Wildcats claim District 6 baseball crown; into PIAA tourney

WINGATE, PA – It was not a game with a lot of dramatics, just a solid, well-played contest for the top-seeded Central Mountain baseball team on Wednesday. The Wildcats put together solid pitching, timely hitting and a couple clutch double-plays to turn away DuBois by a 9-2 count to earn the program’s fourth straight District 6 Class 5A title.

The victory put Coach Mike Kramer’s team at 17-5 on the season and into a Monday, June 6 first-round PIAA playoff game. The opponent will be Bethel Park, the team that edged the Wildcats in the state semifinals a year ago and went on to win the state title.

Monday’s game will be somewhere in District 6, the site and time to be announced. There is a possibility it could be played at the Lock Haven University field in Woodward Township.

As it turns out, the game with DuBois was all but decided in the first couple innings. The Wildcats took advantage of DuBois mistakes and provided some mammoth hits, scoring six runs in the first inning and another two in the second. Meanwhile Wildcat starter Chase Brush and reliever Brady Myers held the Beavers to eight well-spaced-out hits, seven of them singles.

When DuBois threatened in the first and fifth innings, Brush induced two groundball double-plays, Gardy Fravel to Cayde McCloskey to Gabe Johnson to limit any damage.

The ‘Cat six-spot in the first started quietly. Nate Helms opened the inning with a single and Kevin Grenninger walked. A double-steal followed and Cayde McCloskey drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly and it was 1-0. Then the deluge started: Cru Stover walked and Elek Fravel doubled in two runs; Aaron Miller doubled in another run and Connor Foltz drove in the final two of the inning with the first of his two homeruns.

Central Mountain added two unearned runs in the second without a hit as there were two hit batters and two DuBois errors. The final run came in the fifth when Foltz drilled his second homer over the centerfield fence.

The Wildcats hit up and down the line-up, Foltz with his two dingers, Elek Fravel and Miller with their doubles and singles from Helms, Grenninger, Johnson, Stover and Gardy Fravel.

Brush went the first five, giving up five hits and one run, striking out five and walking two. Myers worked two innings, giving up three hits, one run, striking out two and walking one.

The title was the fourth district crown in a row for Central Mountain, winning in 2018, 2019 and 2021; there was no season in 2020 due to covid.

D     0 1 0 0 0 1 0 = 2-8-3

CM 6 2 0 0 1 0 x = 9-9-2