Around the Diamond: News & notes from F-F baseball
In the first full week of high school baseball the area slid right in to the season with some fierce action around Franklin and Fulton counties. Check out this week's high school baseball news and notes.
Extra innings: We had three area teams get into extra-inning games in the opening week of the season, and six games were decided in just five innings.
The McConnellsburg baseball team opened its 2016 slate with a 10-inning win over Everett, while Chambersburg and Shippensburg fell in extra innings in the opening week.
James Buchanan, Waynesboro, Southern Fulton and Mercersburg Academy all earned mercy-ruled wins in five innings.
Unexpected loss: Southern Fulton was handed its first regular season loss in almost a year last week at the hands of Chestnut Ridge in a narrow 5-4 loss. The Indians had not lost in the regular season since April 9, 2015 - a 3-2 loss to McConnellsburg.
Waynesboro starting strong : After finishing last season at .500, the Waynesboro baseball team came out with guns blazing to start the 2016 campaign, earning three quality wins in the opening week thanks in part to Kyle Hoffman, who earned two wins and a save. Waynesboro knocked out 15 hits against Chambersburg in its 14-6 win.
Prior to the game, Chambersburg honored former head coach Bob Thomas, who was at the helm of the Trojan baseball program for 51 years by retiring his number.
Waynesboro coach Greg Chandler, who has probably faced off in more games against Thomas than any coach, was asked to say a few words during the ceremony.
"We've become friends over the years and I'm glad they asked me to speak," Chandler said. "Bob always says that he wouldn't had much success without having good players. And he did have good players. But you still need somebody to lead them and he did a great job with that.
"I think Bob is one of the smartest baseball men I've ever known - and I think people overlook that about him."
Gayman is back : After going 1-2 last year, Myles Gayman made his 2016 debut one to remember, leading the Greencastle-Antrim baseball team to a 10-0 win over Northeastern to open the season with a bang.
Starting on the mound for the Blue Devils, Gayman was clocked at 92 mph, struck out six and pitched through three innings to earn the win. To top it all off, Gayman also hit the game's only home run, and the team's first in more than three years according to Greencastle coach Eric Shaner.
Bizarre play: Here's a head scratcher for you: Chambersburg had the bases loaded and one out Friday against Waynesboro, hit a single, the Indians made a wild throw and the inning ended with a double play. What?
Trojan coach Scott Folmar said, "I've never seen that happen in baseball before. I guess that kind of summed up the game for us."
Manning Brookens hit a ground ball into the hole between first and second, and with his speed, easily beat it out, even though second baseman Elliott Swink caught the ball. Brenton Byers scored on the play. The ball was thrown toward home plate, but it was off line, forcing Indian catcher Brady Riddell to retrieve it.
When he looked up, a Trojan runner was midway between second and third, so Riddell threw toward second and the runner was tagged out in a rundown. The runner who was on third was then caught off the base and nailed as he tried to get back to the bag.
As if that wasn't strange enough, the home plate umpire told the PA announcer than no run had scored, thinking that the runner had gone back to third. But that was the runner who started on second, not at third. Like we said: bizarre.
James Buchanan bounces back : James Buchanan came into the season hoping to gain confidence after a tough 6-13 finish last season. And the Rockets surely got off to a good start Friday with a 15-0 win in five innings over Biglerville.
Forbes is forging : Forbes Road is also off to a solid start, completing the first full week of the season 2-1 with two Sideling Hill League/Inter-County Conference victories, including a comeback victory over McConnellsburg in which the Cardinals overcame a three-run deficit late to post a 5-4 win.
Editor's note: Each week the P.O. sports staff will produce several high school notebook stories, containing interesting items from the week that did not make it into our daily highlights package. Friday's paper will feature a high school extra notebook, followed by a baseball notebook on Sunday, and softball on Tuesday. Check back every week for area baseball highlights and analysis.