During a recent game against Line Mountain, Upper Dauphin Area third baseman Peyton Kennerly snags a foul ball in case it is ruled fair. (Sentinel photo by Lon Zeiders)

Another week of high school baseball is in the books and not much has changed in the battle for the Tri-Valley League championship. From the start of the season, four teams – Halifax Area, Upper Dauphin Area, East Juniata and Newport – have continued to be locked in a battle for the top spot. Prior to games played April 29, the Wildcats were in first place, alone, with a 7-1 league record. The other three remain in the hunt with two league losses. If this were a horse race, teams would be making the final turn and preparing to head into the home stretch with two weeks to play. Halifax would have the lead by a nose and the other three teams would be neck and neck. This past week was a wild ride for local baseball fans with several of the top teams squaring off and the games were everything for which one could ask.

Newport defeated UDA, 1-0, April 22 to knock the Trojans out of the first-place deadlock. The Buffaloes then were knocked out of the first-place tie April 24 when Halifax beat them, 4-2. UDA then turned the tables on East Juniata, 6-5, April 26.

There are plenty of games remaining in a short period of time. UDA and Halifax still must play twice. East Juniata and Halifax still have a game to play.

Also, let us also not forget teams like Line Mountain and Millersburg who could play spoiler. Halifax must complete a game with the Tribe (which the ’Cats lead 7-1 through four innings) as well as play another complete game with them. The Trojans have a game with Line Mountain and also must play Millersburg. East Juniata and Newport must play each other twice.

So, let’s pray for nice weather so teams can get these games in and athletic directors can keep their sanity as the teams head to the whip to see if anyone can pull away down the stretch.

UDA 6, East Juniata 5, April 26. The Trojans kept themselves in the mix for the TVL title with this big win over the Tigers.

Ian Buffington was the winning pitcher, tossing a complete game. He struck out nine batters, allowing four walks and seven hits.

Head Coach Ryan Lentz said the team played outstanding defense and did not commit an error.

Tanner Miller and Mac Ney teamed up to turn two double plays. The Trojans’ Trey Campbell threw a runner out at home plate.

Payton Kennerly had the hot bat as he went 3-for-4, including a double, driving in two runs with some timely two-out hits. Ney led off the fourth with a double and scored on a Kennerly hit. Kyle Glouner was 2-for-3 and drove in a run.

Newport 3, Line Mountain 1, April 26. The Eagles (4-5 TVL, 5-7 overall) had yet another close game with one of the league frontrunners. This one was under the lights in Newport.

Behind a strong pitching performance by Austin Snyder, the Eagles were locked in a scoreless battle through 4½ innings. The Buffaloes scored in the bottom of the fifth and added some insurance with two runs in the sixth.

The Eagles finally scored off Newport starter Cole Bower in the top of the seventh. Pinch-hitter Tanner Spatzer knocked in pinch-runner Corey Paul with a sacrifice. Britton Heim had two of Line Mountain’s four hits off Bower, who went the distance, allowing just three walks while striking out eight.

Snyder had a really good outing for the Eagles, allowing just six hits and two walks, striking out three. Only one run was earned.

Halifax 4, Newport 2, April 24. The game was scoreless through five innings with Halifax’s Kaleb Reitz and Newport’s Jordan Clegg locked in a pitcher’s dual.

The Buffaloes broke that tie with two runs in the top of the sixth inning and appeared to be ready to add another with a runner at third base and only one out. Joe Raker hauled in a fly ball for the second out, then fired a perfect strike to Trey Pritchard at home to nail the final out of the inning.

With the momentum from that huge defensive play, the ’Cats rallied for four runs in the bottom half of the inning. After his big defensive play, Raker led off the inning with a single.

“When they rallied in the top of the sixth, our kids never got down. And when Joe gunned down the last runner at the plate from right center, the kids got stoked,” Head Coach Rick Ansel said. “And sure enough, Joe led off the next inning with a sharp single and the rally was on.”

Reitz had the game-tying single in the bottom of the sixth and freshman Dan Osenbach, who was 2-for-3 on the day, came through with a big two-run single to break the tie.

“Freshman aren’t supposed to get big hits in key situations, but Dan is just a solid hitter. He only has one strikeout on the season so I knew he would put his bat on the ball and sure enough he came through,” Coach Ansel said. “He has plenty of varsity experience in several sports and I’m sure that helped him relax a little in that situation.”

Reitz struck out six batters and did not walk anyone in 61/3 innings to get the win.

“We challenged Kaleb to throw strikes and not give up free bases. Last time we played Newport, he started and walked seven in only five innings. That hurt us, along with multiple errors. That first game was played very poorly by both teams. Newport just played a little less poorly than us and won. This game was the total opposite. Both teams played great baseball, we just played a tad better,” Coach Ansel said.

