Annville-Cleona pounds Lebanon Catholic, 15-0

Wednesday wasn't a particularly nice day to be outside, given the gusty winds and chilly temperatures that made their presence felt in the Lebanon Valley.

So the Annville-Cleona baseball team made sure those in attendance at their Lancaster-Lebanon Section Four matchup with Lebanon Catholic didn't have to linger long in the not-so-great outdoors.

A-C pounded out 15 hits, including a pair of bases-loaded three-run doubles from Darien Peris and Nick Hughes, en route to a quick three-inning 15-0 mercy-rule victory over the Beavers at Annville-Cleona High School.

Now 4-0 in the early going, the Little Dutchmen set the tone for the rout with a five-run first inning outburst against Catholic hurler Kameron Shott and kept pouring it on from there while emptying the bench, ultimately bringing the game to an end on Brad Balmer's RBI single and an ensuing outfield error in the bottom of the third.

The Little Dutchmen entered the contest having scored a total of 15 runs in its first three games, but 10 of those came in a win over Lancaster County Christian, so head coach Scott Shyda was more than pleased to see his club smack the ball all over the yard on Tuesday.

"We hit the ball well, and that's what we were hoping we would do," Shyda said as the wind whipped across the A-C diamond. "We need to keep that going, that's the piece that's been missing at times. Our pitching's been really solid the whole way through so far, but  (Tuesday) night we struggled (with hitting) so it was good to see them swing the bats tonight."

Lebanon Catholic (0-5) was an unwilling accomplice to the blowout, struggling to make plays defensively behind Shott and managing only two hits - first-inning singles by Joe Gates and Noah Marinkov - against A-C pitchers Mitch Long and Tyler Schrader.

"We talked this year about making the routine play, but we're not doing that," said Lebanon Catholic coach Glenn Meck. "Most of these guys, this is only their second year they've ever played baseball in their life. They come to practice, they work hard at the game, they just don't know the ins and outs of the game. I can't be that upset because they come out every day and work hard. That's all I can ask."

No amount of hard work would silence A-C's bats on Wednesday, as it sent eight hitters to the plate in the first, batted around in the second and smacked four hits in six official plate appearances in the third to polish off the 15-run rule drubbing.