CM’s Stover, Bennett toss no-hitter at Shamokin
MILL HALL, PA – Central Mountain’s Cru Stover was near perfect Monday, leading the Wildcat baseball team to a 14-1, 5-inning win over visiting Shamokin.
Stover and reliever Ashton Bennett combined to throw a five-inning no-hitter, the visiting Indians putting up their lone score, one unearned run off Bennett in their final at-bat.
Stover was in command from the get-go. He finished with eight strikeouts in four innings of work, walking none. The only Shamokin runner off the hard-throwing right-hander came on an infield error in the second inning. Stover followed that lone base runner by striking out the next five Indian batters. He also contributed an RBI ground-out for the game’s first run, a single, a walk and a sacrifice fly. Coach Mike Kramer called Stover’s showing “an outstanding pitching performance,” noting 36 of his 45 pitches were strikes. “The work he’s put in over the years is paying off.”
The Wildcat offense meanwhile put up 10 hits and took advantage of seven Indian walks and six errors. Nate Helms and Gabe Johnson each had two singles, Helms also drawing two walks. Kelvin Probst and Kevin Grenninger each had doubles and singles came from Stover, Elek Fravel, Braylen Corter and Gardy Fravel. Stover, Levi Schlesinger and Corter all had two RBIs.
Shamokin dropped to 0-5 with the loss while the Wildcats are off and running at 5-0. Coach Kramer noted a difficult early season schedule for his team which included road wins over State College and last year’s PIAA 5A runner-up Selinsgrove. He said, “We’re pleased with where we are, but not satisfied.”
The Wildcats will be back at Mill Hall Community Park for a Wednesday 4:30 p.m. contest with Jersey Shore (0-4).
S 0 0 0 0 1 = 1-0-6
CM 1 1 3 9 x = 14-10-2
