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Win slips away from Red Land against Mifflin County


LEWISTOWN >> Red Land starter Noah Keister pitched well enough to win, but he didn't get enough help to defeat Mifflin County.

Keister tossed a complete game and struck out six Huskies, but Red Land committed three errors behind the right-hander and Patriots fell, 3-2, Tuesday at Mifflin County High School.

Mifflin County's Ross Torquato walked four, but he held Red Land to three hits to earn the win.

Red Land's Tyler Hodges briefly evened the game at 2-2 with a fifth-inning, two-out, two-run single, but Mifflin County came back with a run in the bottom half of the inning to take a 3-2 lead it would never relinquish.

"They scored three soft runs, honestly, when you think about it," Red Land coach Nate Ebbert said. "The blooper down the line, we made a good pitch on the first one. On the first-to-third, we made an error. Then a triple, that should have been a single. He pitched well enough to win. (Mifflin County's) pitcher pitched well, too. We didn't do anything with him."

Keister got into first-inning trouble when Max Remy's bouncer got by third baseman Jake Rollman's backhanded attempt, and Rollman booted the next grounder to put runners on first and second with no outs.

A wild pitch moved the runners up, but Keister came back and struck out Isaiah Kearns, Carter Spade and Tyler Powell to end the inning and the threat.

Mifflin County's Spade singled with one out in the third and made a heads-up play to go from first to third on Tyler Powell's infield single for what would have put runners on the corners. But Hodges, Red Land's first baseman, threw wide to third, allowing Spade to score. The Huskies had a 2-0 lead after three innings.

Red Land's Josh Snyder hit a leadoff triple over Hunter Walker's head in center to start a two-run fifth.

Red Land (2-3) started the game 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, but Hodges broke through with his two-run single.

Mifflin County immediately answered with a leadoff triple from Walker and an RBI-double from Kearns.

"That's good for (Kearns)," Torquato said. "That will give him more confidence. It's his third hit of the season. The past couple of games have been tough ones, but he'll bounce back."

Walker's triple landed in right field and rolled for extra bases when Red Land's Eric Dressler slipped on the wet grass.

"That's tough," Ebbert said. "You work hard to battle back and tie it up and then you give up a soft run like that. The ball was hit hard, but it should have been a single."

Torquato went back out and set down the Patriots in order in the sixth. He recorded the first out of the final inning before being relieved by senior Evan Seby.

Seby pitched around a two-out walk and got a line out to third to end the game.

Mifflin County 3, Red Land 2

Red Land0000200—233Mifflin County011010x—360

RLa, Noah Keister. MC, Ross Torquato, Evan Seby.

SO-BB — Keister 6-2. Torquato 2-4, Seby 0-0; W — Torquato; L — Keister; Sv — Seby; 2B — MC, Isaiah Kearns; 3B — RLa, Josh Snyder. MC, Hunter Walker.