With each tactical pitch thrown by John Brubaker and each prudent swing by sluggers Joey Wrabel and Dylan Spiegel, Bishop McDevitt reaffirmed its position as a Mid-Penn Keystone player.
Wrabel slammed three of McD's 15 hits and Brubaker recorded 13 strikeouts over 5-plus innings as the Crusaders doubled-up Mechanicsburg 8-4 Monday at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Park. The Crusaders (7-5, 5-2), having limited success against Mechanicsburg ace Ben Dubas early, eventually flooded Mechanicsburg's turf with a titanic surge in the tell-tale fifth.
In that frame, two-run hits by Brubaker and Wrabel highlighted a rowdy seven-run assault that featured eight hits in all, extending the Crusaders' edge to 8-0. It was more than enough to complete the series sweep of the Wildcats.
“We've been playing really well, even with that early start. We just found ourselves on the wrong end of those scores,” said McD skipper Steve Groff, whose club started the season 0-3 but have won seven of their last nine. “We needed to learn how to win a little bit, but it also was about shaking off some of that rust from a tough preseason.”
ROUNDING THIRD
Brubaker and Dubas matched wits with the Crusaders holding a slim 1-0 cushion via an unearned run in the second. But that trend drastically changed when Bishop McDevitt lead-off hitter Joe Mione, Pearce Harhigh (2-for-4) and Spiegel opened with explosive fifth with consecutive singles.
A fielding error widened the gap before Brubaker and Wrabel cleared the base paths. Mione even produced a sac fly on his second at-bat in the inning, crippling Mechanicsburg's hopes to right the ship. The Wildcats (6-5, 3-3), who had won four straight, were blanked 7-0 by the Crusaders on April 9. Mione struck out 12 in that one.
“Our coaches have been stressing one inning at a time and that's helped us the last couple of games,” Wrabel said. “We've pulled off a couple of quality wins and it's good to beat a quality team like Mechanicsburg.”
A Thomas Heenan solo home run was Brubaker's only real mistake through five complete innings. The southpaw was charged with five hits before fellow southpaw Noah Spangler cleaned up a three-run Mechanicsburg rally in the sixth. Spangler fanned three over 1 1/3 innings of relief.
DUGOUT CHATTER
“I think our pitchers have really thrown well. Whenever [Brubaker] and Spangler are throwing well they give us a shot to win.” – McD shortstop Joey Wrabel
“These guys work hard and they battle until the end. Brubaker kept them off balance and took the pressure off our defense. We feel pretty good about the win, obviously.” – McD coach Steve Groff
Epler on Twitter: @threejacker