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Littlestown's DeHaas shuts down York Catholic


Alex DeHaas escaped the first two innings without allowing a run, and the Littlestown sophomore cruised from there in the Thunderbolts' 1-0 victory against visiting York Catholic in YAIAA baseball action Friday afternoon at Memorial Field.

York Catholic (5-5, 5-2) recorded a pair of hits in each of the first two frames and loaded the bases in each inning, but DeHaas recorded a strikeout to end the first and a groundout to end the second.

"We had our chances in the first two innings and couldn't get any runs," York Catholic coach Joe Gurreri said. "Then their pitcher started pounding the strike zone and shut us down."

Irish starter Matt Knauer was just about as good, as the sophomore righty yielded just one run in the bottom of the third.

Devin Gullickson started the decisive rally with a double to the gap in left-center field. Jacob Owings followed with a ground out that moved Gullickson to third, and then Russell Livesay blooped a single into center field that plated Gullickson.

"We talk about a good two-strike approach," Littlestown coach Larry Baumgardner said. "Early in the count, you can let it fly. But once you get to two strikes, it becomes a team approach, and that's what Jacob did by grounding the ball to the right side and moving Devin up."

DeHaas walked a batter in the third and allowed a single in the fourth, but a two-out single by Frank Skehan was York Catholic's only runner in the last three frames.

For the game, DeHaas allowed six hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. He tossed 100 pitches, 73 of them for strikes.

"Alex really settled in after the first two innings," Baumgardner said. "He's a great competitor, and he did a great job for us today."

Knauer was tough in defeat as he allowed five hits with four strikeouts and no walks.

"Matt was very good today," Gurreri said. "They did what they had to do to score a run and that was the difference."

Littlestown (6-4, 6-2) has now won four of its last five games.