Varsity Baseball

Front Row:  Marlin McCaleb,  Don Rife, Jim Lehmer, Jim Sauve,  Ed Armstrong, Randy Hall, and Lee Atkinson.  Second row:  Dale Lehmer, Barry Houser, Al O’Donovan, Jim Skillen, Steve Sauve, and Dick Hess. Third row:  Coach Freed, John Kennedy, mgr., Dave Heckard, Paul Wentz, Jim Fortney, and Rod Koch.

 

The beginning …

Cumberland Valley, Camp Hill

Appear Strongest in Shore Loop

                Cumberland Valley and Camp Hill appear to be the strongest of the clubs in the West Shore Scholastic Baseball league this season.  The Eagles have a power packed lineup that sports eight veterans.  Camp Hill, the defending champ, has six starters and a seventh letter winner in the fold.  The league itself has dropped from eleven teams to five.  The other three are Cedar Cliff, Carlisle, and Mechanicsburg.

                The teams which left the circuit are Boiling Springs, Big Spring, Susquenita, East Pennsboro, and Northern.  They now comprise the Blue Mountain League. 

                “On paper I look pretty strong,” commented Dave Secrist, C.V. coach.  “I’m looking to an excellent season.  We have the potential.  The boys are hustling too.  They’re really out for it.”  Seven of the eight returnees are seniors and have three years of experience behind them. 

Ken Stought is the only junior who played a good deal last year.  He doubles as a pitcher and shortstop.  When Stought is on the mound, Larry Breiner, the CAC basketball scoring king, will be at short and vice versa.  The other starters with experience are catcher Jerry Duffie, first baseman Denny Rider, second sacker Charlie Sheriff, Billy law, and outfielders Bill Moyer and Ed Spahr.

Joe Moreskonich, Camp Hill’s skipper said, “I’m hopeful.”  His crop of holdovers include Reed Ernst, catcher; Jim McClure, first; Jerry Christenson, second; Ben Rushong, pitcher-outfielder; Don Enders, outfield; and Bill Albright, pitcher-outfielder.

George Bowen, who piloted the Herd to a second place finish last year, lost heavily through graduation.  Bowen’s four returning lettermen are pitcher Barry Rowe, outfielders Sam Padjen and Fred Lambert, and third baseman Jim Boomershine. 

Jim Zitto looks to have an abundance of pitchers at Cedar Cliff.  He has two vets from New Cumberland, southpaws Dick Lentz and Barry Glenn, two from West Shore, Fred Wieseman and Dennis Kimmel, plus a transfer from Mechanicsburg, Ed Shank.  Zitto also has four other returnees:  Danny Clem, Biull Lengeman, Jeff Ware, and Bill Auxer.  “I think the league will be good, and I’m looking for an interesting race,” Zitto ended.

Bill Freed, ex-Bloomsburg State pitcher, is at the Mechanicsburg helm this season.  He’s banking on a lot of underclassmen.  He has only three lettermen returning and may have three freshmen in the line-up when the season starts.  Freed’s tentative line-up has freshman Steve Sauve behind the plate, Bill Davis or freshman Barry Houser at first, Jim Sauve, team captain, at second, Dale Lehmer or Dick Hess at short, freshman Paul Wentz at third, and Ed Armstrong in left.  Jim Skillen, and Jim Lehmer will do the hurling.  His veterans are centerfielder Don Rife, pitcher Bill Fortney and rightfielder Lee Atkinson.  Freed plans to use Jim Sauve in relief.

(March 31, 1960 – The Patriot)

 

Camp Hill Clinches West Shore Title Tie With Whitewashing

The Lions clinched a tie for the West Shore Baseball League by blanking Mechanicsburg 5-0 yesterday.  The victory went to Ben Rushong who now has won five games and lost two for the Lions this season.  He struck out twelve to run his season total to sixty-one, and he only gave up two hits. 

Mechanicsburg threatened in only one inning, the sixth.  The Wildcats got two men on base via errors, but both of them were left stranded.

 Dwyer and Baker each had two hits for the winners.  Camp Hill can claim the title outright with a victory over Cumberland Valley on Friday.  Mechanicsburg is finished for the season.

(NOTE:  C.V. beat Camp Hill to give MASH half of the title!)

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Coach Bill Freed provided the following information about his 1960 squad:

We were one of five members of the newly-formed West Shore Baseball League.  The other teams were Camp Hill, Cedar Cliff, Carlisle and Cumberland Valley.  It was the first year for Cedar Cliff since their school opened in 1959.  Previously the students went to New Cumberland and Lemoyne High Schools.  Each team played the other three times for a total of twelve league games.

                Mechanicsburg and Camp Hill were co-champions of the league with records of 8 wins and 4 losses in the league.  Just as an historical note, Camp Hill was the only team with an indoor hitting setup.  The rest of us had to depend on the weather.  Indoor practices were limited to pitchers, catchers and infielders.

 

The starting lineup for Mechanicsburg was:

c - Steve Sauve (Freshman); 1b - Barry Houser (Freshman)

2b - Jim Sauve (Senior-Captain); ss  - Dale Lehmer (Sophomore)

3b - Paul Wentz (Freshman); lf - Ed Armstrong (Senior)

cf  - Don Rife (Junior); rf  - Lee Atkinson (Junior)

p - Jim Lehmer (Senior), Bill Fortney (Sr), Jim Skillen (Sophomore)

Other players were: Juniors - Marlin McCaleb (of), Randy Hall (of), Dick Hess (if); Sophomore - Al O'Donovan  (of);  Freshmen - Dave Heckard  (c), Jim Fortney (if), Rod Koch (P)

Probably the most pivotal game of the season was a 3-0 shutout of a very good Camp Hill team at Memorial Park.  They had two outstanding pitchers, one of whom had a fine college career at Lehigh and the other who played in the minor leagues.  Sophomore Jim Skillen pitched the shutout and the team turned 3 double plays.

One more note:  there was no J.V team and if teeners came out it delayed the start of their season which made their coaches unhappy.  Consequently there were a number of 9th and 10th graders who played in the future.  Only those of teener age who thought they had a chance of playing would come out.  We were  limited to a squad of 18 by the number of uniforms.  Our equipment budget was a whopping $200 and my pay as the head coach without an assistant was $300.

1960 Varsity Baseball Scores

	MHS	Opponent
Dover	2	1
Cumberland Valley	5	4
Cedar Cliff	3	2
Carlisle	3	0
Camp Hill	0	4
Cumberland Valley	3	2
Cedar Cliff	3	5
Carlisle	3	1
Camp Hill	3	0
Cumberland Valley	2	0
Cedar Cliff	4	5
Carlisle	3	1
Camp Hill	0	5
Totals	36	30

Season record:  9 -- 4

 

Leading Hitters:  Steve Sauve - .313; Dale Lehmer - .306; Ed Armstrong - .273 

RBIs:  Houser – 6; D. Lehmer – 5; J. Sauve – 4

Hits:  D. Lehmer – 11; S. Sauve – 10; Armstrong and Houser - 9 

Runs: Wentz – 7; D. Lehmer – 6

Stolen bases:   Armstrong - 7

Team Batting Average:  .200