Hornets Drop Heartbreaker To Jersey Shore

By: Ed Weaver  /  March 29, 2026

The Wellsboro Varsity Baseball team suffered a 8-7 heartbreaking non-league defeat to Jersey Shore Saturday afternoon.

"Despite difficult weather conditions, we played well enough to win," head coach Kyle Smith said. "Jersey Shore is a solid baseball team and they capitalized on a few more opportunities than we did today. It was a quality early season baseball game which should help us moving forward."

The Hornets jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first two innings. After back-to-back base hits from sophomores Griffin Morral and Gabe Cuneo, senior Marek Mascho and junior Coen Tennis drew a pair of walks to score Morral to give Wellsboro the early lead. Mascho later scored as junior Syler Pietrzyk drew a walk to push the lead to 2-0.

Wellsboro added three more runs in the top of the 2nd as Mascho doubled to score sophomore Reed Richardson and Cuneo. Richardson reached base on an error and Cuneo doubled the at bat before scoring. Mascho again crossed home plate on an RBI ground out by Tennis, giving Wellsboro a 5-0 lead.

The Bulldogs cut the score down to one with a 4-run bottom of the 2nd, then later added 4 more runs to make it an 8-5 game in the bottom of the 4th.

Wellsboro got two runs back in the top of the 5th to make it a one-run game. With two outs Morral singled to center field to score freshman Gage Baltzley to make it 8-6. Morral stole 2nd to move into scoring position, then later advanced to 3rd on a ground ball hit by Cuneo. Morral scored the next at bat on a line drive single by Mascho, however a strikeout ended the Hornets' rally attempt.

Morral (2-for-5), Cuneo (2-for-5), and Mascho (2-for-4) all had two hits on the day while Baltzley (1-for-4) and senior Cameron Owlett (1-for-4) made up the rest of Wellsboro's 8 hits. Mascho drove in 3 runs, Tennis drove in two and Morral and Pietrzyk drove in single runs.

Mascho started on the mound and threw three innings, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits with two walks. Pietrzyk also threw three innings, striking out three and walking two to go along with a hit. Senior Dylan Copp faced four batters, walked three and allowed three runs in the loss.

Hayden Kelley threw two and two-thirds innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to earn the win. Mazden Lupton, Greyson Confair, Carter Rhinehart, Hunter Enders, Nate Moore and Tucker Hanna all had hits for Jersey Shore with Rhinehart driving in three runs.

The loss drops the Hornets to 1-1 (1-0 NTL Large School Division). The team is back in action at Towanda on Tuesday.