CENTRE COUNTY — With the weather improving, Centre County Baseball League teams are finally able to make up some of the many games postponed, and the league’s teams have been very busy with those makeups and their regularly scheduled games.
The Howard Hawks and the Blanchard Bees have continued to streak, while Lewistown and Spike Island are keeping pace and staying within striking distance.
Here is a brief look at what is happening around the league:
BLANCHARD’S WINNING STREAK WAS HALTED AT SPIKE ISLAND
The first-place Blanchard Bees brought a four-game winning streak into their home game against Spike Island on Sunday, June 22, but the Pirates were ready for what turned out to be a wild day.
The Pirates steadily built a 9-run lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning and then had to hang on in the face of a furious comeback by the Bees for an exciting 9-7 win.
Blanchard scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by a grand-slam home run by Crusen Stover, to cut the lead to 9-6 with an inning to play.
And then threatened again in the bottom of the seventh.
Cayde McCloskey doubled to begin the final inning for the Bees and subsequently scored on a hit by Taten Yoder.
Yoder’s hit brought the tying run to the plate with one out, but Spike Island relief pitcher Ryan Whitehead came in at this point and stopped the rally cold.
Whitehead brought the heat and struck out the final two Blanchard hitters to finally secure the win for his team.
The Bees collected eight hits altogether on the day, including Stover’s blast and a double by McCloskey.
It wasn’t quite enough, though, as they fell to just their second loss in 10 games.
Prior to Sunday, however, the Bees took consecutive wins over Baseball U (twice), Spring Creek and Milesburg.
Against Baseball U on June 19, the Bees took a 7-3 win after scoring four runs in the second and third innings and then holding on for their eighth win of the season.
Connor Fulz homered for the Bees and Yoder and Connor Griffin each had extra base hits in the win.
And on the 13th, Blanchard crushed 14 hits, including three each by Nate Helms and Aaron Miller, and swept over the Spring Creek Shockers, 14-3.
The Bees spotted Spring Creek a 2-1 lead after one inning, but then Blanchard rallied for 13 runs in the next three innings to take a comfortable 14-2 lead.
Blanchard will next be in action on Thursday, June 26, at Milesburg.
HAWKS MOVE INTO FIRST PLACE AFTER WINS OVER BASEBALL U, SPIKE ISLAND AND SPRING MILLS
The Howard Hawks improved to 8-1 for the season with a 10-4 victory over Spring Mills at home on Sunday, June 22.
The Hawks rallied for five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 6-2 lead and then held off the Braves for their eighth win.
Spring Mills did close to within 6-3 in the third inning, but Howard scored single runs in the third and fourth and then two in the fifth to close out the win.
The Hawks knocked out 13 hits altogether in the win with right fielder Parker Quick leading the way with three and Bryan Greene knocking in four runs.
On the mound, Dylan Womer took the win with six innings pitched with two earned runs and six strikeouts.
The Braves did counter with 10 hits–two each by Alec Lose, Jarrett Stover and Mica Shrenkel–but the Braves committed five errors and scored just one run in the final five innings.
Before the Spring Mills game, the Hawks also bested Spike Island, 6-3, at home on Friday night.
The Hawks took a 2-0 lead into the sixth inning only to see Spike Island score three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead.
But in the bottom of the sixth, hits by Dyan Womer, Quick, Logan Bernier and Gavin Burns, along with two errors, led to four Hawk runs and a 6-3 victory.
On the mound, Tyler Serb went the distance for Howard, with five hits, three earned runs and 10 strikeouts.
Spike Island was led by Denny Prestash with a hit and two RBIs.
Howard now stands in first place in the CCBL with an 8-1 record with home games against Baseball U and Blanchard coming up.
PIRATES COME BACK WITH WINS OVER BLANCHARD AND SPRING MILLS
After losing a tough, 6-3 decision at Howard on Friday night, the Spike Island Pirates came back with an important 9-7 win over Blanchard.
The Pirates built a big 9-0 lead only to see Blanchard stage a big six-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning and closed the gap to just three runs.
Another run in the bottom of the seventh on a hit by Taten Yoder made the score 9-7 and brought the tying run up to the plate with one out.
The Pirates countered by putting starter Ryan Whitehead on the mound in relief, and he came through with two consecutive strikeouts that ended the game.
Ryan Kephart had a big day for Spike Island. Kephard had two hits, including a home run, and four RBIs to lead his team, while Denny Prestash, Keegan Soltis, Nate Gustkey and Whitehead each had extra-base hits in the game.
For the Spikes, it was their sixth win of the season against two losses with games against Baseball U and Spring Creek coming up.
On Monday in Spring Mills, McGwire Heverly hit a fifth-inning grand slam home run that propelled the Pirates to a 9-4 win over the Braves.
The Braves led the game 3-0 going into the inning, but two walks and a single by Ike Tiracorda loaded the bases for Heverly and he delivered with a shot to left field that put the Pirates ahead 4-3.
Spike Island went on to score four more runs in the inning on hits by White, Sam McDonald, Kephart and Tiracorda mixed in with two walks.
The result was an 8-3 lead that the Pirates did not relinquish.
Heverly took the win on the mound with four innings pitched with three runs, three hits and seven strikeouts. Heverly received relief help from Hunter Rumsky and White, who wrapped up the final outs of the game without giving up a hit.
Beside Heverly’s home run and four RBIs, Kephart had two hits, two RBIs, two walks and a run scored.
Spike Island, now 6-2 and in second place, will next take on Milesburg and Lewistown.
OTHER SCORES:
- Milesburg 1, Baseball U 0
- Milesburg 11, Baseball U 10
- The Iron Kings picked up two wins after having two consecutive rainouts.
- Blanchard 7, Baseball U 3
- Howard 14, Baseball U 6
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
June 26
- Port Matilda at Lewistown
- Spike Island at Baseball U
- Spring Mills at Spring Creek
- Blanchard at Milesburg
June 27
- Baseball U at Howard
June 29
- Port Matilda at Baseball U
- Blanchard at Howard
- Spike Island at Spring Creek
- Spring Mills at Milesburg (2 p.m.)
- Lewistown at Milesburg (5 p.m.)
STANDINGS:
- Howard 6-1
- Blanchard 8-2
- Spike Island 5-2
- Lewistown 5-2
- Port Matilda 2-2-1
- Spring Creek 3-6
- Milesburg 2-6
- Spring Mills 1-6
