With only three lettermen returning in 1952, the Wildcats had their worst season in years, winning four games and losing eight. Fortunately the Cats gained all their wins in league play and thus tied for third place.

    The leading pitcher was Brad Wright with a 3-1 record; Eric Jensen led in strikeouts with 14. Mechanicsburg had three hitters batting .300 or over in Charlie Miller, Dick Stover and Don Bair. Stover was the number one RBI hitter with eight and also led in hits with 13. Jim Browning was the highest run producer with 11.

(1953 Artisan)

Wildcats’ Baseball Briefs

Finishing fourth in the West Shore League, the Mechanicsburg Wildcats closed another baseball season with a record of four wins and six losses. Co-champions in first place in 1951, the Cats lost a lot of last year's veterans to graduation.

The following is a summary of the Wildcats' league games.

Carlisle 6, MHS 1 - The Wildcats lost their opening game to the Thundering Herd 6-1. Calaman pitched a one-hitter for the Herd. Three MHS pitchers gave up six hits and six runs. Price was the losing pitcher.

Camp Hill 2, MHS 0 - Camp Hill, behind the combined one-hit pitching of Weaver and Eden, defeated the Wildcats 2-0. Miller and Jensen allowed four hits.

MHS 6, New Cumberland 4 - The Wildcats' first victims of the season were the Tigers of New Cumberland, downed 6 to 4. Wright gave up five hits in winning his initial start. Dugan was the losing pitcher for the Tigers.

Lemoyne 16, MHS 5 - The Wildcats were the victims of an 11-hit attack as the Trojans trampled the Wildcats 16-5. Moore was the winning pitcher. Jensen was bombarded from the mound and Price took the mound, but was unable to stem the powerful attack.

MHS 6, Enola 0 - With Wright giving up only four hits, the Wildcats clawed out their second win of the season by a 6-0 shutout over Enola. Cooper was the losing pitcher for Enola.

Lemoyne 10, MHS 6 - Moore again showed his mastery over the Wildcats by defeating them for the second time, this time by the score of 10-6 on six scattered hits. Price and Jensen were again victims of Moore's tricky pitching.

MHS 5, New Cumberland 4 - Miller and Wright pitched the Cats to a 5-4 victory over the Tigers. Collecting five runs on 12 hits, the Wildcats left too many men on the base paths but pushed enough runs across to win their third game of the season.

MHS 5, Carlisle 2 - Wright pitched the Cats to a 5-2 victory over the Thundering Herd giving up only two hits in winning his third game of the year. The Wildcats enjoyed their longest winning streak by winning their last two games.

Enola 3, MHS 2 - Enola's Herzog won a close game over the Wildcats, defeating them 3-2. Price and Jensen both tried to stop Enola, but Enola's six hits were two more than the Wildcats could garner from Herzog.

(May 16, 1952 Torch)

Jim Browning has been selected by the sports staff of the Torch as the athlete who has contributed most this year to the sports program of MHS. The choice was based on his participation in all three inter-scholastic sports sponsored by the school: football, basketball, and baseball.

Coming from North Carolina, he started to school in Mechanicsburg in his freshman year during which he played junior high football and JV baseball. In his sophomore year, Jim took part in varsity basketball, JV baseball, and JV football. Browning played center field on the varsity baseball squad, a forward in basketball, and halfback on the football team. As many of us remember, he was the star of Mechanicsburg's upset of Carlisle, scoring two touchdowns on long runs.

During his senior year, Browning, President of his class, again took athletics. Though hampered by an injury, he still captured high scoring honors while playing halfback for the Johnny Frederick-coached eleven.

Jim, a great team man, was rewarded for his basketball efforts by being elected honorary captain after the close of the season.

He is currently engaged in the high school's baseball season, again assuming starting assignment as center fielder. He recently received a try-out with Reading, a professional baseball club.