Keystone Majors Stun Warwick 8-5

AdminJuly 29, 2016

2 minutes read

Rematch in ‘If’ Game for State Title Saturday

ROSTRAVER TWP.–The Keystone Major Little League team is one win away from the Pennsylvania State Championship.

Faced with a win-or-go home game against undefeated Warwick Township, Keystone made the plays and pitches and got the hits when it had to. The result was a pulsating 8-5 win over a Warwick team which had handed Keystone its first loss of the year two nights earlier.

The last two teams standing went back-and-forth on Friday night, Keystone with an early lead, Warwick going on top in the top of the fourth only to have Keystone answer back with four in the bottom of the inning to take the 8-5 lead which lasted until the very end.

But the end did not come easily. Right-hander Cy Probst carried Keystone into the top of the sixth, his pitch count limit fast approaching. Probst would get the first batter out but surrendered a walk; then an infield error put two on and Probst had to depart, hitting the 85 pitch limit.

Workhorse Kaden Falls came in and gave up a walk to load the bases. But with the go-ahead run at the plate, Falls settled and got a strike out and a ground-out to second baseman Aaron Miller to end the game and secure Keystone a rematch with Warwick for the state crown Saturday at 1 p.m. Warwick had defeated Keystone by an 11-9 score on Wednesday, so the Saturday game will decide a three-game series and determine who advances to the Mid-Atlantic championships which begin Friday, Aug. 5 in Bristol, Conn.

Keystone jumped on top Friday with two quick runs, sparked by singles from Falls, Probst and Blade Myers. Two more scored in the second on a Miller double, an Aidan Major singles and a fielder’s choice RBI from Falls.

Probst was effective into the fourth, maintaining a 4-2 lead. Then with two outs he gave up a walk, a single and a three-run homer to Warwick’s Mike McGhee, Warwick gaining a 5-4 lead which proved to be short-lived. Keystone would answer with a quick four runs after two were out. McCloskey punched a single and Falls followed with a mammoth homerun over the bleachers in center field. Probst then singled and Brady Bendik smashed a two-run home off the scoreboard in left-center field, the score at that point what proved to be the final, 8-5.

Probst went 5 1/3 innings, giving up six hits, striking out four and walking three. He earned the win and again Falls earned the save with 2/3 of an inning of shutout ball.

Falls finished with a 2-for-3 night with three RBIs off his homerun and single. Probst had two singles, Bendik his homerun. Other hits came from Major, McCloskey, Blade Myers and Nash Welch, all singles, and Miller with a double.

Myers made a spectacular diving catch in right field to rob a Warwick batter of extra bases. And Probst and Falls collaborated on two putouts at home plate when Warwick had tried to score two separate runners from third base after loading the bases with one out in the second inning, Fallls catching at the time and retrieving errant pitches and getting the ball back to Probst at the plate for the tag-outs.