By Kenny Varner
BEECH CREEK – It was an impressive debut for the 11-12 Keystone All-Star team Friday as they battled a tough Williamsport team and even Mother Nature to pull out a 5-1 victory.
Beech Creek Hurler Gabe Johnson went five innings and struck out 10 to pick up the victory.
Teammate Levi Schlesinger came in to shut things down in the sixth, striking out 2-of-4.
Beech Creek struck out the side three times in the six inning contest.
Williamsport’s pitcher Makai Day also provides a strong performance on the mound, allowing two runs and struck out seven.
Offensively, Beech Creek finished with five hits on the night, three of those were home runs.
With the game tied going into the fifth, Beech Creek’s Braylen Carter smoked a shot into left field to give his team a little cushion going into the final inning.
“We feel like no matter who is up, no matter where we are in the order we can get the job done,” Beech Creek manager Pat Johnson said. “Tonight it was the back half of the order that got it done. When we had too we matched defenses with them until we got the bats working. It was a gutsy effort and everybody did something important.”
After taking the 2-1 advantage into the final stanza, Beech Creek padded its lead with more help from the long ball.
With one out, Elek Fravel launched a shot deep over the left field fence, upping it to 3-1.
Beech Creek was at it again two batters later.
With two outs and the bases empty, Connor Foltz sent a line shot that curved just inside the foul pole to give him a round tripper of his own and extending the lead once again.
Later in the inning, Beech Creek added an insurance run and let it up to its defense to close things down.
As Schlesinger took the mound, the pitcher forced Day to pop up for the first out Cayden Robertson and Cole Shuler to strike out, ending the game on a combined 3-hitter.
Keystone picked up its first run in the top of the second.
Kaden Colby reached on an infield single to get the inning started.
Foltz scored him over on an RBI single to left.
Williamsport scores its lone run in the third inning on an RBI single by Robertson, tying things at one.
Beech Creek will be back in action Sunday when they travel to Jersey Shore.
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