Keystone Edged by Upper Providence, 9-7

RecordStaffJuly 30, 2015

2 minutes read

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FLEETVILLE – It was close but not quite for the Keystone 9-10 team at the Pennsylvania State Championship Tournament Wednesday evening.

Keystone suffered its first postseason loss, a last inning 9-7 decision to Upper Providence from suburban Philadelphia. The loss drops the Clinton County team into the loser’s bracket; next up will be a Thursday 3 p.m. contest against Lehigh (the contest will again be aired live on therecord-online).

The Upper Providence matchup was a back-and-forth game and when Keystone’s Matt Conklin lashed an RBI single to left in the bottom of the fifth inning, Keystone was back on top 6-5 and needing three outs to move into the winner’s bracket final.

But those final outs proved hard to come by as Upper Providence took advantage of a variety of Keystone miscues to plate four runs without a hit and take a 9-6 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Keystone would get its first two batters on and ultimately score one run but it was not enough, the contest ending 9-7 for the southeastern Pennsylvania team.

Keystone started well, scoring three times in the bottom of inning number two, the result of an RBI double from Luke Simcox followed by a line drive homerun from Chase Brush. But UP answered with a 3-spot in the top of the third and the contest remained close until the fateful sixth inning.

Keystone was hurt by an inability to get enough clutch hits. While they had 10 in all, they also stranded 13 runners. Conklin led the offense with three singles and an RBI, Ashton Probst contributing a double and a single. Simcox added three walks to go along with his double. Brush had the homerun and Cayden Irvin had an RBI triple and Cru Stover and Levi Schlesinger each contributed singles.

The Keystoners now face the difficult task of winning five games in a row in order to win the state crown. The Lehigh team they meet Thursday won on Wednesday by an 8-4 score over Conneaut Area; Lehigh earlier had lost to Red Land by an 11-4 score.