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Winning contagious at Central

By Jim Lane

For the Mirror

MARTINSBURG — When it comes to successful sports programs, few area high schools measure up to Central.

The Scarlet Dragon baseball team advanced to the District 6 Class 3A championship by trimming Philipsburg-Osceola, 7-3, in the semifinals Tuesday afternoon.

Central, now 19-2, will face Huntingdon for the D6-3A title Friday or Saturday at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The Bearcats earned a spot in the finals by beating Juniata, 5-3.

The key to Central’s success, according to coach A.J. Hoenstine, is that many of his players have been successful in other sports.

The Dragons beat P-O twice during the regular season and led only 2-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth Tuesday when they scored five times to lock it up.

“Philipsburg is always good and well-coached and we knew it would be a battle,” said Hoenstine, “but we have a lot of guys who are very seasoned. They do what we ask them to do, and the big thing is a lot of them are multi-sport athletes who have been in pressure situations.

“We don’t have many just-baseball guys, and that wins you big games,” he said.

Central’s lineup is senior-dominated and Hoenstine said all are college-bound — one for basketball, four for football and four for baseball.

A walk, sacrifice and Gage Coudriet’s single gave P-O a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but Central answered with two runs in its second. Singles by Josh McKnight and Hunter Liebal and Mike Speck’s sacrifice loaded the bases. Jacob Muthler’s hit scored McKnight and Liebal scored on Jarret Imler’s fielder’s choice.

It remained 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth. A walk to McKnight and Liebal’s second hit brought a pitching change for the Mounties. Speck’s single chased home McKnight and Liebal scored on a fielder’s choice to make it 4-1.

“Josh (McKnight) and Hunter (Liebal) had good approaches and they’ve been doing that for awhile,” said Hoenstine.

The Dragons’ base running continued to force P-O’s defense into miscues. On another grounder to third, Speck bowled over catcher Trey Shaw, dislodging the ball for another run and a 5-1 lead. Noah Muthler scored on Larry Corle’s ground out and Casey Walters raced home on a wild pitch to make it 7-1.

“Same thing happened the last time,” P-O coach Doug Sankey said. “We were winning 3-1 and they scored five in the sixth.

“Give them all the credit, though. They’re a really good team and put a lot of pressure on you,” Sankey said. “They make you make plays.”

With the 7-1 advantage, Hoenstine turned the last inning over to McKnight, who missed most of the 2016 season after Tommy John Surgery. McKnight was greeted by a standing ovation when he took the mound.

“It was nice to see Josh McKnight be able to come in and throw for a last time on his home field,” Hoenstine said. “He’s been through a lot the last year with his injury.

“He looks really good,” Hoenstine continued. “We wanted to get him in a situation that wasn’t pressure, but it was nice he could come in and throw an inning. He’s worked his tail off to get back to this point.”

“It felt really good to get back on the bump,” McKnight said. “I loved it whenever the crowd started cheering when I stepped on the mound.”

McKnight threw 22 pitches, struck out one, walked two, gave up a single and two runs before giving way to shortstop Alex Hoenstine, who got the last out.

“I just wanted to go in and do my thing,” McKnight said.

McKnight suffered the injury while pitching against BG in the 2016 Curve Classic and underwent surgery May 10 in Cincinnati. The operation was performed by Cincinnati Reds doctor Timothy Krinchek, who also did surgery on former Claysburg pitcher Kaleb Fleck, who pitches in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

“The first day after surgery they had me out of my brace and moving it,” McKnight said, “but the rehab was a long, long process.

“I started a throwing program in the winter, starting from a little toss to 120 feet and then some long tossing. I started throwing bullpens and got to where I am now.

“Coach asked me if I wanted to throw today and it panned out. It felt real good,” added McKnight, who plans to pitch at UPJ and major in civil engineering.

PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (3): Williamson ss 311, McDonald lf-2b-p 400, Soltis 3b 403, Earnest 2b-p-2b 400, Shaw c 210, Martin cf 100, Coudriet 1b 201, Kephart dh 300, Domblisky p 000, Slogosky lf 000, Ammerman rf 210. Totals — 25-3-5.

CENTRAL (7): Corle 2b 400, Hoenstine ss-p 300, Smith cf 401, McKnight 3b-p 222, Albright pr 000, N. Muthler cr-ss 010, Liebal lf 422, Speck rf 211, Nicewonger p 100, Karstetter 1b 200, J. Muthler 301, Imler dh-p-3b 300, Brumbaugh 1b 000, Walters cr 010. Totals — 28-7-7.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Philipsburg-Osceola 010 000 2–3 5 4

Central 020 005 x–7 7 1

E–Williamson 2, Shaw, Domblisky, McKnight. 2B–McKnight. RBI–Corle, Speck, J. Muthler 2, Imler, McDonald, Soltis, Coudriet. WP–Nicewonger. LP–Domblisky. SO–Imler 4, McKnight 1, Hoenstine 1, Domblisky 4. BB–Nicewonger 2, Imler 1, McKnight 2, Domblisky 1, Earnest 1, McDonald 1.

Records: Philipsburg-Osceola (12-8); Central (19-2).

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