Hornet baseball tops Towanda, 5-4
By: Ed Weaver | NTL Sports | May 3, 2017
The Wellsboro Varsity Baseball team evened their record up at 6-6 with a 5-4 win over Towanda on Tuesday, May 2.
The Black Knights broke out an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first off of two Hornet errors. Towanda then got another run in the top of the third to go up 3-0 before Wellsboro scored in the bottom half of the inning.
Junior Dalton Prough started the inning with a infield single, then sophomore Cam Tennis moved Prough over to third on a hit-and-run. Prough would score on a wild pitch to make it 3-1 in favor of Towanda with Tennis on third. A single to right field by freshman Billy Lechler scored Tennis making it 3-2.
The Hornets took the lead in the bottom of the fourth with two runs. Sophomore Taynton Repard singled to right field with two outs and freshman Silas Wagaman collected a base hit to move Repard to third after a stolen base. Prough doubled to deep center field in the next at bat to bring both Repard and Wagaman home, making the scored 4-3 Wellsboro.
Towanda tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the seventh, leading off the inning on two walks and a double. With runners on second and third with two outs, junior Johnny Rowland struck out the Black Knights to end the inning.
A double by Prough led off the bottom of the seventh and Cam Tennis was intentionally walked. Lecher laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners, and freshman Carson Davis was intentionally walked to load the bases for junior Caleb Tennis. Tennis came up huge for Wellsboro with the game-winning RBI to score Prough.
"It was a good game. Both teams made fundamental plays moving runners," said head coach Philip Prough. "It felt like a game that would come down to the end. Fortunately, we made one extra play. But it could just as easily have gone to Towanda."
Prough was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles on the afternoon to lead Wellsboro at the plate. Cam Tennis was 2-for-3, and junior Brent English was 1-for-3 with a double. Lechler, Caleb Tennis, Wagaman, and Repard rounded out the Hornets' 10 hits for the game.
Lechler started on the mound for Wellsboro and pitched four innings, allowing 5 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Rowland picked up the win in relief with 2 stikeouts in three innings of work.
"Billy threw another good game," Prough continued. "We made a couple of mistakes in the first inning. But he battled and so did the team. It was a good recovery. Dalton remains hot at the plate. Even when getting out, he's hitting it hard. But the Tennis boys are seeing it better too. I've felt like we've been heading in the right direction. If our offense continues to put the ball in play with solid contact, we'll get our breaks."
The win gets the Hornets back to .500 on the year at 6-6 (6-4 NTL Large School Division). The team is on the road for a tough matchup with Athens this afternoon.
Ed Weaver is the owner of Circle W Sports in Wellsboro, PA, is the Sports Director for The Home Page Network and the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.
