WAYNESBORO – It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning, the Waynesboro Indians varsity baseball team scored 13 unanswered runs to defeat the Boiling Springs Bubblers 13-2 on Thursday, April 16 at Robinson Field.
The win avenges a 5-3 loss to Boiling Springs in their Mid-Penn Colonial Division contest played on March 24. The Indians improved to 7-3 overall and 6-2 in the division. The other divisional loss came to first-place Greencastle-Antrim (11-0, 8-0) played in Waynesboro.
John Kahl had a rough first inning but battened down the hatches to stymie the Bubblers’ bats until he was replaced by Chance Hall with two outs in the seventh stanza. The senior, who took the loss in the first meeting between the two teams, gave up three singles and two runs in the top of the first inning. But he settled down to pitch shutout ball the rest of the way, getting plenty of help from the defense along the way.
Waynesboro turned three double plays, including a game-ending twin killing when third baseman Ryan Jenkins made a spectacular catch of a low line drive and tagged the bag for the second out of the double play.
In the second inning, shortstop Riley Eaton fielded a sharp ground ball, threw to second baseman Connor Early, who then relayed to first baseman Nate Nystrom for the double play. Then, in the fifth frame, Jenkins made an unassisted put out and fired to Nystrom to end the inning.
Waynesboro didn’t take long to surge ahead.
Eaton hit a lead-off triple and scored on a ground out hit by Earley in the home first to cut the deficit in half.
Rylan Nichols tied the game on one swing of the bat in the bottom of the second inning as he homered to center field. Kahl followed with a dinger to left field, which proved to be the winning run.
Neither team scored in the third inning, and Kahl struck out two of three batters in the fourth inning to set the stage for a two-run bottom of the fourth.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Indians broke the game open with six runs on four hits, a walk, a hit batsman and an error. Kahl drove in two runs with a double. Rayshawn Frazer-Hewitt also knocked in a pair of runs with a base hit to center field.
Waynesboro ended the game by the 10-run rule in the sixth as Jenkins and Nystrom both walked and Nichols doubled.
The Tribe enters a crucial three-game stretch next week, all on the road. Waynesboro plays Big Spring on Monday, followed by league games against Northern and a non-conference game against Spring Grove.
Photos by Toya McCleary:
