Trojans top Eagles

By Todd Hummel
For The Daily Item

May 09, 2008 10:08 am

— MANDATA -- The Line Mountain hitters probably woke up this morning still wondering how Upper Dauphin righty Brian Heilig held them to one run.
The senior isn't a pitcher who is going to dominate a team with his fastball, but one that needs pinpoint control, a variety of pitches and a good defense to succeed.
Thursday afternoon, Heilig had everything going, retiring the first 13 batters of the game and scattering five singles in an 8-1 Upper Dauphin win over Line Mountain in Tri-Valley League action.
"Brian didn't pitch well at the beginning of the year, but we've had him concentrate on throwing first-pitch strikes and getting the first hitter of every inning," Upper Dauphin coach Steve Klinger said. "This is his second consecutive strong start."
The loss ends Line Mountain's chances at a district playoff berth, dropping the Eagles to 6-11 overall, 5-10 TVL. Upper Dauphin improves to 11-6, 10-4 TVL.
Heilig was efficient through the first 4 1/3 innings of the game, retiring the first 13 hitters on just 38 pitches. He went to two balls on only two of the first 13 hitters.
Meanwhile, the Upper Dauphin offense staked him to a 5-0 lead. The Trojans scored three runs in the top of the first. Matt Gessner doubled to lead off the game and stole third. After a walk, Zach Markel singled home a run.
After a sacrifice moved the runners to second and third, Ty Koppenhaver followed with a sacrifice fly before Ryan Welker singled home the final run of the inning.
Seth Leitzel added an RBI groundout in the second and Ty Raubenstine had an RBI single in the third to give the Trojans a five-run advantage.
The Eagles finally got to Heilig in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Wade Michael lined a glancing shot off the pitcher for Line Mountain's first hit of the game. Karl Howerter followed with a single.
Chad Levan then had an infield single on a grounder in the hole. The ball got knocked out of play when Gessner tried to make a back-handed stop and it kicked off his leg. Michael scored to cut the lead to 5-1 and it put runners on second and third with one out. Heilig got the next two hitters on a strikeout and line shot to left field to end the inning.
A two-out balk in the sixth pushed the Upper Dauphin lead back to 6-1. The Eagles had one more chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the sixth when they got back-to-back singles from Adam Menko and Travis Dunkelberger with one out, but Heilig got a strikeout and groundout to end the threat.
Heilig finished with five strikeouts and no walks.

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