Seals Stun Wildcats, 8-7

MILL HALL – The Selinsgrove Seals baseball team came to Mill Hall Community Park Friday and played spoiler, stunning the home-standing Central Mountain Wildcats by an 8-7 score. The come-from-behind win delt a serious blow to any Central Mountain hopes of claiming the Heartland Conference championship

Back on April 9 the Wildcats shelled the Seals by an 11-3 score, but Friday was a different story as Selinsgrove pounded out 12 hits against three Wildcat pitchers. Afterwards Wildcat coach Mike Kramer noted the Seals came up with the clutch hits after Central Mountain had moved to a 4-1 lead after three innings. He also pointed out his team had some mental breakdowns that did not help the CM cause and expressed concern about his team’s inability to hold and build on an early lead.

The Wildcats took advantage of four second inning walks, a single from Evan Prough and a 2-RBI single from Mahlik Houtz to open their early 4-1 lead. But the visiting Seals battled back with one in the fourth, a four-spot in the fifth and two insurance runs in the sixth.

Meanwhile Central Mountain scored one run in the fourth on doubles from Troy Gardner and Asher Corl and got their final two runs in the bottom of the sixth, using a Seals error, an infield single from Gardner, and RBI fielder’s choice from Rocco Stark, a single from Corl and a bad-hop RBI single from Houtz to make it 8-7.

The Wildcats mounted a two-out bid in the bottom of the seventh, using a Trevor Hanna bad-hop double and a walk to Gardner; a double-steal was executed to get both in scoring position but Seals reliever Thomas Kerstetter got a called third strike to end the game and secure the upset win.

Corl had a 2-for-3 game with a double, single and RBI; Houtz was 2-for-3 with two singles and three runs batted in and Gardner finished 2-for-2 with a double, single and two walks. Prough had a single and Hanna a double to round out the CM hits.

The loss dropped Central Mountain to 8-3 overall and 5-2 in the Heartland. First place Jersey Shore downed Shikellamy on Friday by a 7-2 score, putting the Bulldogs at 9-1 overall and 7-0 in the Heartland. Central Mountain travels to Jersey Shore Monday but now trails the ‘Dogs by two games with three league contests left.

Meanwhile the Wildcats travel to Hollidaysburg (3-4) Saturday for a non-conference 1 p.m. game.