Hague would bring home Granite on a single to center for a 5-2 Rochester lead. Garver would hit a double to center that got Garver to third. After a strikeout, ByungHo Park would draw a walk to load the bases. Goodrum would bring home Garver on a single to make it 6-2. Reginatto would bring home two on a single to make it 8-2. A strikeout would get the Railriders to the plate. Tyler Wade would hit a double to right but a groundout would end the game as the Red Wings avoided the sweep with an 8-2 victory over the Railriders at PNC Field.

Thoughts on the game: Rochester had a great ninth inning, in which the Red Wings batted around and were able to pull away. Eight of the nine Red Wings had a hit in the game. For the Railriders, Tyler Wade had a great game with three hits.

Rochester 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 4 8
Railriders 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2

Rochester
CF Granite 3 1 2 1
LF Shuck 5 0 1 0
1B Hague 4 1 1 1
C Garver 5 2 2 0
2B Field 5 0 0 0
DH Park 4 2 1 1
RF Goodrum 4 1 2 2
3B Reginatto 5 0 3 2
SS Gonzalez 4 1 2 1

2B: Shuck, Granite, Garver
3B: Gonzalez

Railriders
3B Wade 5 2 3 0
RF Fowler 5 0 0 0
1B Austin 4 0 1 1
DH Choi 3 0 2 0
LF Frazier 3 0 0 0
SS Torres 4 0 1 0
CF Williams 4 0 1 0
2B Solano 4 0 2 0
C Rodriguez 4 0 0 0

2B: Wade

Pitching
Rochester
Slegers (W) 5 IP 6 H 1 R 1 ER 2 BB 5 K
Busenitz (H) 2 IP 2 H 1 R 1 ER 0 BB 3 K
Hildenberger (S) 2 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K

Railriders
Mitchell (L) 3.2 IP 5 H 3 R 3 ER 1 BB 4 K
Wotherspoon 2.1 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 2 K
Feyreisen 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 3 K
Jones 1 IP 5 H 4 R 4 ER 1 BB 2 K

Royals State Title Bid Comes Up Short

Central Martinsburg and Holy Redeemer came to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park to decide who would be the 3A State Champion in baseball. Jordan Choman got the start for the Royals. Preston Karstetter would get the start for the Dragons. Hoenstine would lead off with a walk. After a flyout, McKnight would hit a triple to right center to score Hoenstine to make it 1-0 Dragons. Speck would bring home McKnight on a sacrifice fly to right to make it 2-0. A strikeout would end the Top half of the first. Karstetter would throw a 1-2-3 first inning for the Dragons. Liebal would hit a leadoff single then moved to second on a Corle sacrifice bunt then Imler moved Liebal to third on a single. Liebal would score on a double steal for a 3-0 lead. Brumbaugh would reach on an error that would score Imler for the 4-0 advantage. Back to back strikeouts would end the Dragons half of the inning. Cade Flanley drew a leadoff walk then Jordan Choman hit a single to right. The runners would move to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Tony Molitoris. A strikeout and a popout would end the second. Jake Muthler hit a two out double to right center but a groundout would end the Top of the third. Tucker Ell drew a one out walk, would steal second then go to third on a groundout, but a strikeout would end the third. Corle hit a leadoff single and would move to second on an Imler sacrifice bunt but a strikeout and a popout would end the Top of the fourth. Choman drew a one out walk. After a strikeout, Rob McClay hit a single that moved Choman's courtesy runner Dean Ambosie to third. Mykolas Bozentka continued his big postseason with a double to deep left to score Ambosie and McClay to cut the Dragons lead to 4-2. Smith hit a leadoff triple then scored on a McKnight sacrifice fly to left to make it 5-2 Dragons. Speck would hit a single but would get picked off at first on the next batter, then Muthler would hit a single but a groundout back to Choman would end the Top of the fifth. Brady Nicewonger came in to pitch the fifth for the Dragons and threw a 1-2-3 inning. Sean Wills would come in to pitch for the Royals in the sixth. Imler would hit a one out double then Brumbaugh would get hit by a pitch then Hoenstine would hit a double that would score Imler and pinch runner Walters for a 7-2 lead. A flyout would move Hoenstine to third and a wild pitch would score him for an 8-2 advantage. Another flyout would end the inning. Flanley would draw a leadoff then move to second on a groundout to first. Flanley would score on a single by Tony Molitoris to make it 8-3. Back to back flyouts would end the inning. Speck would hit a leadoff single but Wills would retire the next three batters in order. Nicewonger would throw a 1-2-3 seventh to give Central Martinsburg the 3A State Championship with an 8-3 victory over Holy Redeemer.

Thoughts on the game: The Dragons of Central did a great job of hitting the ball today, they had eleven hits, only one player didn't have a hit. Most of all, congrats to Central on winning the state title. It's been a great season by the Royals, not many thought they would be at this point but they've proven all wrong to get to this point.

