Baseball

Central enjoys new hats, new streak in win over PC

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

MARTINSBURG -- A little more than a week ago, Central's varsity baseball team lost a game for the first time in 34 contests.

That stretch included the 2022 Curve Classic title, a District 6 championship and last year's PIAA Class 3A title during a 27-0 campaign before the Scarlet Dragons reeled off seven straight wins to begin this season.

A pair of shutout losses at this year's Curve Classic to Forest Hills and Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic halted the historic run, but on the bright side, Central finally got to break out their new hats.

"That's why baseball is kind of nice, because you don't have to wait around a week to play again," Central coach A.J. Hoenstine said. "We didn't talk about the streak or anything. I joked with a couple of the graduated seniors from last year that we did break out our red hats we were going to use last year but we didn't, because we didn't want to jinx the streak. They were upset it was broken, but it was always going to get broken, and it's just time to start a new one."

The red hats seem to be working just as well as the old ones as the Scarlet Dragons won their fourth straight game since experiencing their first two losses, 15-5, over Penn Cambria on Monday.

"It was disappointing (to see the streak end)," Central junior outfielder Baron Dionis said. "We came back to practice and worked our butts off. That was a pretty impressive streak that we maintained a good stretch into this season, but we were able to come back and have started a new one."

Dionis has been a big part of it, batting in the third spot in the lineup after serving as mainly a courtesy runner during last year's run to the state title. On Monday, he went 2-for-4 with a double, triple and four runs batted in.

"Baron is an awesome kid that does things the right way," Hoenstine said. "He's upbeat and is always cheering on his teammates. We tell these guys how tough it is, and I think the kids handle it better than the parents a lot of the time. They know their time is coming if they put in the work, and what I told them after the game is the baseball gods are always watching how they are doing things. When you do things the right way, things usually work out for you."

Monday's winning pitcher, Kaleb Mountain, was the victim of some sloppy defense during Penn Cambria's four-run fifth inning that cut Central's lead briefly to 7-5, but allowed just one earned run and struck out six in a complete-game win.

"These guys come to work every day and know what is expected of them," Hoenstine said. "They learned that from the guys that came before them. It's a neat thing for me to see guys getting their shot this year. Kaleb Mountain has been outstanding for us on the mound this year. He's a guy that had to sit behind some really good players over the years. He battled, came to practice every day and did what was asked of him and didn't complain. He just grinded, and that's uncharacteristic these days unfortunately, but he's getting his shot and is producing, and I'm proud of him."

Central responded to Penn Cambria's big top of the fifth inning with a huge bottom of the inning when it scored seven runs to retake control of the game.

"You need a shutdown inning there," Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said. "You can't battle so hard to make it a two-run game, and then the first three guys get on base and you're behind the eight-ball there. With a team like Central that's constantly going to put pressure on you, you're putting yourself into a hole."

Central finished with 15 hits, drew a pair of walks and got hit by two pitches.

"Even though they lost seven guys from last year's team, they just have a culture down here of being tough," Ronan said. "They play hard and put the pressure on you defensively. When you have all kinds of guys on base, it limits what you can do and they get all the momentum."

Penn Cambria, which fell to 5-6, got a late start to baseball this season with many of its players -- and head coach -- involved in the Panthers' run to the PIAA Class 3A basketball semifinals.

Derek Hite, one of the many players on both teams, went 2-for-3 and scored a run for the Panthers.

"We're starting to swing the bat better and not striking out as much," Ronan said. "We just haven't had that consistency that we had in the other sports yet. I think it's there, but it's getting into the middle of the season, so we can't keep expecting it to come. We need to find it sooner rather than later."

Jeff Hoenstine had three hits and three RBIs, including the walk-off single to put the mercy rule into play in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kyle Klotz and Dalton Metzger also each had three hits, and Britton Marko drove in three runs for the Scarlet Dragons, who improved to 11-2.

"It was important to battle back after they got close, because we didn't have a great inning there and left some plays out on the field that were uncharacteristic of us, but we came back in and got them back plus more," Hoenstine said.

PENN CAMBRIA (5): Grove cf 311, Semelsberger ss-2b 301, Gar. Harrold c 310, Chirdon p-ss 200, Shuagis 3b 301, Farabaugh dh-1b 300, Cherico p 000, Hite rf 312, Yeoman rf 000, Zernick lf-1b 210, Stipanovich 1b 100, Gav. Harrold 2b-lf 311. Totals -- 26-5-6.

CENTRAL (15): Je. Hoenstine ss 433, Snowberger 3b 433, Dionis cf 422, Marko dh 411, Mountain p 000, Klotz c 403, Butler cr 020, Metzger 2b 413, Black lf 210, Bettwy rf 220, Muthler 1b 300. Totals -- 31-15-15.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Penn Cambria 001 040 X--5 6 4

Central 430 071 X--15 15 4

E--Shuagis 3, Gar. Harrold, Snowberger 3, Hoenstine. 2B--Semelsberger, Dionis, Klotz. 3B--Dionis. RBI--Grove, Semelsberger, Dionis 4, Hoenstine 3, Marko 3, Bettwy, Black, Klotz, Snowberger.

PITCHING

Penn Cambria: Chirdon (L)--4•IP, 11H, 4K, 2BB, 1HBP, 13R, 11ER, 98 pitches. Cherico--1IP, 4H, 0K, 0BB, 1HBP, 2R, 2ER, 23 pitches.

Central: Mountain (W)--6IP, 6H, 6K, 1BB, 5R, 1ER, 96 pitches.

Records: Penn Cambria (5-6); Central (11-2).

Umpires: Scott Viehdorfer (HP); Gary Kost (bases).