LebCo Baseball Season Update: April 12

Power Rankings may be lagging as contests were played last night.

Home teams are in italics, Bolded games are wins. * Denotes League match-up.

     Annville-Cleona Dutchmen 

Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4

Current Record: 2-3 overall, 2-1 in Section 4

District Power Ranking: # 11 – 3A  (top 6 qualify)

Recent Games: 

3/27: ELCO 7, Annville-Cleona 1  Box Score

*4/3: Lancaster Catholic 14, Annville-Cleona 2 Box Score

*4/5: Annville-Cleona 6, Columbia 1  Box Score

4/6: Lebanon 9, Annville-Cleona 0  Box Score

*4/11: Annville-Cleona 5, Pequea Valley 1  Box Score

Update: The Dutchmen have gotten off to a slower start then they would have wanted, but are winners in two of their last three games, including two straight Section 4 matchups. Yesterday’s win showed the resolve of this group, as they rebounded from Thursday’s shutout loss to Lebanon, during which they could not get much of anything going.  Through the first five games, Annville-Cleona’s offense has been led by freshman Zac Frentz who has five hits, two doubles, a .357 BA / .400 OBP.  Sophomore Noah Morcom has a .333 BA, along with a slugging percentages of .416, on his way to collecting three RBIs.  Junior Cameron Connelly also has three RBIs.  Sophomore Bryce Keller has been a monster on the basepaths, creating scoring opportunities by swiping six bases, five of which he has stolen in the team’s two wins.  This aggressiveness on the bases has led to him crossing the plate four times.  His brother, senior Gavin Keller, has been the best pitching option for Annville, appearing in three games and sporting a 2.15 ERA and striking out fourteen over the course of thirteen innings.

Coming Up: Three of the next five games are against the two early season favorites to win the Section: Northern Lebanon (4/14, 4/21) and Lancaster Catholic (4/19). The Dutchmen hope to continue refining their skills and pick up another win in their matchup against Lancaster Mennonite today.

     Cedar Crest Falcons 

Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1

Current Record: 1-5 overall, 0-3 in Section 1

District Power Ranking: #17 – 6A (top 12 qualify)

Recent Games: 

3/28: Cedar Crest 10, Lebanon 4 Box Score

3/29: Exeter Twp 10, Cedar Crest 0 (F/4) Box Score

3/31: Dallastown 6, Cedar Crest 4  Box Score

*4/3: Penn Manor 5, Cedar Crest 3  Box Score

*4/5: Manheim Twp 12, Cedar Crest 4  Box Score

*4/10: Hempfield 15, Cedar Crest 5 Box Score

Update: Coming into the season, Cedar Crest knew that they had a lot of work to do to replace many of their starters from last season.  So far, there have been some growing pains through the first leg of the season.  There have been many items to be pleased with, but the issue has been consistency for the Falcons.  Junior Caleb Dorshimer has provided a bit of excitement with his bat, as he has hit two home runs and has seven RBIs.  Senior Nolan Groff has been their most reliable hitter, putting up a .429 batting average with five RBIs.  Junior Owen Brown has a .409 on-base percentage and as a result leads the Falcons with six runs scored. Senior Colden Rambler leads the Crest pitching staff, earning the win against Lebanon in one of his two appearances.  Over the course of 8.1 innings pitchers, Rambler has a 2.52 ERA and eleven strikeouts.

Coming Up: Cedar Crest will play McCaskey on the road today before matching up with Warwick on Friday.  Next week, they will then start a second round of games with their Section 1 opponents.

    ELCO Raiders  

Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3

Current Record: 3-2 overall, 1-2 in Section 3

District Power Ranking: #5 – 4A (top 10 qualify)

Recent Games: 

3/27: ELCO 7, Annville-Cleona 1  

3/29: ELCO 10, Lebanon 0 (F/5)

*4/3: Donegal 7, ELCO 6

*4/5: ELCO 7, Cocalico 5

*4/10: Garden Spot 9, ELCO 3

Update: ELCO has started the season in a strong fashion, especially in the run scoring category.  Over the course of the first five contests, the Raiders have scored thirty-one runs.  This has made them competitive in every game thus far.  The offense has been led by juniors Dallas George and Kody Boyer, along with sophomore Gavin Bicher.  Leading their pitching crew, junior Morgan Shanaman has been dynamic.  Shanaman allowed two hits while striking out ten to earn the win over Cocalico and threw a complete game victory against Lebanon.

Coming Up: ELCO will play Manheim Central today, then Octorara on Friday before starting another rotation of Section 3 games.  The series of second match-ups begins on Monday with a rematch against Garden Spot.

