TodayWest Shore Twilight: Newville capitalizes on Cumberland miscues
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Article RatingThe Cardinals and the Dodgers played baseball at Carlisle's George Bowen Field on Wednesday night but it wasn't the Major League version of the clubs from St. Louis and Los Angeles, respectively.
For fans looking for Albert Pujols and Jeff Kent they instead were treated to a good old-fashioned pitching duel and defensive battle. The Newville edition of the Cardinals took a 3-1 win thanks to a defensive miscue in the early innings.
Newville, perennially one of the West Shore favorites prior to new member Dauphin joining and the return of Mechanicsburg and Enola from the East Shore, used a 15-foot sacrifice bunt and a line drive single by one of its ageless veterans to beat former teammate, and Dodger hurler, Brett Livingston.
“You make an error here and there and then we had a couple of brain bubbles and the game didn't go our way,” Livingston said. “Take your hat off to (Newville pitcher) Jeremiah (Negley). He did his job and got them out. Neither of us is 100 percent and we didn't overpower anybody but we put the ball in play. We had a couple of situations that don't show up as errors but they were mental mistakes and you can't do that against good teams.”
Cumberland (13-12-3) dented the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning as Kyle Sayers led off with an infield single. Eric Rosenberger sacrificed him to second and Sayers raced home on an opposite-field double by catcher Reinaldo Mora.
Newville (12-13-1) got an infield single by Garrett Piper and Kyle Ebersole's bunt went toward third base. The third baseman's throw was a bit off line and went into right field foul territory. Piper raced around the bases and beat the throw home while Ebersole moved to third base. Lance Miller's RBI single scored Ebersole for a 2-1 Newville lead.
Cumberland threatened in the bottom of the third as Rosenberger lined a single to left and Eddie Griffith dropped a check swing single to right. Ray Mora ripped a one-hopper to short but Miller flipped to Ryan Leonard, who turned the double play.
Negley, who pitched for Indiana University of Pennsylvania this spring, settled down and allowed zero hits the rest of the contest. He conceded two walks, but Greg Books was gunned down by Todd Melisauskas trying to steal second. Negley, who failed to strike anyone out, scattered five hits and three walks. Cumberland hit only a couple of balls solid but the Newville defense was effective.
“I just got off work and came out, stretched a bit and got a bit looser,” said Negley, who edged Livingston, his high school coach. “Our defense is always great and our guys stepped up as they have all season and made some good plays. (Cumberland) did hit the ball and got some hits but not having any strikeouts tonight was disappointing. We are hunting for (a good) playoff spot so this win was big. We want Mechanicsburg but not in the first round of the playoffs.”
Melisauskas, who caught Negley, said the young pitcher finds a way to baffle opponents.
“He struggled with deep counts, walks and hits, but nobody seems to score any runs off him,” Melisauskas said. “The thing that he does best is stay out of the middle of the plate. He has a good curveball but he wasn't getting it over so it was straight fastball and he was hitting the edges of the plate. Sometimes, you can be effectively wild.”
Newville's Colby Rickabaugh ripped a single to left, stole second and raced home on Melisauskas' single to left field in the sixth inning.
Melisauskas, who served as Livingston's catcher last year, knew what to expect.
“Livingston and I are doing a baseball camp this week and he was telling me that he might throw this or that but the one pitch was up a bit and I got a hit,” Melisauskas said. “Having caught him the past few years I know what he throws but he's tough to hit. He pitched well enough to win, but we'll take any runs we can get.”
Both teams are battling for playoff positioning as the top eight teams move into the postseason. As of now the seventh seed would meet Mechanicsburg with the eighth seed slotted against Enola.
Cumberland sits fifth and Newville, which is one point ahead of Loysville, sixth.
