1950 Varsity Baseball

VARSITY BASEBALL

First row: Fred Kimmel, Alex Quigley, Vic Emel, Doc Sheaffer, Don Cornman, Don Badorf, Dick Snare. Second row: Marlin Brownawell, Charles Alexander, Jack Kintz, Glen Bricker, John Waggoner, Ronald Parks, Jim Browning. Third row: Coach Jim Davis, Sonny Jacobs, John Sholly, Dan Rupp, Don Miller, Carl Weber, mgr., and Jack Ritter, mgr.

Pioneers Open Diamond Card With 16-1 Win

The John Harris baseball team opened its season here yesterday afternoon with and easy 16-1 decision over Mechanicsburg. An eight run outburst in the second frame, featured by Eddie Davies 400-foot, base-clearing triple, settled the issue early. Mechanicsburg made a bid in the lower half of the second session but with one run in and the bases populated Henry relieved Stien and retired the next three batters on strikes. Leading 10-1 going into the seventh the Harris pitching trio of Stien, Henry and Jones allowed Mechanicsburg only one hit, a single by Waggoner.

Wildcats Rally To Nip Dover

Speedy baserunning provided the winning marker as Coach Jim Davis’ Mechanicsburg High School baseball team tallied in their last turn to nose out Dover High, 5 to 4 here yesterday afternoon in a non-league game. Outhit, two to five, the York County League team got two runs in both the second and the sixth frames while the Wildcats posted singletons in the first and fifth and a cluster of two in the second to show a 4-to-4 count after six complete frames.

Singles by Browning and Cornman, the latter of the infield variety, gave Mechanicsburg a scoring opportunity in the final frame and the Wildcats cashed in. Vic Emel ran for Jacobs and a double steal put Emel on third and Cornman on second. Rupp rapped a roller to third and as Laughman fumbled the ball momentarily Emel streaked across with the game-winning run.

Wildcats Win First West Shore League

Coach Davis’ Wildcats opened West Shore League competition on April 11 when they met New Cumberland at Memorial Park and won by a 4-1 score. Even though held to one hit the ‘Cats took advantage of wildness on the part of the New Cumberland pitcher and were able to push the winning runs across the plate. Vic Emel, the winning hurler, went the route and gave up only two hits while walking one man and striking out nine men.

MHS Ball Club Trounces Carlisle

The Wildcats won their second straight league game on April 17 when they beat Carlisle 7-2 at Carlisle. MHS took an early lead and held it throughout the contest. Don Badorf limited Carlisle to five hits and was never in trouble. Mechanicsburg pushed runs across in the first, second, third, and sixth innings.

Lemoyne ended the ‘Cats winning streak when they eked out a 7-6 victory at Memorial Park on April 18. Dan Rupp started on the mound for the Wildcats but gave way to Vic Emel in the third inning. Both boys hurled good ball but it wasn’t enough to win. Rupp had three hits to lead the Maroon and Steel attack at the plate. Lantz and Haverstock hit home runs for Lemoyne.

Early in the month, the Mechanicsburg baseball team lost to Enola and to Hanover, but were able to prevail over Camp Hill. The Wildcats lost a heartbreaker to Enola on May 9, by 2-1 score, at Enola, in a West Shore League game. MHS held a 1-0 lead going into the fourth inning, but Enola tied the count and then scored a run in the fifth frame to win.

Coach Davis’ club dropped their third league game on April 28 to New Cumberland High by a 4-2 score on the New Cumberland diamond. Don Badorf, pitching for Mechanicsburg, gave up only three hits, but errors afield proved to be fatal for the ‘Cats.

A four-run uprising in the third inning gave Carlisle High School an 8-4 victory over Mechanicsburg in the lone West Shore League game played yesterday at Mechanicsburg. Lemoyne at Camp Hill and New Cumberland at Enola were postponed until today because of wet grounds. After Carlisle had scored a single tally in the first inning, the Wildcats came back with three markers to take the lead, but the visitors tied up that score in the second frame and then tallied four times in the third for the triumph.

In this game-winning rally, two infield errors and Stull’s single loaded the bases. Then Carlisle scored four times without hitting the ball out of the infield. Two runs raced across on a fielder’s choice and an error on Baird Brehm’s grounder, a third scored on an infield out and the fourth tallied during a rundown of a Carlisle player between first and second. Dan Rupp led the M-burg offensive with three hits in four trips to the plate.

MHS lost their sixth straight game on May 5 to Lemoyne by a 6-2 score at Lemoyne. Vic Emel pitched fine ball for the ‘Cats, but a bad sixth inning resulted in his downfall. Mechanicsburg rapped out nine hits, including three by Dan Rupp.

In a ten-inning thriller the Wildcats downed Camp Hill by a 6-5 score at Memorial Park on May 12. Mechanicsburg held the lead until the top of the seventh inning when Camp Hill went ahead 5-4, but MHS tied the score in the bottom of the seventh and then won the decision in the tenth inning. Vic Emel went the route for the ‘Cats and gave up only four hits. He struck out twelve batters.

Hanover defeated the Wildcats in another heart-breaker, 3-2, at Hanover on May 16. The Nighthawks scored three times in the second inning on only one hit, but that was enough to win. The ‘Cats scored runs in the fifth and the sixth innings respectively.

Coach Fred Peiffer’s New Cumberland High School Tigers made the most of four hits, five walks and five enemy errors yesterday afternoon to down Mechanicsburg, 4 to 1, in a West Shore League baseball contest at New Cumberland. While his mates were making use of the breaks to score four runs, Charles Wharen was setting the Wildcats down with two hits, one a triple by Badorf, and getting nine strikeouts.

Harry Sites and Tim Kelly each drove out two safeties for New Cumberland, while Mechanicsburg’s other hit was accounted for by Sholly. The Tigers took the lead in the second inning with two markers and added single tallies in the fourth and fifth frames before Mechanicsburg scored its lone run in the sixth.

Left to right: Jacobs, Quigley, Rupp, Brownawell, Emel, Sholly, Sheaffer, Parks, Bricker

In addition to the varsity, the 1950 junior varsity baseball team was also highlighted in the 1951 Artisan:

“Mr. Graham’s Junior Cats were more impressive than their won-loss record. Though hampered by injuries, they completed the season with a .500 percentage.”

	MASH	Opponent
John Harris	1	16
Dover	5	3
New Cumberland	4, 2	1, 4
Carlisle	7, 4	2, 8
Lemoyne	6, 2	7, 6
Enola	1, 1	6, 2
Camp Hill	1, 6	1, 5
Hanover	2	3
Boiling Springs	2	0

	MASH	Opponent
Boiling Springs	6, 5	9, 1
Carlisle	6, 4	2, 6
New Cumberland	3, 14	5, 2