BASEBALL: Shippensburg ends regular season with 8-2 defeat of James Buchanan
SHIPPENSBURG >> Shippensburg starting pitcher Noah Auman allowed two first inning runs, but he wasn't worried in the least. Nor should he have been given the potency of the Greyhound offense.
The Hounds quickly put Auman back in front and he hung zeroes over the next four frames, helping Ship to an 8-2 victory over James Buchanan in Mid Penn Colonial Division baseball action Thursday afternoon.
"I don't have to throw the perfect pitch every time," Auman said. "I know that if I give up a couple of runs that we have the offense to come back from it."
JB (6-12, 2-8 MPC) jumped on Auman in the top of the first with Toby Sowers plating Jared Pine on a fielder's choice and Michael McCartney chased home Zach Vosburg when he boomed a triple that rolled to the fence in right-centerfield.
Ship (15-3, 9-1 MPC) didn't trail for long, though, as Cole Friese and Daulton Brenize started the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles. Following a strikeout, Nate Reiner singled home Friese and Brenize, then Matt Frick singled in Reiner and Brandt Swartz supplied a sac fly to plate Nick Jacoby for a 4-2 lead.
The Rockets loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk in the second before Auman escaped the jam by inducing a fly out.
The Hound offense went right back to work in the second when it rallied for three more runs. Reiner plated one with a sac fly, and two more came home on a Rocket error.
"We started well in the first and then struggled to get them out that inning," JB coach Scott Folmar said. "We had a chance in the second and couldn't get any runs, then an error that cost us a couple runs and that was a dagger."
After needing 57 pitches to get through two innings, Auman made it through the next three frames in just 40, and he didn't yield a hit in the last three innings that he worked.
For the day, Auman worked five innings and allowed two runs and four hits with seven strikeouts and four walks.
"Noah threw well," Ship coach Nate Rosenberry said. "It took him a little bit to figure it out, but he threw a lot of good pitches today."
Swartz drove home a run with a fielder's choice in the bottom of the fourth that bumped Ship's advantage to 8-2.
Zach Barnhart replaced Auman on the bump in the top of the sixth and threw a pair of scoreless innings while retiring five hitters on fly balls and one on a strikeout to end it.
The win bumps the Hounds' winning streak to nine in a row and they are now averaging 7.22 runs per game.
Next on the schedule (tentatively, will be official Friday morning) for Ship is a Mid Penn tournament semifinal on the road at Mid Penn Keystone champ Mechanicsburg on Monday at 4 p.m. Should the Hounds win that, they would play later Monday for the conference title at Northern York.
"We have to keep doing the little things well," Rosenberry said. "Continue to play good ball and good things can happen."
Shippensburg senior Jon Melendez, who started the three-run second inning with a single, finished the day 3-for-3 at the dish.
Shippensburg 8, James Buchanan 2
J.Buchanan2000000—241Shippensburg430100x—891
W — Noah Auman (3-1); L — Kelby Ramsey (1-5).
3B — (JB) Michael McCartney; SB — (S) Cole Friese 3, Cordell Shannon, Nate Reiner, Nick Jacoby.
LOB — JB 7, Ship 8; T — 1:57.