Sentinel photo by BOB HOCKENBROCK Mifflin County first baseman Jayden Smith catches the ball on a bounce as he takes the play himself for the out.

By Aaden Stevens

Sports correspondent

LEWISTOWN — Mifflin County baseball (8-5) hosted Chambersburg (12-4) on senior night. Seniors Chase Leister and Chase Hartung led the Huskies to a hard-fought 3-2 victory and put the Huskies just a half game back of the league-leading Trojans.

​Senior Chase Hartung started the game for the purple and grey. The fourth-year high schooler pitched five innings, allowing only one run and four hits, with four strikeouts for Hartung.

With two out in a rally and one already scored in the fifth, the Huskies brought up senior left fielder Chase Leister. On a 1-0 fastball, the right-handed hitter hit one right back up the middle, scoring both Smith and Karl Shirey, making it three runs to two, and that would end up being the final score.

​”We had runners on second and third when I had that two-run double. And that’s what we needed at that time. And I felt really good about it,” Leister said. The left fielder added, “Well, whenever you’re coming back in the count, I always feel like I’m unlucky, just to get some of that, that always boosts my confidence a lot.”

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This was a big game for the Huskies, not only in the league, but also in the District 6 seedings, as after that performance, Mifflin County is a half game back of Chambersburg, but it also puts themselves in the driver’s seat in the district.

“They (Chambersburg) beat us 9-2 down there and we didn’t play a very good game. So for us to get a win against them on senior day with a lot of emotion here today, I feel like that says a lot about our team and where we’re at and the kind of games that we know we can win,” Huskies coach Ray Hoppel said.

“So, you know, we want to make sure that we can take care of our own business, which we did here today. It got dicey at times, but we played overall pretty well. I’m super proud of the guys, and, as I said, it’s going to be a dogfight to the finish, both in the league and in the district playoffs.”

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Mifflin County improves to 8-5 on the season and has won eight out of their last 10. MC doesn’t play until Monday, when the Huskies stay at home to take on the Wildcats from Mechanicsburg. As for the Trojans, they will drop to 12-4, and they have lost three out of the last four as they play Altoona Thursday.