Line Mountain 8, Greenwood 1, April 24. Cory Warford tossed a one-hitter in this rain-shortened five-inning game. Masser, Brady Michael and Warford all scored twice. Michael and Warford also had two hits. Kyle Mace and Lenker had two RBIs.

Newport 1, UDA 0, April 22. Ney pitched a strong game for the Trojans, needing only 70 pitches to toss a complete seven-inning game. He allowed just four hits, walked just one and struck out four batters. He still suffered a loss.

Newport managed to get the lead runner on base in the seventh inning, was able to bunt him to second and drove him in with a hit.

“That’s something we failed to do – zero execution,” Coach Lentz said of the Trojans putting runners in scoring position three times with no outs. “We couldn’t cash in.” He added that the team struck out seven times and popped out seven other times.

Halifax 15, Line Mountain 0, April 22. The game started with promise for Line Mountain – they put two runners on base in the top of the first inning off hits by Michael and Mace but could not score.

The Wildcats, on the other hand, had no trouble scoring in their first time up to bat. The first nine batters – that’s once through the order – reached base and scored in a 10-run first inning. The ’Cats had five hits to go along with four walks and two hit batters. Sam Cook, Osenbach and Pritchard had two-run singles in the first inning.

Hunter Hilinski, the winning pitcher, pushed two runs across in the same inning with a bases-loaded walk and an RBI-single later in the frame. Hilinski had three RBIs in the game, pitched the first three innings of the four-inning contest and recorded five strikeouts.

Tri-Valley 17, Lancaster Country Day 2, April 27. Tri-Valley scored 14 runs in the bottom of the second, ending the game in just 2½ innings (15-run mercy rule).

Twelve different Bulldog players got a hit and 13 of them reached base. Collin Maurer had three hits and Cale Bruso, Dalton Miller and Hunter Bordner each had two hits and three RBIs. Bordner’s day included a home run and a triple.

Jayme Snyder was the winning pitcher, striking out three, walking one and allowing just two hits.

Tri-Valley 12, Weatherly 2, April 26 (5 innings). The Bulldogs had another strong offensive outing, pounding out 14 hits in five innings. Bordner had a double and a triple and scored three runs to lead the attack. Miller and Bruso added doubles. Nine different Dawgs had hits in the game.

Williams Valley 12, Nativity 2, April 24. Brendan Miller launched a grand slam home run in the second inning to break things open. He also was the winning pitcher, recording nine strikeouts over 51/3 innings. Dennis Jansen had a double and two RBIs. Codie Miller drove in two runs. Jarred Matter had two hits, including a double.

Tri-Valley 7, Marian 3, April 24. Ty Waizenegger was 2-for-5 with three RBIs to lead the offense. Collin Masser had two hits, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs. Conrad Opozda had a two-run single to break things open in the seventh inning.

Bordner was the winning pitcher, going the full seven innings, allowing six hits and just one walk while recording six strikeouts.

Marian 6, Williams Valley 5, April 23 (10 innings). This was the completion of a game suspended April 11 due to darkness. The game was tied, 3-3, after eight innings at that point. Marian had scored three runs in the second inning and the Vikings rallied for three runs in the third.

The score remained tied, 3-3, until the top of the 10th, when Marian scored three runs. The Vikes minimized the damage by getting the final out on a run down between first and second base. All three runs were unearned in the inning.

The Vikings tried to rally in the bottom half of the inning. An error and two walks loaded the bases. Ben Rautzahn pushed across a run with a walk and Codie Miller knocked another in with a sacrifice fly. The Colts ended the game with a double play.

The loss knocked Williams Valley three games behind front-running Division 2 leader Minersville.

Minersville 12, Tri-Valley 5, April 22. The Bulldogs appeared to have Division 2, leading Minersville on the ropes and on the verge of tightening up the division chase. Instead, the Miners (10-0 Division 2) scored 12 runs in the top of the sixth inning to widen its division lead to three games over the Dawgs (8-3).

Bruso and Bordner had doubles for Tri-Valley.

Williams Valley 8, Mahanoy Area 2, April 22. Brendan Miller had a homer and three RBIs to lead the offense, belting the shot in the second inning to get the scoring started. Jansen and Ronnie Daub both had two hits.

Travis Crider was the winning pitcher, tossing the first 41/3 innings while Eric Nelson earned the save with 22/3 innings of hitless relief.

NON-LEAGUE GAME

Selinsgrove 11, Line Mountain 1, April 25. The Seals rapped out 17 hits in five innings as they defeated the Eagles.