Photo by Tim Weight
By Kenny Varner

LOCK HAVEN – Riding high!

The Midd-West Mustangs took advantage of early Central Mountain miscues and timely hitting and came out the a 10-3 winner as both teams head into the holiday weekend.

Pitching-wise, the Mustangs had solid outings from Griffen Paige and Caden Wolfley keeping the Wildcat offense off balanced allowing only six hits in the victory.

“We were waiting for this team to wake up and today we woke up. So let’s see where we go from here, said Midd-West coach Scott Wright. “We have a great group of kids. This is probably the best group of kids I’ve had. Now we are ready to go

Taking the loss for Central Mountain was Gabe Johnson.

Picking up multiple hits for Central Mountain was Nate Helms as he 2-for-3,scoring a run on two doubles.

Midd-West’s Caden Wolfley finished 3-for-4, RBI 4runs, while Paige was 3-for-3, RBI, and a run.

Midd-West got started in the first, plating one run to jump onto the scoreboard.

Wolfley hustled out a misplayed grounder to short, with one out in their first at bats.

Paige followed with a walk, putting runners on first and second.

With two outs, Jullian Krainack took one for the team as he was plunked to load the bases.

Aidan Everly brought home Wolfley, making it 1-0.

In the bottom of the inning, Paige sent down the Wildcats 1-2-3, giving his offense a chance to add to the lead.

Add to the lead they did.

This time, the Mustangs had some kick in their bats, starting with Matt Weimer.

Weimer singled in right field. He then stole second and scored on two wild pitches.

Wolfley singled into shallow left field. He followed in Weimer’s footsteps making the most of two wild pitches as well, landing on third.

Paige helped his own cause as he blasted an RBI double by the left field line, scoring Wolfley.

“We just didn’t come to play. We started off very slow. We gave free passes, hit batters, walked batters and errors,” said Central Mountain manager Mike Kramer. “They(Midd-West) did a good job coming through with runners in scoring positions. Their pitcher held us at bay. So they did what they had to do. That was a good team victory on their part.”

Central Mountains cut into the Midd-West lead in the bottom of the third picking up a run.

Connor Foltz led off the inning with a slow roller that allowed him to beat the throw out from short.

He would later score on an RBI fielders choice by Crusen Stover, making it a 3-1 advantage going into the fourth.

Midd-West went right back to work in the top of the fourth, adding some cushion to their lead.

A 3-run double by Trevor Sheaffer, upped the visitor’s lead to 6-1.

In the top of the fifth Midd-West posted three hits and made the most of two uncharacteristic errors to post a 4-run inning, making it a 10-1 lead.

The Wildcats added two runs in the fifth but Mustangs would shut down the Wildcats offense from there as it, en route to the 10-3 non-conference victory.

Midd-West 10, Central Mountain 3

MW 120 340 0 – 10 10 0

CM  001 020 0 –  3   6 0

WP: Griffen Paige

LP:  Gabe Johnson

Multiple hitters: Midd-West – Caden Wolfley 3-for-4, RBI 4runs, Paige 3-for-3, RBI, run. Central Mountain – Nate Helms 2-for-3,run.

HR: None

3B: MW – Caden Wolfley. CM – None.

2B: MW – Paige, Trevor Sheaffer. CM- Helms (2).