Varsity-- First Row: Jennie Ruth, Doug Erney, Jerry McKeon, Todd Duffie, Kim Miller, Lance Strous, Bob Eichelberger, Stephanie Rynard. Second Row: Scott Lutz, Tim Clouser, Scott Howard, Brain Hollister, Todd Shirey, Keith Bolash, Charlie Bishop. Third Row: Coach Stephen Sauve, Troy reed, Brian Duffie, Mike Kummerer, Stephen Ranck, Jeff Costello, Scott Burns, Jeff Henry, Keith Humes, Coach Don Shirley.

Jason Albert turned in a whale of a pitching performance Wednesday afternoon. Albert struck out 13 batters, gave up three hits and four walks as Mechanicsburg dumped Carlisle 8-3 in a Mid- Penn Division I baseball game at Carlisle. Albert had two rough inning, but errors behind him in both frames helped keep the frames alive.

In contrast, it was early pitching woes that hurt the Thundering Herd. Carlisle had to make a change on the mound after just four batters when starter Eric German had trouble finding the strike zone.

Mechanicsburg’s Jerry McKeon and Doug Erney drew walks from German and both scored when designated-hitter Troy Reed poked a single past third base and the relay from the outfield was overthrown.

That brought Russ Yingst from the bullpen and he settled thing down for the remainder of ;the inning and sent the Wildcats packing in the second. But in the third Yingst began to have problems when Reed belted a solo home run over the left field fence. Jeff Costello followed with a double and after Jeff Henry reached base on an error, Keith Humes smacked a double to score them both. That was the end for Yingst and Chris Fowler gave the mound a try and blanked the Wildcats until the seventh.

Albert, who had fanned four of six batters he faced over the first two innings, already had a 5-0 lead to work with by the time Carlisle catcher Ben Warner victimized him for a solo homer to lead off the third. The Herd got two more runs to close the gap 5-3 when Jeff Durham reached base on an error, then scored on D.J. Morrison’s line single to center field

After German drew the first pass of the game from Albert, Sheldon Bream ripped a ground double down the third-baseline to send Morrison across the plate. Carlisle threatened again in the fourth in an inning which Albert should’ve been out of, and Erney made a run-saving catch in the outfield. Warner reached base on an error, then Durham and Mike Rose walked to load the bases, but the Herd rally fell short and all three runners were left on base.

(By Kathi Lawnton, The Sentinel)

The pitchers weren’t the only curve ball throwers during Mechanicsburg’s 4-2 Mid Penn I win over C.V. Mother Nature threw the meanest curve of all by sending rain, wind and even sleet before the game was called in the sixth inning.

The rain came too soon for C.V. The Eagles were rallying back from an early deficit when the game was called.

Starting pitcher Dirk Madison had a wild start. In fact, Madison issued three free passes to load the bases in the first before getting Jeff Henry to fly out to end the inning. Mechanicsburg’s starter, Scott Burns, was hot early retiring the Eagles in order in the first.

Madison walked Wildcat right fielder Keith Humes to lead off the second. Mechanicsburg proceeded to play fundamental baseball by bunting Humes over to second. Catcher Tim Clouser punched a single to left to chase Humes home and give MASH a 1-0 lead.

Burns was cruising along. The lanky lefty had three strikeouts en route to retiring the first six batters. Mechanicsburg’s DH Troy Reed led off the third with a single up the middle.. Jeff Costello legged out a bunt to put two men on with no outs. Left fielder Jeff Henry bunted both runners up a base.

Shortstop Keith Bolash hit a ground ball to second baseman Mike Whitehead that hit the lip of the infield, took a nasty bounce and glanced off Whitehead’s leg. Both Reed and Costello scored. Clouser then crushed his second hit of the game to left-center for a double. Bolash was held at third.

Second baseman Jerry McKeon, at times dazzling in the field, hit the ball back to the pitcher. It glanced off Madison before rolling into shallow center scoring Bolash. Madison got center fielder Doug Erney to bounce out to third ending the inning.

Matt Jones ended Burns’ no-hitter and shut out all in one swing by tagging Burns for a lead-off home run in the third. Burns returned to form to strike out the next two batters and enter the fourth with a 4-1 lead.

