Little Lions Continue Streak with Wildcats (Video Report)
STATE COLLEGE — One thing we know about the Central Mountain – State College baseball rivalry, the Little Lions have held the edge in recent years.
That trend continued on a misty, gray Thursday in State College where the second seeded Little Lions ended the season for the third seeded Wildcats; State College downed Central Mountain by an 8-5 score in a District 6 Quad-A semifinal game.
The visiting Wildcats held their own midway through the game, maintaining a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. Then it all came undone, CM starter Zach Skrtich, superlative to that point, was touched up for five runs, part of a 6-run State inning which put the home team up by a 7-2 count, too much for Central Mountain to overcome.
The Wildcats manufactured a run in the top of the first, Dylan Kerstetter with a single to left leading off the inning and then stealing second. A groundout from Toner Corl moved to Kerstetter to third where he scored on a sacrifice fly from Skrtich.
State answered in the bottom of the second when DH Harrison Walls hit an inside-the-park homerun to straight away centerfield.
CM regained the lead in the top of the fourth, using a 2-out single from Cole Reeder and an RBI double from Trapper Kunes to go up 2-1. Then came the bottom of the inning and Skrtich lost the strike zone. He issued three free passes and all three State runners scored, aided by a two-run double from Brandon Raquet off reliever Kenny Heverly, Raquet scoring the final run of the inning after he was trapped off second but came home when Central Mountain committed two throwing errors trying to catch him.
The Wildcats answered with two runs in the top of the fifth to make it 7-4 State College. Skrtich tripled in Corl who had walked, Skrtich scoring on a groundout from Isaac Porter. State added another run in the bottom of the sixth and Central Mountain got one back in the top of the seventh on an RBI double from Talon Falls. But State reliever Ballenger got the final two outs to secure the win for starter Bailey Ishler, the final 8-5 State.
State College moved to 16-5 and now goes to next Wednesday’s district title game. The Little Lions have won the last two district titles, defeating Central Mountain in the finals in both 2013 and 2014. They also own a 4-2 win the Wildcats in their regular season meeting earlier this month. Central Mountain finishes at 13-7.
All nine Central Mountain starters had one hit each but they could not string enough together for a big inning; plus the State pitchers walked only two batters while Central Mountain walked five.
| May 21, 2015 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| CENTRAL MOUNTAIN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 3 |
| STATE COLLEGE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | X | 8 | 6 | 1 |
