Baseball

Tigers unable to hold on to seven-run lead in loss to Central

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

MARTINSBURG -- Hollidaysburg baseball coach Jon Szynal has coached the Golden Tigers for 25 years, but the final inning of Monday's game against Central left him staring out into the field speechless for several minutes.

The Scarlet Dragons took advantage of two fly balls and an infield pop up that got lost in the sun and wind and were never touched by a Hollidaysburg player to rally from what had been a seven-run deficit for an 11-10 win when Hunter Smith crossed the plate on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"No, I haven't seen anything like that," Szynal said. "I have played a lot, coached a lot and never seen an inning like that. I guess give them credit for putting the ball in play, but I felt like we should have been able to catch fly balls regardless of the sun and wind. The outcome probably would have been different."

Central got back into the game with five unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth inning that was highlighted by two-out, two-run singles by Griffin Snowberger and Troy McNichol.

Trailing 10-8 going into the bottom of the seventh, Central's Lukas Black hit a lazy fly ball to right to begin the inning. But a setting sun and off-and-on wind gusts allowed the ball to drop to the grass nowhere near an outfielder for a double. Hollidaysburg relief pitcher Drew Banks got a groundout and a strikeout but in between couldn't track a pop up back to the mound in that same sun that fell for a single.

With the tying run at first and the winning run at the plate, Smith hit what looked like a routine fly ball to center off the bat. Once again, it was anything but and fell to the ground untouched for a double that scored two runs. Two wild pitches later, Smith scored the walk-off run and celebrated with his teammates.

"It's tough, especially when the sun goes down over that ridge," Smith said. "It's brutal for the right fielder and center fielder to judge anything. I played left a little bit but never was out in right. I'm grateful, because I don't know if I could catch a ball from there with the way it swirls."

Central capped the latest of many comebacks over the years on what is known as Bean Hill while wearing uniforms similar to those worn by teams of the past.

"I told the kids this is one they'll remember for sure," Central coach A.J. Hoenstine said. "They wanted to wear their throwback uniforms from the early 2000s. I'm guessing some of those former players had a little something to do with that. Maybe there were some ghosts of the past out there for us. They kept believing and scrapping. I'm proud of our guys. That's a good win against a good team."

Smith finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Snowberger, McNichol and Wyatt Dilling each drove in two runs, and Jay Hoenstine had two hits, including a triple.

But some of the biggest contributions from the Dragons' comeback weren't on the offensive side.

"Mason Byler did a whale of a job coming in and holding the line so we could come back and get the win," Hoenstine said. "Our freshman center fielder Adam Loucks made some tremendous plays. As you saw late in the game, none of those are easy. He made some plays that if they would have fallen would have been big, and he's done a real nice job for us so far."

Hollidaysburg's Ethan Karageanes went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs. Jake Hileman went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Banks was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.

"We have been playing pretty good baseball," Szynal said. "We have had a couple lapses like this one. We have to be more consistent and finish the game out. Any time you play these guys out here, you know it's going to be high scoring and be a tough one to close out."

Carson Kensinger started the game and struck out the side in the first inning for the Golden Tigers, but Szynal decided to use four pitchers to make sure everyone is available for this weekend's Curve Classic baseball tournament in which Hollidaysburg opens against Tyrone.

"Kensinger is one of the best, if not the best around here," Hoenstine said. "I thought we swung and missed a little too much against him, but the second inning we took a little better approaches, and I think that carried over the rest of the game."

Central improved to 7-1 and will also participate in the Curve Classic and will play Northern Cambria.

"It's a nice win, especially because it's against Hollidaysburg," Smith said. "They are a really good team with really good pitchers. It's the first comeback I have had here, so it will be a special memory."

Hoenstine credited his players for putting the ball in play in the seventh inning and said he could understand the difficulty the Golden Tigers' fielders experienced.

"This time of the day with the sun where it is and the wind is always swirling here," Hoenstine said. "A fly ball is an adventure. They have one of the best center fielders around, and it's just a tough play."

Hollidaysburg fell to 3-2.

"We'll work on fly balls tomorrow, work on hitting," Szynal said. "We'll get ready for Thursday."

HOLLIDAYSBURG (10): Hockey 2b 231, Banks ss-p 332, Kensinger p-dh 400, Wedel p 000, Ulery p 000, Steiner ss 000, Karageanes rf 402, Hileman cf 302, Gibbons c 300, Mullin cr 010, Kratzer 1b 310, Albarano 3b 411, Szynal lf 411. Totals -- 30-10-9.

CENTRAL (11): Smith c 423, Snowberger 2b 412, Marko dh 300, Loucks cf-pr 000, McNichol rf 401, Hoenstine lf 412, Black 3b 331, Dilling ss 412, Byler 1b-p 402, Dionis cr 030, Sparks p-1b 200, Harbaugh p 000, Oakes ph 100. Totals -- 33-11-13.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Hollidaysburg 200 602 0--10 9 1

Central 010 205 3--11 13 2

E--Banks, Sparks, Dilling. 2B--Hileman, Hockey, Karageanes, Dilling, Black, Smith. 3B--Hoenstine. RBI--Karageanes 4, Hileman, Banks, Albarano, Szynal, Smith 3, Snowberger 2, McNichol 2, Dilling 2, Byler.

PITCHING

Hollidaysburg: Kensinger--1 1/3IP, 2H, 1BB, 3K, 1R, 1ER, 26 pitches; Wedel--2 1/3IP, 2H, 0BB, 1K, 1R, 1ER, 29 pitches; Ulery--2IP, 5H, 2BB, 1HBP, 6R, 1ER, 49 pitches; Banks (L)—1IP, 4H, 1BB, 1K, 3R, 3ER, 31 pitches.

Central: Sparks--2IP, 0H, 1BB, 2HBP, 0K, 2R, 0ER, 39 pitches; Harbaugh--1 2/3IP, 5H, 1BB, 1HBP, 3K, 6R, 6ER, 42 pitches; Byler (W)—3 1/3IP, 4H, 3BB, 1K, 2R, 2ER, 50 pitches.

Umpires: Derrick Soellner (HP); Bill Wolf (bases).

Records: Hollidaysburg (3-2); Central (7-1).