Central 2 2 0 0 1 3 0 8
Holy Redeemer 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 3

Central
SS Hoenstine 3 2 1 2
CF Smith 4 1 1 0
3B McKnight 3 1 1 2
RF Speck 3 0 2 0
C Muthler 4 0 2 0
LF Liebal 4 1 1 0
2B Corle 3 0 1 0
P Karstetter 0 0 0 0
DH Imler 2 2 2 0
1B Brumbaugh 2 0 0 0
PR Walters 0 1 0 0

2B: Muthler, Imler, Hoenstine
3B: McKnight, Smith

Holy Redeemer
SS Ell 3 0 0 0
2B Cavanaugh 4 0 0 0
C Borum 3 0 0 0
3B Flanley 1 1 0 0
P/LF Choman 2 1 1 0
LF Ambosie 0 0 0 0
RF Molitoris 2 0 1 1
CF McClay 3 1 1 0
1B Bozentka 3 0 1 2
LF/P Wills 3 0 0 0

2B: Bozentka

Pitching
Central
Karstetter (W) 4 IP 18 BF 2 R 2 ER 4 K 3 BB
Nicewonger (S) 3 IP 11 BF 1 R 1 ER 1 H 1 K 1 BB

Holy Redeemer
Choman (L ) 5 IP 25 BF 5 R 8 H 5 K 1 BB
Wills 2 IP 10 BF 3 R 3 H 2 K 0 BB

Tigers fall short against Mt Pleasant

Mt Pleasant and Tunkhannock came to University Park to decide who is the best 4A Softball team in the State. Tigers ace Hope Jones got the start. The Vikings started Caroline Alincic in the circle. Ava Gnibus hit a leadoff single but Hope Jones would get retire the next three batters to get the Tigers to the plate. Hope Jones would lead off by getting hit by a pitch but Alincic would retire the next three batters to keep it scoreless after one. Czegan hit a two out single but a groundout ended the top half of the second. Sara Traver hit a one out double but a popout and a flyout would end the inning. Knouch woud hit an infield single then Gribus would draw a walk. After an infield fly, Poulich would reach on an error. Knouch and Gribus would score on the same error to make it 2-0 Vikings. Poulich would go to third on the play. Uncapher would bring home Poulich on a grounder that was misplayed for a 3-0 lead. A lineout and it would turn into a double play to end the Top of the third. Bulford would hit a leadoff single. After a flyout, a forceout would get Bulford at second. Mokychic would bring home Faith Jones to get the Tigers on the board 3-1. A groundout would end the inning. Klejka would draw a leadoff walk, she would move to second on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout would move her to third. A lineout would end the Top of the fourth. Traver would hit a one out double. After a groundout, Farr would hit a double that would score Traver to make it 3-2. A flyout would end the inning. Gribus would hit a leadoff double then Addy Kubasky would hit a double to make it 4-2 Mt Pleasant. Poulich would hit a triple that scored Kubasky to make it 5-2. Kendra Shultz came in to pitch for the Tigers. Poulich would try to score on a wild pitch but they would get her out at the plate. A lineout double play would end the fifth for the Vikings. Hope Jones, Faith Jones and Mokychic hit consecutive singles but Alincic would retire the next three batters to keep the lead. Shultz would throw a 1-2-3 sixth for the Tigers. Danielle Krispin, Farr and Bulford had the bases loaded with no outs for the second consecutive inning. Hope Jones would bring home Krispin on a sacrifice fly to center to make it 5-3. Faith Jones would reach on an error to load the bases once again. A fielder's choice at home and a popout would end the sixth. Knouch, Gnibus and Kubasky loaded the bases to start the top of the seventh but Schultz would retire the next three batters to keep it a two run deficit. Alincic would throw a 1-2-3 seventh as the Mt Pleasant Vikings took the 4A Softball State Championship with a 5-3 victory over Tunkhannock.

Thoughts on the game: Congrats to the Mt Pleasant Vikings on their State Title. Ava Gnibus had a great game at the plate, going 3 for 3 with two runs scored. The Tunkhannock Lady Tigers had a great run throughout the postseason. With the young players they have, I believe they could come back here. They played great despite the loss.

Mt Pleasant 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 5
Tunkhannock 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 3

Mt Pleasant
CF Gnibus 3 2 3 0
LF Kubasky 4 1 2 1
3B Poulich 4 1 1 1
2B Uncapher 4 1 1 1
DP Shogun 3 0 0 1
1B Klejka 2 0 0 0
SS Czegan 2 0 1 0
C Klejka 3 0 0 0
RF Knouch 3 1 2 0

2B: Gnibus, Kubasky
3B: Poulich

Tunkhannock
P/LF H Jones 3 0 1 1
SS F Jones 4 1 1 0
CF Moychic 4 0 2 1
3B Simmons 4 0 0 0
DP/P Schultz 4 0 0 0
LF Traver 4 1 2 0
RF Dunn 2 0 0 0
FP Krispin 2 1 1 0
1B Farr 3 0 2 1
2B Bulford 3 0 2 0

