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Central Mountain shuts out Braves

By Kenny Varner
MILL HALL – Despite having to deal with constant blustery winds, Central Mountain pitcher Aaron Swartz sizzled on the mound as he one-hit Shikellamy Friday night at their home field.
In the process, his offense exploded in the third inning for three runs en route to the 3-0 victory.
Swartz had all of his pitches working the entire game as he faced 21 batters, allowed one hit, walked two, struck out seven in just six innings of work.
“He was in command. He was in command of his fastball and he felt good with his change up. His curve ball wasn’t working like it usually does so that’s usually his go to pitch at times so he was able to comeback on his secondary pitches to help him out, “ Central Mountain coach Michael Kramer said. “He has a solid defense behind him and I was pleased with that.”
Teammate Zane Probst came in in relief in the seventh to down the Braves 1-2-3, securing the victory.
Offensively, the Wildcats were led by Austyn Carson who went 3-for-4 with a double, run scored and an RBI.
Rounding out the multiple hitters for Central Mountain was Asher Corl who went 2-for-3 with a run.
Swartz went up against Braves hurler Noah Reitz.
Early on both seemed to be controlling from the mound as both offenses went scoreless in the first two innings.
The only hit came from the bat of Shikellamy’s Adam Young. Young singled but was left stranded.
Swartz harmlessly took down the Braves in the third, setting stage for his offense.
Evan Prough led off the inning, walking after taking Reitz to a full count.
He scored when Rocco Stark sent a line shot into the left centerfield triple into the gap.
Stark’s time on third was a short one as Carson followed with a screamer in center that went off the glove of the diving centerfielder, making it 2-0.
With two out, Asher Corl singled Carson in, giving their pitcher a 3-0 advantage.
That would all Swartz would need as he strolled easily through the line up and sent them back as quickly as they went up to the plate.
The only down point of the night came In the Wildcats last three at bats, they were able to plant a runner in scoring positions all three times but could not score them to bump up the lead.
“Offensively, we need to capitalize. We get runners in scoring position and we got to be able to answer and get runs across the plate,” Kramer said. “We were fortunate today that Shikellamy didn’t put any runs on the board. Because we kind of stalled. That just comes with seeing pitches. We’ve been off for quite awhile. These guys are going to be ok. They are going to come around and come through in these situations. “
However, with Swartz and then Zane Probst coming in relief, the Wildcats did not need any more runs en route to their victory.

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