Troy blanks Line Mountain, reaches District IV, Class AA final.
By: The Review | Towanda Daily Review | May 27, 2015
2015 NTL and District 4 News
WILLIAMSPORT - Kellan Masser pitched well enough to get Line Mountain into the District 4 AA finals. But Troy's pitchers were just a little bit better.
Line Mountain committed five errors behind Masser, who gave up just four hits, and Troy took advantage of most of them and got shutout pitching for a 3-0 win over the Eagles Tuesday in the district semifinals at Bowman Field.
Masser struck out five batters and walked just one, and the first four batters in the Trojans' order were a combined 0-for-11.
But Kyle Schucker and reliever Isaac Havens were just as tough for Troy. Schucker, in five innings, gave up two hits, both doubles, struck out two and walked one. Havens gave up two hits, struck out four and walked one in two innings of relief, although the Eagles left the bases loaded in the sixth and two on base in the seventh.
The teams split regular season games, Troy winning one 9-5 and Line Mountain taking a 10-1 win in the Zalar Memorial Tournament at Shamokin.
"I knew they hadn't seen Kyle pitch before," said Troy coach Steve Mattocks. "He gave us five strong innings and Isaac two. Kyle's 5-2 now and he'll never strike out more than two or three a game, but he's always around the plate and hitting the corners, and then Isaac comes in and keeps people off balance."
"We had our opportunities but it seemed they always came with two outs," said Line Mountain coach Jon Raker. "We just never could get a big two-out hit. The kids kept scrapping, even down 3-0 in the seventh."
Line Mountain's Ryan Reed had a two-out double in the second but Schucker got Tanner Spatzer to ground out to short.
Troy grabbed the lead in the second inning when Dane Smith hit a two-out double to the gap in left center and came home on a single by Mitchell Morse.
Shaky fielding by the Eagles led to Troy's second run. With one out in the fifth, Colin Binford singled to right and the ball stayed down on Ryan Reed, who let it get by. Binford went to second, then scored on an error by shortstop Justin Kaleta, who made a nice run to a hot grounder toward second but couldn't come up cleanly with the ball.
Line Mountain had bases loaded with two outs in the sixth on an infield single by Masser, a walk to J.P. Lenker and an error which allowed Colton Gaw to reach, but Havens struck out Reed to end the threat.
The Trojans tacked on another run in the sixth with the help of another error. Schucker doubled with one out and went to third when Paul couldn't come up with the ball in centerfield after slipping and being shaken up on the play. Schucker then scored on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Brock Schucker.
"They gave us just enough opportunities," Mattocks said. "That ball stayed down on the right fielder and allowed our guy to get to third and score on a ball that didn't leave the infield. Then the kid slips on the double and our guy gets to third again and scores on a sacrifice fly. You're going to have errors in high school baseball. You have to capitalize on them."
Colton Gaw had a leadoff double for Line Mountain in the fifth but was stranded at third. The Eagles had runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh, on an error and a single by John Yerger, but Kurt Mace popped to right field to end the game.
Troy (17-5) will play Loyalsock, 10-0 winners over Warrior Run, for the title. Line Mountain finished the season 14-9 and had a six-game winning streak snapped.