2B: Traver (2) Farr

Pitching
Mt Pleasant
Alincic (W) 7 IP 34 BF 3 R 3 ER 11 H 1 K 1 BB

Tunkhannock
H Jones (L) 4+ IP 21 BF 5 R 4 ER 6 H 0 K 2 BB
Schultz 3 IP 11 BF 0 R 0 ER 3 H 4 K 1 BB

Williams gets Railriders past the Red Wings

The Railriders and the Red Wings continued their three game set at PNC Field on Wednesday night. Brady Lail got the start for the Railriders. David Hurlbut started for the Red Wings. Matt Hague drew a two out walk for the Red Wings but a strikeout ended the top of the first. Hurlbut threw a 1-2-3 in the strangest way. Tyler Wade started off with a single to left but Wade was out trying to get to second for the first out. JR Murphy and Bengie Gonzalez each hit two out singles but a strikeout kept the game scoreless. Clint Frazier would draw a one out walk but a double play would end the inning. Zack Granite hit a leadoff double to left, then JB Shuck brought him home on a double to right for a 1-0 Red Wings lead. After a groundout, Niko Goodrum would hit a double to center to score Shuck for a 2-0 advantage. A groundout would end the inning. Kyle Higashioka would hit a leadoff home run to left center to cut the deficit to 2-1. After a popout, Donovan Solano hit a single to center, a groundout would move Solano to second then Dustin Fowler would get hit a pitch. A wild pitch would move Solano to third but a strikeout would keep it 2-1 Red Wings after three. Murphy would hit a leadoff single to center then Bengie Gonzalez followed with another single to center. The runners would move up on a strikeout on a wild pitch. Zack Granite would bring home Murphy on a single to left and Granite would be out on a rundown. A popout would end the inning. Tyler Austin hit a leadoff double to right then Clint Frazier followed with a single to move Austin to third. Gleyber Torres would then hit a triple to right to tie the game at 3. Higashioka then gave the Railriders a 4-3 lead on a single to left. Hurlbut would then get the next three outs to keep it a one run game. Hague drew a leadoff walk but a double play and a strikeout would end the Red Wings' half of the fifth. Hurlbut would throw a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fifth. Lail went out and threw a 1-2-3 sixth for the Railriders. Drew Rucinski came on in relief for Rochester. Higashioka hit a two out single to left but a flyout would end the sixth. Engelb Vielma hit a leadoff single to center, then Granite hit a double to right to move Vielma to third. Tyler Webb came in to pitch for the Railriders. Webb would get the first out on a popout. Hague would bring home Vielma and Granite on a single to right for a 5-4 Red Wings lead. Tommy Field then hit an infield single but a flyout and a lineout would keep it a one run Rochester lead. Rucinski would throw a 1-2-3 seventh for the Red Wings. Joe Mantiply came in to pitch the eighth for the Railriders. Vielma would hit an infield single with two outs but he would get picked off at second to end the inning. Michael Tonkin came in to pitch for the Red Wings. Greg Bird drew a leadoff walk, then Tyler Austin followed with a single to center. After a flyout and a strikeout. Higashioka drew a walk to load the bases. Mason Williams would then hit a double to right to score Bird and Austin to give the Railriders a 6-5 lead. A groundout would end the inning. After Mantiply would get the first two outs, JR Graham would come in to get the final out. Graham would get a strikeout as the Railriders took their second straight game 6-5 over Rochester.

Thoughts on the game: Kyle Higashioka had a great game tonight at the plate. He was 3 for 3 and drew an important walk in the eighth to load the bases. Zack Granite had a great game at the plate for the Red Wings, going 3 for 5 with two doubles.

Rochester 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 5
Railriders 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 2 x 6

Rochester
CF Granite 5 2 3 1
LF Shuck 5 1 1 1
DH Hague 3 0 1 2
3B Field 4 0 1 0
RF Goodrum 4 0 1 1
1B Park 4 0 0 0
C Murphy 4 1 2 0
2B Gonzalez 4 0 2 0
SS Vielma 4 1 2 0

2B: Granite (2), Shuck, Goodrum

Railriders
3B Wade 4 0 1 0
LF Fowler 3 0 0 0
1B Bird 3 1 0 0
DH Austin 4 2 2 0
RF Frazier 3 1 1 0
SS Torres 4 1 1 2
C Higashioka 3 1 3 2
CF Williams 4 0 1 2
2B Solano 4 0 1 0

2B: Austin, Williams
3B: Torres
HR: Higashioka

Pitching
Rochester
Hurlbut 5 IP 7 H 4 R 4 ER 1 BB 3 K
Rucinski 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K
Tonkin (L) 1 IP 2 H 2 R 2 ER 2 BB 1 K

Railriders
Lail 6 IP 10 H 5 R 5 ER 2 BB 5 K
Webb 1 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K
Mantiply (W) 1.2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K
Graham (S) 0.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K

For the Glory

The State Championship Matchups are all set. Four District 2 Baseball and Softball teams will vie for a State Championship. Regardless if these teams win or not, this will be the best season all four of teams have had in a long time. With that being said, here are the previews of the District 2 Teams in the State Championships.

