CM baseball to meet Pine-Richland at LHU in state playoffs

By Bees O’Brien

MILL HALL- Central Mountain will look to keep their incredible season going on Monday when they host District 7’s Pine Richland at Lock Haven University in a 5A first round meeting.

The visiting Rams boast an impressive 20-4 record and finished second to Shaler in the WPIAL title game by losing 5-2.

Sam Heckert leads the Rams with a .411 batting average. Fellow senior Anthony Annichine is coming into Monday with a .371 average and senior outfielder Anthony Mengine is batting .351 on the season.

Senior hurler Keegan Deihl has a 1.29 ERA to lead the team.

Darius Shade leads the Wildcats with a .480 batting average. Junior outfielder Felix Oquendo clocks in at a .450 average and Blake Walker’s .449 average has been impressive. Walker’s 6 home runs leads Central Mountain. Catcher Watt Probst has been stellar all season long. Brady Lavelle has 21 hits and Isaiah Maldonado, Bryce Brungard, Malaky Moyd and Jase Seltzer have provided plenty of offense all season long.

Central Mountain’s lone loss to Hazleton is now in their distant past and their 9-5 District Championship win over Hollidaysburg proved that.

The 16-1 Wildcats will use their excellent strength in their pitching to wear down Pine-Richland.

Austin Frank leads Central Mountain with 27 strike outs. Darius Shade has been strong on the hill too with 21 strike outs and Brady Lavelle has punched out 19 batters.

The first round meeting at Lock Haven University is set to start at 4pm on Monday.