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MC beats Rams 8-4

LEWISTOWN – Mifflin County made the best of some bad situations Saturday afternoon when the Huskies, on the back of six Central Dauphin errors, won a commanding 8-4 Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division victory over the Rams.

Mifflin County’s Heath Hidlay picked up the victory, striking out eight in six innings of work. Teammate Isaiah Kearns finished off the game from the mound by working an almost flawless two innings.

“I thought Heath pitched pretty well.” Mifflin County coach Travis Zook said. “He left a pitch up here and there, but I mean most innings he was out with 12 or 13 pitches. That’s what we are looking for. We want to keep the pitch count down. His pitches were working today.

“They got on him early in the game, got a few runs in but the defense we have to sure up a little more,” Zook said. “(I’m) very happy with Heath and Isaiah. Isaiah did a great job coming in for the last innings.”

John Michael Maclay led the offensive charge by plastering a three-run home run that went deep over the center field fence in the fourth inning.

The Rams started the scoring off early in the first inning, plating one.

Leadoff hitter Colby Schearer took a Hidlay offering and blasted it to right-center field.

Two batters later, the Rams’ Jake Atz grounded into a fielder’s choice, which allowed Schearer to score from third.

Mifflin County bounced back in the bottom of the second thanks to a little bit of two-out lightning.

Kyle Bodtorf led things off with a single to left.

Hidlay followed, reaching on the first of the Ram errors. On the error, Bodtorf advanced all the way to third base.

A second error by Central Dauphin allowed both Bodtorf and Hidlay to easily score, giving the Huskies the lead at 2-1.

The home team almost picked up another run in the third thanks to a Kearns double. But he was stranded on base.

After holding the Rams scoreless in the third Mifflin County found itself trailing by one run going in its half of the fourth.

Nate Dickey got the visitors going in the top, posting a double to left field. Teammate Tony Zimmerman roped a double of his own, scoring Dickey on the play.

Zimmerman later scored on a sacrifice fly by Dan Oates, returning the advantage to the Rams at 3-2.

However, the wheels came off the Rams’ wagon as the Huskies rallied for a five- run inning in the bottom, highlighted by the Maclay bomb to center field, making it 7-3.

In the inning, the Ram’ miscues added up, deflating any hope of a Central Dauphin rally.

Though the Rams picked up a late run to get it as close as 7-4, Mifflin County added a run of their own to go to the 8-4 victory.

“The kids did a good job of making the most of the mistakes made. We have been focusing a lot on their approach at the plate and getting quality at bats and just hitting the ball hard and putting it in play and making the defense work and we did that today,” Zook said. “The way we played against Carlisle and the number of strikeouts we had, we knew we couldn’t let that happen again. The approach and the mindset were right today and we were able to get hits, run the ball out and that’s all we can ask.”

With the win, Mifflin County improves to 3-1 on the season. The Huskies host Red Land today.

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