4A Softball Championship Game
Tunkhannocck vs Mt Pleasant

Where: Nittany Lion Softball Park

Time: 1:30 PM Thursday

Breakdown: Mt Pleasant is the three seed coming out of District 7. In the state playoffs, freshman Sydney Kanuch has been their best hitter. She's hitting .556 with a double. Ava Gnibus leads the team in RBIs this postseason with four. Meadow Uncapher is the team's ace. She's 2-0 with a 0.52 ERA and eight strikeout in 13 and 1/3 innings. Tunkhannock comes in as the District 2 Champion. Paige Mokychic is the team's best hitter with a .441 average, nine doubles, two triples, a home run and 23 RBIs. Jena Simmons leads the team in RBIs with 28. Hope Jones is the team's ace. The Sophomore is 11-2 with 1.56 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 81 innings pitched.

3A Baseball Championship Game
Holy Redeemer vs Central

Where: Medlar Field at Lubrano Park

Time: 3 PM Thursday

Breakdown: Central is the two seed out of District 6 and avenged their loss in the District 6 Championship game with a 3-1 win over Huntingdon. Brady Nicewonger looks the guy who will get the start as their ace, Jarret Imler is ineligible to pitch after throwing Monday. Nicewonger is 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 41 and 1/3 innings pitched. Chase Smith is their best hitter. He's hitting .481 with eight doubles, nine triples, three home runs and a walloping 37 RBIs. Holy Redeemer is the District 2 Champion. Pitching has been the name of the game for the Royals this postseason. Jordan Choman is projected as the starter for the Championship game. Choman is 5-1 with a 1.71 ERA and 34 strikeouts. Tom Borum has been great at the plate this season. He's hitting .393 with five doubles, a home run and 20 RBIs.

6A Softball Championship Game
Hempfield vs Hazleton Area

Where: Nittany Lion Softball Park

Time: 4 PM Thursday

Breakdown: Hempfield is the District 7 Champion. Kara Cook is their best player. She's hitting .507 with 16 doubles, two home runs and 26 RBIs. Serena Felix is their leader in RBIs with 31. Several players are hitting .400+ for Hempfield. Kara Cook is their ace. She's 10-3 with a 1.27 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 82 and 2/3 innings pitched. The Hazleton Area Lady Cougars are the District 2 Champions. Tiana Treon has been very impressive as a freshman. She's hitting .500 with four doubles, a triple, three home runs and 24 RBIs. Senior Megan Trivelpiece has possibly been their best hitter. She's hit nine doubles, two triples, six home runs and 35 RBIs. Erika Book is the team's ace, she's 22-3 with a 2.14 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 160 innings pitched.

4A Baseball Championship
South Park vs Dallas

Where: Medlar Field at Lubrano Park

Time: 1 PM Friday

Breakdown: South Park is the District 7 runner-up and avenged their loss in the District 7 Championship with a 10-3 victory over Blackhawk in the State Semifinals. Kyle Thompson and Josh Wagner had two hits and two RBIs in the win over Blackhawk. Eight players had at least one hit in the victory.  Dallas comes in as the District 2 Champion. The Mountaineers are on a 12 game winning streak. The Mountaineers' Darren Kerdesky has been great in the leadoff spot for the Mountaineers. The sophomore is hitting .365 with three doubles, a triple, and 12 RBIs. Senior JD Barrett leads the team in RBIs with 20. Nick Kocher can be called upon to pitch, time will tell if he will start. Kocher is undoubtedly their ace with a 7-2 record, a 3.06 ERA and 49 strikeouts. They can go to Darren Kerdesky who pitched well against West York. Josh Lydon has been great out of the bullpen for the Mountaineers during their 12 game winning streak.

