Front Row: Jen Ruth, Carmen Betoni, Jerry Lucas, Rich Kline, Scott King, and Tom DeRoos;

Second Row: Jeff Kearns, Charles Bishop, Tim Drazba, Bryan Smarilli, Scott Lutz, Lance Strous, and Bob Eichelberger;

Third Row: Coach Shirley, Steve Nace, Todd Madden, Geoff Hakel, Keith Humes, Keith Bolash, and Coach Sauve.

"We’re obviously inexperienced," Mechanicsburg’s 18-year baseball coach Don Shirley says. "They’ve been working hard and they have shown they’re going to be a good team as far as working together.

"We’ve been able to move some players around. We don’t quite have a set line up yet. The backups from last year know what to do, it’s just a matter of performing in a game situation."

Pitching could be a strong area for the Wildcats as Keith Humes, Brian Duffie, and Bob Eichelberger return with experience, although four regular starters were lost in graduation from last year’s 17-5 team. That team reached the semifinals of the District 3-AAA tournament.

Lance Strous looks to be the starting catcher with Jerry Lucas as the backup. The only returning infielder is shortstop Keith Bolash. He’ll be backed up by Todd Madden. Vying for first base are Steve Ranck, Duffie, Rich Kline and Jamie Beck while Charlie Bishop and Jeff Kearns are working out at second base. Trying to win the third base spot are Eichelberger and Carmen Betoni.

Humes will play the outfield when he’s not on the mound and other possible three include Scott Lutz, Tim Drazba, Geoff Hakel, Tom DeRoos, Scott King, Brian Smarilli and Steve Nace. Hakel could also see action on the mound.

(March 18,1989 Sentinel)

The Mechanicsburg baseball team remains without a win after two Mid-Penn division 1 games. The Red Land Patriots put Thursday’s game out of reach at the top of the seventh by scoring five runs on three hits while going on to win 8-2. A few passed balls at the plate added to the runs. The Patriots led the inning off with a 3-2 lead before the five runs came across the plate.

The Wildcats started the game off well scoring the first run of the game in the opening inning. Wildcat Keith Humes nailed an RBI single between shortstop and third to drive in Scott Lutz.

The Patriots went ahead 2-1 in the top of the third with back-to-back RBI singles. Mechanicsburg then knotted the game in the bottom of the third when Lutz scored again, this time on an RBI single from pitcher Brian Duffie. A passed ball at the plate sent the Patriot’s third run across in the fifth inning giving the winners just enough icing for the cake. Mechanicsburg threatened in the sixth inning when they left runners on first and second.

The seventh inning was disastrous for the Wildcats while the Patriots took advantage of every mistake they could. The Patriots loaded the bases in the seventh inning as Mitch Borocz cracked a two-run single. With two outs, Patriot’s Jon Gill tagged an RBI single to right field creating a 7-3 lead. Gill later scored on a passed ball at the plate for the final score.

The Wildcats tallied five hits on its three runs. Duffie cracked two hits in his four times in the box while on defense he pitched five innings giving up four hits, four walks and fanning six. Steve Ranck and Jerry Lucas tallied doubles for the two extra-base hits.

"I was pleased with Brian Duffie who pitched a good game," said Mechanicsburg head coach Don Shirley. "It seems like every game when we go bad we just get worse. We had too many walks, and you don’t win games giving up walks," said Shirley.

(Sentinel)

In Mid-Penn baseball action yesterday, Mechanicsburg moved ahead of Red Land in the Division I standings with a 2-1 victory that went nine innings. The Wildcats’ Jerry Lucas tagged Brett Wagner for a single in the top of the ninth to score Steve Nace with the deciding run. Nace singled and stole second to set up the winning run.

Brian Duffie picked up the win in relief of Keith Humes, who pitched seven innings and struck out seven. Wagner went the distance for the Patriots, allowing six hits while striking out 11.

Mechanicsburg shut out Cumberland Valley 6-0 at home Tuesday. Keith Humes led Mechanicsburg’s cause from the mound and at the plate. He went the distance striking out 10 and issuing five walks. He also led the offensive attack with two home runs.

The Mechanicsburg team picked up eight hits and stopped two strong Cumberland valley scoring threats for the win. Humes held Cumberland Valley offense in the third inning when walks eventually loaded the bases with just one out. He went to work and struck out Mike Eydenberg and Matt Jones to retire the Eagles.

Cumberland Valley threatened again in the fifth inning with James Sauve line driving a single up the middle. Humes issued a walk to John Hippensteel and a wild pitch had the runners at second and third with just one out. Humes came through again as he struck out the next two Cumberland Valley batters. He sent the first down on three pitches.

In the third inning, Humes hit a two-run over the right field fence. The shot scored Bob Eichelberger who had opened the inning with a center field triple. Mechanicsburg had earlier picked up a run when Steve Ranck scored Ranck got on base via a walk from the Eagle pitcher. A sacrifice bunt advanced Ranck and then he took third on a passed ball. A hot shot at Cumberland Valley’s third baseman caused a fumbled ball with Wildcat hitter, Tom DeRoos, safe at first and Ranck was in for the first fun of the game.

Humes led off the Mechanicsburg fifth with his second home run, this one a solo shot, but again over the right field fence. Tim Drazba got on base in the lead-off spot in the Mechanicsburg sixth on a error and took second on the play. A ball in the dirt gave Eagle catcher Eydenberg problems and Drazba took third base. A right-center field hit scored Drazba. Charlie Bishop bunted successfully for the sacrifice that brought home another Mechanicsburg run after Cumberland Valley put another Wildcat on base via a walk.

Despite a slow start, the baseball team has made a comeback to an overall record of 10-8. The Cats were faced with a rebuilding season this year. The losses of Doug Erney, Jeff Costello, Jeff Henry and Jerry McKeon to graduation caused major gaps in the starting line up. The team depended heavily on strong hitters and pitchers to make up for the lack of experience.

Seniors. Keith Humes, Brian Duffie, and Keith Bolash led the team to a comeback earlier this year. While Bolash was the only returning starter, Humes performed outstandingly well as both a hitter and pitcher. He batted .489, with fifteen RBI’s and three home runs. As a pitcher, Humes had an earned run average of .69. His abilities in both the pitching and hitting areas gained him the honor of being named to the Big 11 baseball team by The Patriot News.

Duffie, along with Jr. Todd Madden and Soph Steve Nace also contributed greatly to the team as pitchers. Although the Cats lost their first game of the season against Hershey, they learned how to function as a team and demonstrated this throughout the remainder of the season.

(May Torch)

The 1989 varsity baseball team compiled a respectable 10-9 record while competing in the highly-regarded Division 1 of the Mid-Penn League.

Leading the team in most pitching categories and as pitcher was Keith Humes, who was selected as the team’s Most Valuable Player. He was also selected to the Mid-Penn 1 All Star Team and to the area’s Big 11 Team. another senior who performed will was first baseman Steve Ranck, who led the league in doubles and who accumulated the team’s second-highest batting average

Two games that were highlights of the season were a 6-0 victory over Cumberland Valley and a 2-1 victory over Red Land in nine innings. Five one-run games and two extra-inning games reflect the closeness of the competition in 1989’s league.

(1989 Artisan)