Huskies fall to Central Dauphin in home contest
Apr 15, 2022


LEWISTOWN – Despite having more errors, Central Dauphin took advantage of its opportunities while Mifflin County struggled on its chances as the Huskies fell to the Rams by the final score of 9-5 in a Mid-Penn Conference baseball game on Thursday.

Central Dauphin committed four errors in the game while Mifflin County only had one error for the whole game.

That one error came in the top half of the second inning where the score was 3-2 Central Dauphin and the Huskies had two outs when Nick Keane came to the play. Keane hit a fly ball to left field where the fielder missed the ball and it dropped to the ground which allowed both A.J. Wenrich and Alex Yarrish scored and extended the lead to 5-2.

Mifflin County looked to respond in the bottom half of the second with the bases loaded and two outs. Ryan Kanagy was in a tough battle with Central Dauphin starter Keane, with a full count Kanagy ended up winning that battle and drew a walk that scored Luke Lyter to cut the lead down to 5-3.

However, the Huskies failed to keep the momentum going as the next batter Xavier Smith grounded out to short to leave the bases stranded.

Another big opportunity for the Mifflin County offense came later on in the bottom of the fifth inning. After Lyter hit a single up the middle and brought home Jaxson Pupo, the Huskies had the bases loaded again with two outs and the Rams again managed to keep the runners stranded.

The Rams added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning starting with Yarrish who found his way to home plate as Wenrich hustled his way to second base. Keane then smacked a single to center which brought home Wenrich.

Central Dauphin then tacked on its final two runs of the game in the top half of the sixth starting with a SAC fly to right by Keane that scored Yarrish. The next batter was Christian Foltz who came to the plate and smacked a single to right that brought home Wenrich.

Owen Cordner led the way for the Rams going 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and had two RBIs. Foltz and Wenrich also had multi hit games.

For the Huskies, Lyter was a major factor on the offensive side of the ball going 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. Smith was the other Mifflin County batter with multiple hits and went 2-for-4 which included a double.

Keane got the start for the Rams and went four and a third innings on 94 pitches and had four strikeouts and five walks. Ben Long took over from there and finished off the final two and two-thirds innings with three strikeouts.

For Mifflin County, Lyter was given the call to start and went the first three and a third innings with a strikeout and walk each. Smith then took over and pitched the next two and two-thirds innings with a strikeout and walk each. Then it was Landen Eichhorn who finished the game off going one and two-thirds inning with a strikeout.

It was a very special occasion that Mifflin County was celebrating before the game as the Huskies were honoring the 2002 Lewistown Panthers State Championship team.

Many from that team appeared including head coach John Bell, assistant coaches Ray Hoppel and Keith Yoder. As well as several players who were on that championship team including Cody Zong who was the winning pitcher in the championship game. Zong threw a complete game and gave up two runs off of four hits.

Other players that were there were Ryan Kauffman who had a three run homer in the game, Kalen Gearhart who is currently an assistant coach on the Mifflin County staff. Jason Cunningham, Heath Knable, Jason Mattern, Dustin Maxwell, Tyler Otero, Rich Stewart, Dane Hoffnagle, Seth Napikoski, Zach Smith and Jared Dyer.

Those that could not attend were Josh Haines, Nathan Heider, Kyle Herto, Luke Leopard, Ryan Coleman, Josh Oburn, Micah Anderson. Also team managers, Nick Sunderland and Alicia Rupert and assistant coaches Mark Zong and Mike Shore.

Congratulations to the 2002 Lewistown Panthers!

Mifflin County is now (1-5, 0-5) and will host the Bellefonte Red Raiders on Monday for senior day.

Central Dauphin 9, Mifflin County 5
Central Dauphin 320 20 2 0 9-9-4
Mifflin County 210 010 1 5-9-1
WP: Nick Keane. LP: Luke Lyter. SO: Lyter, Xavier Smith, Landen Eichhorn (MC); Keane 4, Ben Long 3 (CD). BB: Lyter, Smith (MC); Keane 5 (CD). HR: Owen Cordner (CD). 2B: Smith (MC); Cordner (CD). MH: Smith 2-4, Luke Lyter 3-4 (MC); A.J. Wenrich 2-3, Christian Foltz 2-4, Cordner 2-4 (CD). RBI: Ryan Kanagy, Lyter (MC); Keane 2, Foltz, Nate Payne, Cordner 2 (CD).

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