Railriders get past Rochester

The Railriders came back home after a week as they started a three game series with the Rochester Red Wings. Caleb Smith got the start for the Railriders. The Red Wings sent Chris Heston on the mound. Zack Granite hit a single to left but Smith got a 5-4-3 double play for the first two outs. Matt Hague kept the inning alive with a single to left but a flyout ended the top of the first. Tyler Wade hit a leadoff single for the Railriders then Dustin Fowler hit a triple to center to score Wade for a 1-0 lead. After a groundout, Tyler Austin drew a walk. Clint Frazier would bring home Fowler on a sacrifice fly to center for a 2-0 advantage. Gleyber Torres would hit a single to center but a groundout would end the inning. Smith threw a 1-2-3 second for the Railriders. Mason Williams hit a leadoff triple then Donovan Solano would bring him home on a sacrifice fly to center to increase the lead to 3-0. After a strikeout, Dustin Fowler hit a double to right, but a groundout would end the inning. Granite would hit a bunt single to keep the third alive but a lineout ended the third. Frazier hit a one out single to left then would steal second then stole third after Torres drew a walk. Tim Melville came in to pitch for the Red Wings. Kyle Higashioka brought home Frazier on a single to left for a 4-0 advantage. A strikeout and a groundout would end the third. Tommy Field would hit an infield single but Smith would get an inning ending double play to keep Rochester off the board. Greg Bird drew a two out walk then Tyler Austin hit a double to left to get Bird to third but a strikeout would end the inning. Engelb Vielma and Bennie Gonzalez drew two out walks. After an on-field delay, Smith would get a groundout to keep the shutout going. Gleyber Torres hit a leadoff single to center then Higashioka hit an infield single. Melville then retired the next three batters to end the fifth. Niko Goodrum hit a leadoff homer to left to cut the Railriders lead to 4-1. After a groundout, Tommy Field drew a walk. After a strikeout, JR Murphy hit a single to center to move Field to third. JP Feyereisen came in to pitch in relief for the Railriders. Leonardo Reginatto hit a single that scored Field to make it 4-2, but a popout prevented any more Rochester scoring. Melville threw a 1-2-3 sixth for the Red Wings. Bengie Gonzalez hit a leadoff single to center. Gonzalez would go to second on a groundout. After a flyout, Matt Hague would draw a walk then Tommy Field would follow with another walk and the Railriders went to Tyler Jones in relief and would get a forceout to end the seventh. Melville would throw another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh for Rochester. Murphy would reach on an error and reach third to start the eighth. After a strikeout, Murphy would score on an RBI groundout by Vielma to cut it to 4-3. A strikeout would end the top half of the eighth. Mason Williams drew a leadoff walk, then Donovan Solano hit a double to center that scored Williams to make it 5-3. The Red Wings went to Kevin Chapman out of the bullpen. He would get a groundout to start off the inning. The groundout would move Solano to third. Fowler would bring him home on a bloop single to left to make it 6-3. Tyler Austin followed with a double to left to score Fowler and a 7-3 advantage. After a flyout, Gleyber Torres brought home Bird and Austin for a 9-3 lead. Higashioka hit a double to left, moving Torres to third. A strikeout would end the inning. JR Graham would come in to pitch for the Railriders. Zack Granite would hit a leadoff double to right but Graham would retire the next three batters to give the Railriders a 9-3 victory over the Red Wings.

Thoughts on the game: The Railriders looked like they would dominate early on, Smith had some issues late but the bullpen was able to keep the lead. The Red Wings looked like they would close the gap in the eighth but a big bottom half for the Railriders snuffed out a comeback for the Red Wings. Gleyber Torres had a great game with three hits on the night.

Rochester 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 3
Railriders 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 5 x 9

Rochester
CF Granite 5 0 3 0
RF Goodrum 5 1 1 1
1B Hague 4 0 1 0
LF Field 3 1 1 0
DH Park 4 0 0 0
C Murphy 4 1 1 0
3B Reginatto 4 0 1 1
SS Vielma 3 0 0 1
2B B Gonzalez 3 0 1 0

2B: Granite
HR: Goodrum

Railriders
SS Wade 5 1 1 0
CF Fowler 5 2 3 2
DH Bird 3 1 0 0
1B Austin 4 1 2 1
LF Frazier 4 1 1 1
3B Torres 4 0 3 2
C Higashioka 5 0 3 1
RF Williams 4 2 1 0
2B Solano 3 1 1 2

2B: Fowler, Austin (2), Solano, Higashioka
3B: Fowler

Pitching
Rochester
Heston (L) 2.1 IP 6 H 4 R 4 ER 2 BB 1 K
Melville 4.2 IP 5 H 2 R 2 ER 2 BB 5 K
Chapman 1 IP 4 H 3 R 3 ER 1 BB 1 K

Railriders
Smith (W) 5.2 IP 6 H 2 R 2 ER 3 BB 3 K
Feyreisen (H) 1 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 2 BB 0 K
Jones (H) 1.1 IP 0 H 1 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K
Graham 1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K

The Quest To Happy Valley

Six teams attempted to get to Penn State for the State Finals on Thursday and Friday. In this post, the scores of all six teams from District 2 will be in here, along with some highlights.

6A Softball
Hazleton Area 8 Springford 5
The Lady Cougars came back from an early 4-0 deficit and took a 5-4 in the second inning and never gave up the lead. The Cougars will take on Chambersburg or Hempfield Area on Thursday at Nittany Lion Softball Park at 4 PM.

5A Baseball
Whitehall 6 Wallenpaupack 2
The Zephyrs had a big fourth inning by scoring five, overcoming a 1-0 deficit to advance to the State Championship game at Penn State on Thursday at 5:30 PM.

4A Baseball
Dallas 7 East Pennsboro 5
JD Barrett scored three on a bases loaded single in the sixth to give the Mountaineeers the lead for good as the Mountaineers will be headed to Penn State and play at 1 PM on Friday.

4A Softball
Tunkhannock 9 Bangor 4
Tunkhannock broke it open with six runs in the fourth inning as the Tigers advance to the State Finals. They will play at 1:30 PM on Thursday

3A Baseball
Holy Redeemer 4 Loyalsock 0
Tucker Ell broke a scoreless tie in the seventh with a single and the Royals would score 3 more in the inning and Tony Molitoris would pitch another shutout to give the Royals a spot in the State Championship Game. They will take on Huntingdon or Central at 3 PM at Lubrano Park at Penn State.

