“That’s a huge win, we would love to close the week out 5-0, we got to take care of business tomorrow, we’ll see what happens,” Juniata coach Nick Beward said. “We went down three to two and I said here we go, not another repeat of last year a couple times but I knew it wasn’t going to be this group. It’s a whole lot different. They are really eager to play.

“They want to play every day,” Beward continued. “You put a game on the schedule every day they try to play it.”

Juniata got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second inning where with two outs and two runners in scoring position. Carson Kepner came to the plate and on a two, one pitch jacked one to left center field that brought home, Jordan Dickinson and Colten Garver to up 2-0.

However, Millersburg responded in the top half of the third inning to take the lead. With the bases loaded and no outs, Mason Engle grounded out to second base but managed to bring in Kyle Long to cut the lead down to 2-1.

Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS
Juniata pitcher Josh Bomberger completed six strong innings Wednesday in a win over Millersburg.

Then the next batter was Chase Grassmyer who fell behind 0-2 in the count before hitting one into right field that scored both Brandon Snyder and Nick Lobinski to make it a 3-2 ballgame.

But Juniata refused to give up and continued to battle as in the bottom of the fourth inning. The home team had two outs, but two runners on and Dawson Harper at the plate. On a 2-1 count, Harper ripped one to center field that scored Garver and Kepner while Harper hustled all the way to third base for a two-RBI triple.

The Juniata bats didn’t stop there as in the bottom half of the fifth, Juniata added three more runs in the frame. Garver got it started in the inning with a double to left field that brought in Seth Laub before Louden Sheaffer hit a single to left that scored Grant Reinhold and Garver to make it 7-3.

Juniata tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth with a single to right from Jacob Condo that scored Josh Bomberger to make it 8-3 before Reinhold hit a single to left that brought in Condo before Reinhold tried to stretch it for a double but was thrown out for the third out.

“Timely hits, timely hitting, that has been our Achilles’ heels for the last couple years,” Beward said. “I’m talking three, four years, we would get these hits and then not come up with the big one when we need it. This year its the opposite, we’re coming up with the hits when we have to have them.”

With the score 9-3 heading into the top of the seventh inning, Millersburg wasn’t going to go away quietly as in the inning, Millersburg scored two runs thanks to a single to right field from Mitchell Falkrod that scored both Engle and Grassmyer.

But the Juniata defense came through with a big double play started by third baseman Garver who threw out Brandon Fetterhoff at first, but then first baseman Dickinson then fired back to third to catch Falkrod to complete the double play to end the game.

That wasn’t the first big play the Juniata defense made throughout the game, especially Garver at third base who prevented multiple chances from keeping Millersburg off the scoreboard.

“Our defense, kept us in it all day,” Beward said. “Colten Garver at third base, what a whale of a game.”

Bomberger got the start for Juniata and threw 100 pitches in six innings of work with three strikeouts and three walks. Kepner then finished off the game.

“Spectacular, especially, like I said, against a team that is a good fastball hitting team,” Beward said. “So I knew even when Carson came into the game, he throws with a little pop and I had a feeling that they were going to hit him because they like fast pitching and they did and we made a beautiful play there at the end to get us out of that whole mess.”

Juniata had nearly all of its players in the lineup collect at least one hit in the game with four of those batters (Harper, Bomberger, Reinhold and Garver) each hitting safely multiple times.

“Jordan Dickinson is still hitting,” Beward said. “He’s been hitting all year so far and he is still hitting good today, he had that big hit to the fence out there earlier. I’m so proud of these guys.”

Juniata remains unbeaten at 4-0, 3-0 and will look to keep the winning ways going today as Juniata visits Greenwood.

Juniata 9, Millersburg 5

Millersburg 003 000 2 5-9-0

Juniata 020 232 x 9-13-2

WP: Josh Bomberger. LP: Kyle Long. SO: Bomberger 3 (J); Long 4 (M). BB: Bomberger 3 (J); Long 3 (M). 3B: Dawson Harper (J). 2B: Bomberger, Jordan Dickinson, Colten Garver, Carson Kepner (J); Brandon Snyder (M). MH: Harper 2-4, Bomberger 2-4, Grant Reinhold 2-2, Garver 2-2 (J); Snyder 2-4, Mason Engle 2-4 (M). RBI: Harper 2, Jacob Condo, Garver, Louden Sheaffer 2, Kepner 2, Reinhold (J); Daniel Shoop 2, Chase Grassmyer 2 (M).