Keystone Downs Red Land 4-2
Next Up is Dillsburg
FLEETVILLE – The Keystone 9-10 baseball team put together another complete ball game and continued its run through the loser’s bracket at the Pennsylvania State Championship Tournament Friday night.
Keystone spotted Red Land two first inning runs but got the hits and made the plays when it had to, coming from behind for a 4-2 win over the suburban Harrisburg team. The victory put the Clinton County team in Saturday’s loser’s bracket final, a 12 noon matchup with Dillsburg, another Harrisburg area team.
The Keystoners used “small ball” to generate some offense. Their first run came in the second inning when Levi Schlesinger worked a leadoff walk; another walk followed, the run ultimately scoring on a sacrifice fly from Brayden Blackwell.
Inning number three saw Keystone take the lead for good, putting up two runs and taking advantage of a Red Land error. One run scored on an RBI groundout from Matt Conklin, the second followed on an RBI single from Schlesinger.
Keystone churned out its final run in the fourth off a leadoff walk to Luke Simcox; a wild pitch moved him to second and he advanced to third on a groundout from Chase Brush, scoring on an RBI groundout from Cru Stover.
With the lead Stover shut down Red Land the rest of the way. Entering the game in the third inning
Stover was dominant into the sixth and final inning when Red Land used two one-out singles to bring a go-ahead run to the plate. Stover got the next batter to fly to Simcox in center field, then induced an infield force-out to end the game.
Stover went four shutout innings in relief of Braylen Corter to get the win. The two combined on a 7-hitter, striking out a combined 10 batters while issuing two walks. Both Red Land runs were unearned.
Keystone was held to a tourney low three hits, singles from Schlesinger, Gabe Johnson and Ashton Probst but solid base-running and situational ball were enough to produce the win.
Now 3-1, Keystone Saturday meets up with 2-1 Dillsburg, that team suffering its first loss Thursday by a 4-1 score to undefeated Upper Providence. Dillsburg earlier beat Red Land 8-7.
Saturday’s winner will earn a 12 noon Sunday state title date with Upper Providence. A “what if” game would be Monday at 5:30 p.m. if necessary.
Saturday’s game will again be carried on therecord-online.
| JULY 31, 2015 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
| RED LAND | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| KEYSTONE | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | X | 4 | 3 | 2 |
