NTL BASEBALL: MORNINGSTAR LEADS WYALUSING PAST CANTON (2023-05-24)
BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports ReportMANSFIELD — Wyalusing may be sporting some blonde dyed hair but they took care of business on Wednesday, beating Canton 4-2 in the District IV, Class AA semifinal baseball game.
Blake Morningstar got the win, and, in a sense, the save, going 5 1/3-innings to allow just one base runner on a dropped third strike to get the win.
“It feels amazing,” Morningstar said about reaching the district title game. “This is something our team has worked for for the last three, four years. We’ve come up just short the last couple years, and now, finally, to get to states, and get to play on Bowman is special, and we’re ready to roll.”
He struck out 12 of the 17 batters he faced, leaving after the fifth inning when the Rams had a 4-0 lead. Hunter House came in and tossed 1 2/3-innings for three strikeouts, one walk, three hits, and two earned runs.
When Canton got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the seventh they re-entered Morningstar, who struck out the final batter to send them to Bowman.
“That was in the back of my mind,” remarked Morningstar. “He told me before I went out that if the tying run got on base that I was going to come back in, and shut the door. They were pretty low in their line-up so I was just going to attack with the fastball, and see if they could hit it.”
He finished with 68 pitchers, allowing him to go on in the championship game on Saturday.
Wyalusing got off to a fast start again, scoring two runs in the first, and then two more in the third to take the 4-0 lead. Rams’ coach Nick Vanderpool couldn’t have dreamed it up any better.
“When you score a couple runs in the first inning with Blake on the mound they realized that they pretty much got to keep us off the board the rest of the game to have a chance,” he said. “A couple more there in the third we struck with…I’ve been preaching that to the boys and they capitalized again tonight, so that was nice.”
Canton didn’t go away, though, showing the type of scrappiness that allowed them to win an NTL Small School title this year.
They got on the scoreboard in the sixth, and pushed another across in the seventh, with another runner on third, and the tying run at the plate.
This type of situation definitely put Vanderpool a little on edge.
“They’re well coached, I know Ben (Rupert) really well,” said Vanderpool. “He’s got his boys ready to play ball. I knew if they got a couple guys on base they’d get excited over there. They definitely made it exciting. I told Blake if the tying run came to the plate he’d come back in and shut it down. He was at 64 pitches so we had 11 to play with before we had worry about losing him for Saturday. I told him to just pound the zone, get that strikeout, and the boys did it. So, hats off to Canton, a great game, a great season they had over there winning the NTL title (Ben’s) first year, and winning a playoff game.”
Rupert’s game plan of knocking Morningstar out by pitch count and coming back at the end nearly worked.
“When we were running mock games off a pitching machine all week with a pitch count trying to see what we could do,” he explained. “Off the pitching machine we had it cranked to 95, and the highest we got was 91, so we knew we had to play our best baseball.”
Wyalusing took advantage of a couple Canton first inning defensive miscues - a bobbled ground ball, a pick-off gone bad - to take their 2-0 lead. The Warrior defense would stiffen after that, fielding some hard hit balls by Wyalusing to keep things close.
Holden Ward got the start, and took the loss, going three innings to strikeout one with four walks, three hits, and four runs scored, two of which were earned.
Weston Bellows came in and calmed things down for the Warriors in his last appearance on the mound in Canton red. He allowed just one hit and three innings of work.
“That’s what an 18-year old should do,” Rupert said. “He was a senior, and he didn’t want to lose. That’s how he’s played every sport all year, and he’s been an animal.”
There were only seven total hits in the game, with Morningstar going (2-for-3) with two doubles, and 2-RBI to lead the Rams. That continued a trend this year of him stepping up at the plate along with the mound.
“My dad and I had a talk about how I kind of struggled at the plate this year in the regular season, I was kind of hit or miss,” he remarked. “Then we had a talk that I was going to need to show up here in the postseason with the bat, and come up with a couple of big hits to help myself, and that kind of fired me up and motivated me to go out and make it happen.”
