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BASEBALL: Waynesboro powers past Greencastle-Antrim in extra innings


GREENCASTLE >> It was a wild ride at Greencastle-Antrim on Thursday afternoon.

After tying a Mid Penn Colonial Division baseball game in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Blue Devils could barely muster any more offense and suffered a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Waynesboro in the ninth inning.

"This was huge for us because we're not having the best of seasons right now," Indian coach Greg Chandler said. "Any time you can beat your rival, it's always good, but it's even more special because our season hasn't been going quite as well as their season. It's satisfying knowing we beat a quality team."

Waynesboro (5-7, 3-3 MPC) scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth and led for the majority of the game. But Greencastle (6-4, 4-2 MPC) wasn't going down without a fight.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Myles Gayman got things started for the Blue Devils by reaching on an error. Kurt Hansen followed him with a single, and Quin Ambeault hit an RBI single to send Gayman home. Matt Kline then walked to load the bases, and Bailey Parker also drew a walk to knot the scoreboard at 3-3.

"I was very pleased with our defense tonight; having no errors was great, especially against a team as aggressive as Waynesboro is," G-A coach Eric Shaner said. "I was also glad we could fight back there down 3-1 heading into the seventh inning. But we looked at way too many third strikes, and that's not going to win you ballgames."

Greencastle struck out eight times, four of which the Blue Devils were caught looking. All four of those non-swinging strikeouts came in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

And Waynesboro took advantage. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Sawyer Duffey drew a walk and went to second on passed ball. Austin Hanshew then came up with some heroics, smacking an RBI single that proved to be the game-winner.

"Zac Kober did a great job in relief for us to shut them down the last two innings," Chandler said. "Our defense was still a little suspect at times, but we did what we needed to do to get the win. We chased Gayman there in the sixth inning; our at-bats were pretty quality against him."

That seemed to be the biggest difference in Shaner's mind as well.

"It was the second time in a row that Waynesboro showed up and really wanted to beat us," Shaner said. "It felt like we were on our heels constantly. When they got two strikes, they shortened up a bit and put the ball in play. With two outs, they were finding holes, and we were not. We weren't driving the ball, but hitting weak groundballs and flyballs."

Waynesboro also got a fine game from both of its pitchers. Zach Stultz started the game for the Indians, going seven innings and allowing just five hits and one earned run. He walked three but struck out seven. Kober then got the win by throwing two innings and giving up only one hit.

Hanshew, Cody Kline and David Emmert all had two hits apiece for Waynesboro, while Bailey Parker and Spencer Meyers each went 2-for-4 for G-A. Meyers smacked a pair of doubles.

Waynesboro 4, Greencastle 3 (9)

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W — Zac Kober (1-0); L — Spencer Meyers (0-1).

2B — (W) David Emmert, (GA) Spencer Meyers 2; SB — (W) Todd Riddell 3, Sawyer Duffey, Austin Hanshew, Zach Stultz, Nick Wade, (GA) Bailey Parker.