3A Softball
Pine Grove 10 Mid Valley 6
Pine Grove knocked off Mid Valley in a high scoring game to advance to the State Title game.

District 2 will have four teams vying for State Titles in Baseball and Softball.

Moving Around

This week and the week before were pretty eventful if you were following along the transactions. Relievers Ernesto Frieri and Jason Gurka were released. Ruben Tejada was traded to Baltimore. Crestwood Grad Matt Wotherspoon was called up from Double-A Trenton. Ben Heller will be called up today and they will send down Domingo German who was called up for Sunday's game. Greg Bird started his rehab assignment with the Railriders on Thursday. So it's been an eventful few weeks for sure. That being said, here are the three stars of the week.

Third Star: Tyler Austin: Austin was officially assigned to the Railriders this week after being on an rehab assignment to the Railriders. This week, he looks like he could contribute to the Yankees right away by the end of the year if he keeps it up. This week, he hit five doubles while only driving in two.

Second Star: Tyler Wade: He seems to always to be here, doesn't he? This week, he led the team in hits with 13 with three doubles and four RBIs in the leadoff spot. He's been one of the more consistent hitters on the Railriders this season.

First Star: Gleyber Torres: Oh boy, has he been great this week. The highly touted Yankees prospect started off Monday by hitting a big home run to give the Railriders the lead and he led the team this week in home runs and RBIs. He is truly deserving of the number one star.

Here are where the local professional players are at and how they are doing.

Matt Wotherspoon (Crestwood) He was called up on Tuesday to the Railriders and on Friday, he went 2 and 1/3, giving up two hits and striking out three.

Mike Papi (Tunkhannock) He is currently in the Indians organization and is in Triple-A Columbus. He hit his first Triple-A home run on Monday. He's hitting .224 with a double, a home run and eleven RBIs in 15 games.

Kyle McMyne (Old Forge) Currently in the Cincinnati organization and is in Triple-A Louisville. He has appeared in 23 games, going 2-1 with a 3.55 ERA, striking out 26 in 38 innings this season.

Cory Spangenberg (Abington Heights) Currently with the San Diego Padres. On Sunday, he hit two home runs in a loss to Kansas City. On the season, he's hitting .271 with five doubles, a triple, three home runs and nine RBIs in 20 games this season.

Joe McCarthy (Scranton) Currently with the Tampa Bay organization and is in Double-A Montgomery. He's played in 58 games, he's hitting .297 with 18 doubles, three triples, a home run and 20 RBIs.

Max Kranick (Valley View) Currently awaiting his assignment from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tony Hernandez (Hazleton Area) Currently awaiting his assignment from the New York Yankees.

Chris Sweeney (Crestwood) Currently playing for Evansville in the Frontier League. In 16 games, he's hitting .279 with four doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs and has stolen two bases.

IronPigs Comeback To Take Down Railriders

The Railriders and the IronPigs concluded their four game series at Coca-Cola Park on Sunday afternoon. Cesar Ramos got the start for Lehigh Valley. The Railriders would start Chance Adams on the mound. Tyler Wade led off with a bunt single then Dustin Fowler singled to left to move Wade to third. Greg Bird would then draw a walk to load the bases. After a flyout, Donovan Solano would bring home Wade and Fowler on a single to center for a 2-0 lead. Bird would go to third and Solano to second on the throw. Gleyber Torres would bring home Bird on a sacrifice fly to left for a 3-0 lead. A strikeout would end the Top of the first. Brock Stassi would hit a leadoff single to left and Jorge Alfaro would get hit by a pitch but a forceout and a strikeout would end the inning. Tyler Wade hit a two out double to right then Fowler brought him home on a single to make it 4-0 Railriders. A flyout would end the Top of the second. Hector Gomez would hit a solo shot with one out to cut the deficit to 4-1. A flyout and a strikeout would end the inning. Ramos would strike out the side in the third to keep it 4-1. Adams threw a 1-2-3 inning in the third. Ramos threw another 1-2-3 inning in the fourth. Dylan Cozens hit a leadoff single to right but Adams would retire the next three batters to hold the three run lead. Michael Mariot came in to pitch the fifth for Lehigh Valley. Tyler Wade would hit a single to right to lead off the fifth. Mariot would retire the next three batters to end the Top half of the fifth. Adams would a 1-2-3 inning for the Railriders in the bottom of the fifth. Mason Williams would hit a two out single to left but a strikeout would end the sixth at the plate for the Railriders. Jorge Alfaro would reach on an error with one out but back to back flyouts would end the sixth. Mariot threw a 1-2-3 seventh for the IronPigs. Nick Williams would hit a leadoff triple to right. After a strikeout, Williams would score on a wild pitch on the next batter to cut the deficit to two. After a groundout, Jorge Flores would draw a walk. Tyler Webb would come in to pitch for the Railriders. Perkins would hit a single, then Stassi would hit a single to center to score Flores to make it 4-3. Perkins would go to third. Alfaro then singled to score Perkins to tie the game at 4. Cozens would give the IronPigs the lead with a single to score Stassi to make It 5-4 Lehigh Valley. A strikeout would end the inning. Colton Murray enters the game to pitch for the IronPigs. Greg Bird drew a walk but Murray would retire the next three batters to keep the lead. Williams would hit a leadoff home run to increase the lead to 6-4. Gomez and Pedro Florimon would hit back to back singles. JR Graham would come in to pitch for the Railriders and would retire the next three batters to keep it a two run deficit. Pedro Beato would come in to pitch the ninth for Lehigh Valley. Mason Williams hit a leadoff single to left. After a strikeout, Mark Payton was hit by a pitch but Beato would get a strikeout and a flyout to give the IronPigs a split of the four game series with a 6-4 come from behind victory over the Railriders.