Nick Vanderpool Jr. (1-for-3) and Robert English (1-for-2) also had hits. Kenny Mapes scored twice with Trehnon Hugo and Hunter House also reaching home, while CJ Carr had an RBI.
Even though they didn’t see many hits drop, coach Vanderpool felt they were making good contact.
“Last year I felt like we peaked early, this year I feel like we’re coming into our own,” he said. “Parker (Petlock) had two hard hit balls that second base and third base made nice plays on. Trehnon Hugo smashed two to the outfield - the center fielder and the right fielder respectively made plays. The win held CJ’s up a little bit, so, we had five or six really hard hit outs, so it was good. Not many strikeouts, putting the ball in play, putting pressure on the defense.”
Batting out of the number nine spot for the Warriors Zack Colton went 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored while Hayden Ward (1-for-3) had an RBI.
Michael Beers (1-for-2) also had a hit as Brenen Taylor scored their other run.
In the bottom of the first Hugo drew a four pitch walk to lead things off for the Rams. After an out he would steal second base.
Mapes then came on and fought Holden Ward, fouling off four pitches before putting it on play on Ward’s 10th offering. His ground ball was bobbled, putting runners on first and third.
On the next at bat Ward tried a double pick-off move to get Hugo at third. The throw beat him back to the bag, but bounced off Colton’s glove and rolled away, allowing Hugo to score, and Mapes to take second.
Mapes would later take third on a wild pitch, setting up Morningstar’s 2-out double for a 2-0 lead.
Wyalusing got in business again in the third as Vanderpool led off with a hit. He would get forced out at second on a grounder off the bat of Mapes, who beat the throw to first to stop the double play.
House then drew a walk to put runners on first and second.
That set up Morningstar’s second double, which brought Mapes around to score to make it a 3-0 with runners on second and third.
Carr then did a job, driving in House on a ground out for the 4-0 lead. English then walked to put runners on the corners, but Canton got out of the inning when their catcher Taylor made a tough catch in foul territory to end the inning.
The Warriors would get their first base runner in the top of the fifth when Hudson Ward would reach on a dropped third strike.
He would eventually steal second, but was stranded there as Morningstar struck out the next three batters.
House would take the mound in the sixth, and opened things with a strikeout.
However, Colton got a first pitch double for Canton’s first hit of the night. After another out Hayden Ward came through, driving Colton in with a single to cut it to 4-1.
House would get the first two batters out in the top of the seventh, but Taylor battled him into a seven pitch walk. Beers then singled into right field, and that’s when things got interesting.
The outfielder tried to get Taylor at third, but the ball was well overthrown and one hopped into the stands.
That brought Taylor around to score, and put Beers on third base - 90 feet from making it a 1-run game.
That’s when Morningstar came in and got the final out on a 4-pitch strikeout.
Despite the loss Rupert couldn’t have asked for a better first season at the helm for Canton, and he credits his team’s seniors for helping him out along the way.
“It was awesome,” he said. “They are phenomenal. Right at the end I told them they’re probably one of, if not the most, decorated group of seniors from Canton. Having them, being in this situation, making the deep postseason run, that was enormous. Them being around, and being leaders to other guys, hopefully that pushes the program forward.”
Wyalusing will have a date with their nemesis South Williamsport on Saturday, at noon, at Bowman Field with the District IV, Class AA title on the line.
“They’ve sent us home two years in a row, and I’m really looking forward to that match-up,” said Morningstar. “They got kind of a little bit of different personnel this year, so it’s going to be different. They don’t have Lorson on the mound, but we’re going there for a dogfight.”
Coach Vanderpool has promised them that he’ll join their bleach party by dying his beard blonde if they bring home Wyalusing’s first district title. So there should be plenty of motivation come Saturday.
“My wife won’t be too excited about it, but it’ll hide these grays coming in,” he said. “It’s something I’ll gladly, gladly do. I would gladly do it if we win a district title. I’ll probably shave it after a few days, I’ll support the blonde look for a few days.”
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PHOTO CAPTION: Wyalusing’s Trehnon Hugo and Blake Morningstar celebrate Hugo scoring…PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