Lebanon County Alumni Playing Collegiately

     Lebanon Cedars

Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2

Current Record: 1-6 overall, 0-3 Section 2

District Power Ranking: #20 – 6A (top 12 qualify)

Recent Games: 

3/24: Northern Lebanon 6, Lebanon 3 Box Score

3/28: Cedar Crest 10, Lebanon 4  Box Score

3/29: ELCO 10, Lebanon 0 (F/5)  Box Score

4/3: Conestoga Valley 6, Lebanon 3  Box Score

4/5  Elizabethtown 11, Lebanon 0 (F/5) Box Score

4/6: Lebanon 9, Annville-Cleona 0 Box Score

4/10: Ephrata 13, Lebanon 2 (F/5) Box Score

Update: Lebanon has struggled to find their way to this point of the season, as highlighted in the article written by Jeff Falk for LebCoSports.com following the Ephrata game.  No matter how frustrating some elements of the losses have been, there are always many positives that are worth celebrating.  First of all, the Cedars found their chemistry and won an impressive shutout over Annville-Cleona last Thursday.  The Cedars also have three players batting over .300 on the year: senior Victor Espinal (.381); junior Yostin Guerrero (.350); sophomore Noah Brandt (.300).  Sophomore Ben Discuillo is not one of them, but he has drawn seven walks and has an impressive .545 on-base percentage. Senior Griffin Gonzalez, always playing hard, is leading the team with six steals. Senior Ander Duran is leading the team with 5 RBIs.  As evidenced, the Cedars have several elements where they are doing the right things, but just need to put them together as a team in order to come out on the more favorable side of the scoring. In terms of building for the future, the JV unit has been playing very well, giving Cedar nation an additional level of optimism.

Coming Up: Lebanon will finish their first Section 2 rotation with games against Lampeter Strasburg (today) and Solcano (Friday).  On Monday, they will get a second crack at solving Ephrata.

Northern Lebanon Vikings

Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4

Current Record: 5-1 overall, 2-1 Section 4

District Power Ranking: #4 – 4A (top 10 qualify)

Recent Games: 

3/24: Northern Lebanon 6, Lebanon 3 Box Score

3/28: Northern Lebanon 8, Hamburg 1 Box Score

*4/3: Northern Lebanon 17, Lancaster Mennonite 5 (F/6) Box Score

*4/5: Lancaster Catholic 6, Northern Lebanon 1 Box Score

4/7: Northern Lebanon 5, Camp Hill 4 Game Article

*4/10: Northern Lebanon 17, Columbia 1 (F/4) Box Score

Update: The Vikings have been one of the biggest surprises in the Lancaster Lebanon League this year under first year head coach Travis Thome.  Last Friday, they had a statement win over Camp Hill after rallying for four runs in the bottom of the 7^th.  Part of the success for Northern Lebanon has been the rate at which they are hitting the ball.  With players that have ten or more at-bats, seven of them are hitting over .300.  Junior Moises Gonzalez leads that category with a .474, while hitting three doubles and driving in seven runs.  Fellow junior Xander McQuiade has also been red hot with the lumber, hitting .364 with two doubles, two triples, and a home run, while driving in twelve runs.  Junior Riley Messinger has also been impressive with a .376 batting average and a .476 on-base percentage.  On the pitching front, freshman Adrian Gonzalez has been spectacular, pitching twelve innings without yielding an earned run.

Coming Up: The Vikings will play Pequea Valley (today), Annville-Cleona (Friday), and a non-league game against Schuylkill Valley (Saturday). They will then begin the second rotation through Section 4 with the all-important rematch against Lancaster Catholic coming on April 24th.

   Palmyra Cougars

Mid-Penn Conference – Keystone Division

Current Record: 3-4 overall, 1-3 in Keystone

District Power Ranking: #25 – 5A (top 16 qualify)

Recent Games: 

3/23: Susquehannock 8, Palmyra 2

*3/24: Hershey 5, Palmyra 2

*3/29: Bishop McDevitt 10, Palmyra 7

3/31: Palmyra 8, Manheim Central 0

*4/4:   Palmyra 5, Carlisle 0

*4/6:   Lower Dauphin 8, Palmyra 0

4/11: Palmyra 9, West York 4

Update: Things are starting to settle down for the Cougars, winners of three of their last four contests.  Some of the early struggles may have simply been the fact that this team is very young overall.  They have found some recent success on the mound, with senior righty Bronson Coburn leading the way.  Coburn pitched a shutout against Manheim Central and again earned a win last night against West York.  On offense, contributors have been juniors Chase Blanchard and Owen Mettle.  Sophomores Alex Dorta and Kaden Readinger have also made major contributions.  While it would be easy to focus on the early losses, Palmyra may just be starting to find their winning ways.

Coming Up: The Cougars will see CD East today and Gettysburg on Friday, both of which are Keystone match-ups.  They will then play Exeter on Monday in what should tell them a lot about themselves ahead of more league contests.

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