Wildcat baseball stays atop Heartland with 5-1 win over Shamokin

COAL TOWNSHIP, PA – Underdog Shamokin hung with Central Mountain on Tuesday, but the Wildcats did what they had to do to come home with a 5-1 win over the Indians and clinch at least a tie for the Heartland Conference Division I crown.

Shamokin, 2-14 coming in, stayed with the Wildcats for much of the game, trailing by 2-1 after six innings. But the bottom of the CM order helped produce three insurance runs in the top of the seventh to stretch the lead to 5-1, what proved to be the final score.

Meanwhile juniors Brady Myers and Austin Bennett combined to hold Shamokin to three singles. Myers was all but untouchable, going the first six innings, giving up one unearned run, walking three and striking out 14. Bennett finished up with a one-hit, no run seventh, picking up one strikeout.

The Wildcats punched out 11 hits but left nine runners on base. Gabe Johnson continued his recent hot streak, going 3-for-3 with a double, a sacrifice fly RBI and a run scored. Connor Foltz stayed hot, going 2-for-3 with a homerun, an RBI and a run scored and Cru Stover had two singles. Elek Fravel chipped in with a single and double and an RBI. Singles came from Nate Helms and Braylen Corter. CM also stole four bases, led by Corter’s two.

The win moved the Wildcats to 15-1 overall, 10-1 in the Heartland. Williamsport is in second place with a 9-2 conference mark. The Wildcats will need to defeat Jersey Shore (2-8; 2-13) next week to claim undisputed possession of first place.

Next up for the Wildcats is a Wednesday home game, Senior Night, with Lewisburg (7-10) the opponent; game time 4:30 p.m. on the record-online.

CM 0 0 1 1 0 0 3 = 5-11-1

S    0 0 0 0 1 0 0 =   1-3-1