Thoughts on the game: Great comeback by the IronPigs. They were down 4-0 and they could have called it a bad game but they didn't and came back to win. They had a great seventh and eighth inning to get the win. Adams had a great game on the mound for the Railriders. He struck out 6 and only one walk.

Railriders 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Lehigh Valley 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 1 x 6

Railriders
SS Wade 5 2 3 0
CF Fowler 5 1 2 1
1B Bird 2 1 0 0
DH Austin 4 0 0 0
2B Solano 4 0 1 2
3B Torres 3 0 0 1
LF Williams 4 0 2 0
C Rodriguez 4 0 0 0
RF Payton 3 0 0 0

2B: Wade

Lehigh Valley
CF Perkins 5 1 1 0
DH Stassi 5 1 2 1
C Alfaro 3 0 1 1
LF Cozens 4 0 2 1
1B Hoskins 4 0 0 0
RF Williams 4 2 2 1
3B Gomez 4 1 2 1
SS Florimon 4 0 1 0
2B Flores 3 1 0 0

3B: Williams
HR: Gomez, Williams

Pitching
Railriders
Adams 6.2 IP 4 H 3 R 3 ER 1 BB 6 K
Webb (L) 0.1 IP 7 H 3 R 3 ER 0 BB 1 K
Graham 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K

Lehigh Valley
Ramos 4 IP 5 H 4 R 4 ER 1 BB 6 K
Mariot (W) 3 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 6 K
Murray (H) 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 1 K
Beato (S) 1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K

Almost There

The State Baseball and Softball Semifinals are upon us. On Monday, six District 2 teams will vie for the right to play in the State Final at Penn State on Thursday or Friday. These teams have been working all season for this and they hope their dream will come true. Here are the previews for the Baseball and Softball games. 

3A Baseball Semifinal

Holy Redeemer vs Loyalsock

Where: Central Columbia HS

Time: 4:30 PM

Breakdown: Holy Redeemer is here for the first time in school history. Loyalsock on the other hand is one step away from being in another State Championship game. A player to watch for Loyalsock is center fielder Hunter Webb, he had a home run in the State quarterfinal matchup. The Royals pitching staff has been great this postseason, only using two pitchers.

4A Baseball

East Pennsboro vs Dallas

Where: Pottsville HS

Time: 4:30 PM

Breakdown: East Pennsboro is the District 3 champion and are 17-6 on the season. EP's Dalton Miller is hitting .500 this season with four doubles, two triples and 11 RBIs. Dallas is on an eleven game winning streak. Thursday's game was possibly their most impressive. Sophomore Darren Kerdesky pitched great and Josh Lydon finished up the game, preserving the shutout and the win. 

5A Baseball

Whitehall vs Wallenpaupack

Where: Marywood University

Time: 4 PM

Breakdown: A tale of two different teams. One team expecting to be here. The other has been playing spoiler to everyone in their path. Wallenpaupack came in as the No 1 seed in their District Tournament and won the title convincingly over Crestwood. Whitehall needed a win to get into the playoffs as an 8 seed on the final week of the regular season. They ended up winning it all and have advanced to this point. If there is something in common with both teams, the teams have great pitching staffs and get timely hitting. 

3A Softball

Mid Valley vs Pine Grove

Where: Wilkes University

Time: 4 PM

Breakdown: Pine Grove is coming off a blowout win in their quarterfinal matchup and are the District 11 Champions. Mid Valley comes in as the District 2 Champion after knocking off defending state champion Holy Redeemer. 

4A Softball

Tunkhannock vs Bangor

Where: Wilkes University

Time: 6:30 PM

Breakdown: Bangor is the District 11 and knocked off a District 2 team in Wyoming Area. Tunkhannock won the District Title over Wyoming Area and won their state quarterfinal matchup convincingly.

6A Softball

Hazleton Area vs Spring-Ford

Where: Parkland HS

Time: Noon

Breakdown: Hazleton Area is in the State Semifinals for the second consecutive year and are looking to get to the State Final in the State's biggest classification. Spring-Ford comes in as the 3 seed out of District 1.

