Red Land could have run off Cumberland Valley and all but lock down a Mid-Penn Commonwealth baseball title on Wednesday. Turns out, southpaw Hunter Schryver and the Eagles were prepared to stretch the division race a few more innings.
Schryver, despite struggling with his location, threw six innings of one-hit baseball and chased in a pair of runs on three hits as Cumberland Valley bagged a 4-1 victory and series split with the first-place Patriots.
Earlier, Red Land completed a suspended match with the Eagles by scoring three times in the top of the ninth, clearing a 3-0 triumph.
Red Land (14-3, 11-2) certainly controls its own fate, but Schryver's work, coupled with a few clutch hits by Mike Adams and Tyler Heisey, allowed Cumberland Valley (9-6, 9-4) to remain in the hunt.
“I told them yesterday that we were too good of a hitting team not to score some runs,” said Eagles coach Mike Whitehead, whose club hit Brandt Cook Field following back-to-back losses to State College and Cedar Cliff.
In fact, the Eagles had produced just three runs in their last three outings.
“It's tough to stay positive because we're making hard outs, too. That's part of the game of baseball,” said Whitehead. “Hopefully, this will get us going. I think we've got a pretty good team. I think we can compete with anyone in the district with our pitching staff. We just have to get confidence at the plate and get things going.”
Schryver, unable to spot his fastball all afternoon, fell behind 1-0 after Cumberland Valley's lone error set up a Kyle Searfoss RBI single in the third. It was the only hit charged to Schryver, who covered the next three innings from the stretch position.
“It was my sharpest effort. I walked a lot more guys than I wanted to, but I found that my stretch was better than my wind-up,” Schryver said.
“The fastball I was playing around with a lot of grips because I just couldn't find one that worked for me. When I could, I used off-speed and that seemed to work.”
MID-PENN COMMONWEALTH STANDINGS
The Eagles even broke out the sticks just minutes after Searfoss' shot to center. Facing Red Land righty Zach Newmyer, who earlier claimed the suspended battle, Jack Legore (2-for-4) opened the fourth with a bloop single to right. Consecutive singles by Matt Davis and Schryver brought the Eagles even.
An Adams fielder's choice and Heisey's RBI single to right made it 3-1. Schryver gave himself even more wiggle room in the fifth, plating Davis with a RBI single. Red Land would strand three more runners on base before CV reliever Mitchel Lacey fired a clean seventh for the save. Schryver struck out 10.
“We had to get one [of the two games], but we knew we were going to have a tough time on our hands with Hunter on the mound,” Red Land skipper Nate Ebbert said.
“We made him work but didn't get a key hit. He pitched well when we got runners on base. He made the pitches to get out of it.”
To complete the suspended match from April 10, Eric Dressler's single and Jeremy Hileman's sacrifice bunt put Red Land in business in the top of the ninth. Following an error on Dennis Porter's grounder, Jake Payne's single chased home Dressler. A single by Matt Shope and Jamie Eshleman's sac fly finished the surge. Newmyer faced just four CV batters to seal it.
Epler on Twitter: @threejacker