The rain seemed top play hide-and-seek at this point and the biting wind began to play a role. Madison seemed to warm up in the bad weather in the fourth and fifth innings. The right-hander walked only one and seemed to put his control problems behind him.

Madison helped himself with a lead-off single in the fifth but it was negated when Jones hit into a nifty double play turned by McKeon and first baseman Scott Howard.

Left fielder Steve Wian walked, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Brian Humphries’ single to make it 4-2. With the weather appearing to worsen, Madison quickly got out of the sixth.

Burns walked CV’s Mike Eydenburg to lead off the sixth and followed the free pass by striking out Jay Simons. Kirk Fabrizio lost his grip on a slippery bat and almost hit several Wildcat substitutes. That was the last straw for the umpires who called the game.

Ephrata - Mechanicsburg came close to making short work of Lebanon in the District 3-AAA Tournament opener Tuesday at War Memorial Field. Instead, the Wildcats had to hold on tight to escape with an 11-5 victory and advance to the second round of the tourney.

Mechanicsburg’s Jason Albert and Lebanon’s Pat Collins engaged in a pitchers’ duel for the first two innings. The Wildcats jumped on Collins in the third and fourth innings to roar out to a 9-0 lead.

Mechanicsburg needed just one more run to end the game on the five-run rule after five innings. But Brad Stickler, the Cedar’s second relief pitcher of the fourth inning, retired the side with two Wildcat runners on base.

Lebanon’s bats woke up in the bottom of the inning and tapped Albert for three runs on four hits. What started as a rout ended three hours after it’s 5:30 p.m. start.

"One minute I was thinking about subbing," Mechanicsburg coach Don Shirley said. "The next minute I was thinking about hanging on. They started hitting the ball. You’ve got to give them credit. Jason started getting the ball up."

Wildcat shortstop Keith Bolash started the initial rally with a sharp double to left-center-field to lead off the third inning. Tim Clouser, Jerry McKeon and Doug Erney then poked three consecutive singles and Scott Burns followed with an RBI sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead. Erney later scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Jeff Costello.

Mechanicsburg’s onslaught continued in the fourth. Keith Humes led off with a base hit, stole second, went to third on an error and scored on Clouser’s sacrifice fly. McKeon and Erney slapped singles, Burns was hit by a pitch, and designated-hitter Troy Reed sliced a two-run line single. Costello’s RBI single pushed the lead to 9-0.

Albert, who had given up just one hit over the first three innings, was tagged for two singles and two doubles in the fourth as Lebanon closed the gap to 9-3. Tim Daub started the comeback with a base hit and scored on Steve Grabusky’s double. Cory Thomas moved Grabusky around with a base hit and he scored when Andy Carpenter grounded out. Shane Geist then doubled Thomas home.

Clouser smacked an RBI single in the fifth and Reed belted a run-scoring double in the sixth to provide some insurance. Lebanon’s final run came in the fifth when Daub lined as RBI single to the left.

Albert gave up seven hits and two walks while striking out four in six innings of work. Humes pitched the final inning, loading the bases before getting out of the jam without giving up a run. The Wildcats ripped Lebanon’s trio of pitchers for 12 hits and five walks. Mechanicsburg now 17-4 overall. Lebanon drops out at 15-5.

(Kathi Lawnton ,The Sentinel)

Ephrata - When Mechanicsburg got off the bus in Friday night, confusion was written on the faces of the baseball players and their fans.

The Wildcats had prepared themselves all day for a confrontation with Conestoga Valley. But it was the Reading Red Knights-- Berks County’s second seed-- that showed up to do battle with Mechanicsburg. The team shook off its initial confusion and walked away with a 4-1 second-round District 3 win.

Pitcher Scott Burns went the distance for the Wildcats giving up only three hits. The first came in the fifth inning. Burns sent the batters down in order for four consecutive innings.

The Wildcats scored their first run when Keith Humes crossed the plate from third base on an overthrow at third. Mechanicsburg started the third inning off with a bang. Doug Erney walked and then stole second to lead off the inning. Burns hammered a triple to the wall in center field triple to the wall in center field scoring Erney. Designated hitter Troy Reed RBI singled in Burns for the third Mechanicsburg run. In the fourth inning, Mechanicsburg’s Keith Bolash reached base when his line drive hit nailed the pitcher. The hit retired the Red Knight pitcher.