Railriders roll to Victory

The Railriders and the IronPigs continued their four game series on Saturday night at Coca-Cola Park. Tom Eshelman started for the IronPigs and Railriders started Bryan Mitchell. Eshelman threw a 1-2-3 inning for the IronPigs in the top of the first. Cameron Perkins led off with a walk. After back to back strikeouts. Dylan Cozens hit a single to right to move Perkins to third. Rhys Hoskins drew a walk to load the bases but a forceout would end the inning. Eshelman threw another 1-2-3 in the second for the Railriders. Pedro Florimon hit a single to right but a groundout would end the inning. Donovan Solano had the Railriders first hit of the day with a double to center then Cito Culver hit a single to score Solano to make it a 1-0 Railriders. Tyler Wade would hit a single to center but a strikeout and a flyout to end the Top of the third. JP Crawford led off with a single to center, then Jorge Alfaro followed with a double to right to get Crawford to third. After a strikeout, Rhys Hoskins brought home Crawford on an RBI groundout to tie the game at one. The Railriders went to JP Feyereisen in relief and would get a strikeout to end the third. Tyler Austin led off with a single to center, then Clint Frazier followed with a walk. Gleyber Torres then hit a single to left to load the bases. Eshelman would get a popout and a double play to keep the game tied at one. Feyereisen would throw a 1-2-3 fourth for the Railriders. Cito Culver reached on an error to start off the fifth. After back to back strikeouts, Greg Bird would hit a double to right to score Culver for a 2-1 Railriders lead. A strikeout would end the Top of the fifth. Perkins would hit a leadoff single to left. After back to back strikeouts, Cozens would double to center to score Perkins to tie the game at 2. Hoskins would draw a walk but a strikeout would end the fifth. Eshelman would throw a 1-2-3 sixth for the IronPigs. Feyereisen would get the first two outs via strikeout and would replace him with Tyler Jones and would get a strikeout to end the inning. Solano led off with a single to center, then got to second on a Culver sacrifice bunt. Hoby Milner would come in out of the bullpen. He got a groundout but Dustin Fowler would hit a home run to right to make it 4-2 Railriders. Perkins would hit a leadoff single then Crawford would follow with another single. After a strikeout, Cozens would bring home Perkins to cut the deficit to 4-3. A double play would get Jones out of the inning. Tyler Austin hit a double to right to start off the eighth. Clint Frazier then followed with a single to move Austin to third. Pat Venditte came in to pitch for the IronPigs. Frazier would steal third on the next batter. Kyle Higashioka would walk and Austin would score on the wild pitch to make it 5-3. Solano then followed with a single to score Frazier to increase it to 6-3. Culver hit a single that would score Higashioka as they added another to make it 7-3. Solano would score on a Tyler Wade sacrifice fly. A flyout would end the inning. Nick Williams would hit a leadoff single to left then Hector Gomez hit a double to center to score Williams to cut the lead to 8-4. After a strikeout, the Railriders went to Ben Heller and would get the next two outs to end the eighth. Greg Bird would hit a leadoff double to right, then Tyler Austin and Clint Frazier would each draw walks to load the bases. After a flyout, Greg Bird would try to come home on a wild pitch but the catcher got it and threw to the pitcher for the out at home. Higashioka then hit a three run home run to make it 11-4 Railriders. A flyout would end the inning. Heller would throw a 1-2-3 ninth to give the Railriders an 11-4 victory at Coca-Cola Park.

Thoughts on the game: It was close game early on then Fowler changed the game with his home run. The Railriders didn't reliquesh the lead after that. The pitching for the Railriders was once again great, combining for 14 strikeouts and three walks. Dylan Cozens had a great game for the IronPigs, having three hits and two RBIs.

Railriders 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 4 3 11
Lehigh Valley 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 x 4

Railriders
CF Wade 4 0 1 1
LF Fowler 5 1 1 2
1B Bird 5 0 2 1
DH Austin 4 2 2 0
RF Frazier 3 2 1 0
3B Torres 5 0 1 0
C Higashioka 4 2 1 3
2B Solano 5 3 3 1
SS Culver 3 1 2 2

2B: Solano, Bird (2), Austin
HR: Fowler, Higashioka

Lehigh Valley
CF Perkins 4 2 2 0
SS Crawford 5 1 2 0
C Alfaro 5 0 1 0
LF Cozens 5 0 3 2
DH Hoskins 2 0 0 1
RF Williams 4 1 1 0
3B Gomez 4 0 1 1
1B Stassi 4 0 0 0
2B Florimon 4 0 1 0

2B: Alfaro, Cozens, Gomez

Pitching
Railriders
Mitchell 2.2 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 2 BB 3 K
Feyreisen 3 IP 2 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 6 K
Jones (W) 1.2 IP 5 H 2 R 2 ER 0 BB 3 K
Heller 1.2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K

Lehigh Valley
Eshelman (L) 6.1 IP 7 H 3 R 2 ER 1 BB 6 K
Milner 1 IP 3 H 3 R 3 ER 0 BB 1 K
Venditte 1.2 IP 4 H 5 R 5 ER 3 BB 0 K