NEW KINGSTOWN — Mechanicsburg scored in three of the first four innings, then leaned on pitcher Reese Young.
And Young shut Greencastle-Antrim’s offense down through six innings to help the Wildcats capture the District 3 Class 5A baseball crown, 6-1, over the Blue Devils on Tuesday night at Cumberland Valley H.S.
Carter Reid
The Blue Devils (17-5), who had a 12-game win streak halted, will play in the first round of the PIAA Tournament on Monday against the No. 2 team from District 12, with site and time to be announced.
Greencastle had to alter its lineup when catcher Ethan Ford was a late scratch. Then, in the first inning, shortstop Jarek Szaflarski was accidently spiked in the face on a steal attempt.
“Scrapping your lineup after it’s posted was not the way you want to start a district championship,” G-A coach Eric Shaner said. “But I’m really proud of how the boys stuck together and competed. Our best shot just was wasn’t good enough tonight.”
For Mechanicsburg (18-6), Young cruised in five of the six innings he pitched. He ended up giving up just two hits, no runs and one walk, and struck out 12 G-A batters.
Greencastle had a chance to get back in the game in the bottom of the fourth when trailing 5-0. Carter Reid led off with a single, then Aidan Grudzinski’s fly ball fell into left-center field between two fielders for a base hit. Darren Kline worked a walk to load the bases with no outs.
But Young bore down and struck out the next three batters — the first one looking, the second on a check swing and the last one looking, too.
Shaner said, “Reese Young threw a really good game for them. They were as good as advertised.”
The Blue Devils’ only run scored in the seventh against reliever Will Hummel. With two outs, Logan Shifflett was hit by a pitch and Jarek Szaflarski drew a walk. Austin Wyand then hit a ground ball to second that was booted and Shifflett scored.
However, another strikeout ended the game.
Mechanicsburg scored a run in the top of the first on a single by Henry Zercher, and in the second on singles by Kale Clark and Jeff Lougee and a ground ball.
In the fourth, the Wildcats broke the game open with three more runs. Clark had an RBI single and sacrifice flies by Landon Mark and Lougee plated runs. In the fifth, a throwing error by Greencastle enabled a run to score.
Jace Szaflarski (5-4) pitched the first three-plus innings for Greencastle and took the loss. Landon Huth relieved him and Adam Horst also came in during that inning and finished the game.
“Mechanicsburg was just better tonight,” Shaner said. “Hats off to them. Now we have to turn our attention to getting healthy and focus on states. The big prize is still out there.”