The only Red Knight run of the game came in the fifth inning when Todd Folk RBI tripled in the first hit of the night by John Scolastico. Wildcat pitcher Burns retired the fifth inning with a strike out. Mechanicsburg’s Erney scored the final run in the fifth inning stealing home on a wild pitch.

A fine defensive play in the sixth inning held Reading scoreless. With a runner on second Bolash make a diving grab across second firing to first to get the first out and hold the runner at second. In the seventh inning Burns went out in style striking out all three batters for his sixth win of the season.

"It really didn’t bother me who we were going to play," said Mechanicsburg head coach, Don Shirley. "When you get into playoffs all the teams you face are good."

"I thought we played will defensively and we had out share of timely hits. We also played heads-up baseball and that wins us games," said Shirley.

"Burns played fine offensively and defensively. I think he showed his best stuff when he K’d the side on the seventh inning," the coach said. Burns refused to allow any Red Knights a free pass while fanning seven batters.

Red Land, also from Mid-Penn league, was eliminated Friday night by Spring Grove. The score was not known at press time.

(Kristi Anderson, The Sentinel)

Ephrata -- Mechanicsburg came about two inches shy of finding a much needed miracle Tuesday night. Mechanicsburg spotted Wilson an 8-0 lead in the first four inning of the District 3-AAA tournament semifinal at War Memorial Field.

Tough relief pitching by Kerry Collins (Penn State and Carolina Panther quarterback!) ended a Wildcat rally one run short of tying the Bulldogs. Instead, Wilson won the game 8-7 and advances into Friday’s championship game against Waynesboro, 7-3 winners over Spring Grove Tuesday at Chambersburg’s Henninger Field.

Mechanicsburg had closed to within a run when shortstop Keith Bolash lofted a shot down the left field line with runners on first and second but the ball dropped about two inches foul, just beyond the outstretched glove of Wilson leftfielder Mike Whitney. Collins, on the mound in relief of starter Mike McRoberts, who went 6 and one third innings, then recorded two fly-outs to end the game after the power-packed bottom of the seventh.

Mechanicsburg trailed 8-0 going to the bottom of the sixth. Keith Humes ignited the Wildcat fireworks with a two-run homer that brought in pinch-hitter Lance Strous had lobbed a base hit into right field.

Jerry McKeon kept the hitting going in the seventh inning as he led off with an infield single , advanced to second on Doug Erney’s ground-out and scored on Scott Burns’ double. Designated-hitter Troy Reed then drilled a triple to center field, scoring Burns. That’s when McRoberts made his exit in favor of Collins, who promptly issued a double down the first-base line to Jeff Costello, sending the count to 8-5

Jeff Henry then dribbled a soft grounder between the mound and third base. Henry was safe, but the attempt to catch him sailed out of play and Costello trotted home. Humes singled Henry home for the final run.

Mechanicsburg ends the season at 18-5 overall. Wilson is 19-4.

The Bulldogs tapped Mechanicsburg starter Jason Albert for six hits in the first 2 1/3 innings, and pushed the score to 4-0. A costly overthrow helped provide a four-run inning in the fourth after Costello took over on the mound.

Costello shut Wilson down in the fifth through seventh, allowing just one base runner during those three innings and that was on an error. He sat down three straight pinch hitters on strikes in the final frame.

Mechanicsburg coach Don Shirley was disappointed, but glad his troops didn’t fold trailing 8-0. "Jason was getting too far behind," he said. "He was getting too many 3-2 or 2-0 counts and had to come in too good. We put ourselves in a bad situation early. We couldn’t seem to get anything going."

"We seemed flat at the beginning of the game but we certainly didn’t quit. We were a couple inches away from a tie game. That ball was just foul. I thought maybe we could do it." Wilson had just one extra-base hit out of its seven giving up by Albert and Costello and that was a double by Mike Dallas in the fourth. Mechanicsburg out hit the Bulldogs 12-7.

"We went a long way considering we didn’t win the league championship," Shirley said "It’s been a great group of seniors."

(Kathi Lawnton, The Sentinel)

(NOTE: Wilson finished second in the state playoffs.)