HS Baseball: Yoder, Evans lead clean, complete effort as Haven tops Williams Valley
Williams Valley's Cayden Witmer prepares to throw a pitch, while Schuylkill Haven's Wyatt Gerber leads off third base. Also pictured for the Hurricanes is coach Dennis Siket (Photo by Eli Doyle).
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Chase Yoder set the tone early and never let Williams Valley back into it.
Yoder finished 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs as Schuylkill Haven defeated Williams Valley 4-1 in a Schuylkill League Division II baseball game Tuesday at Scott Buffington Field.
Neither team committed an error in one of the cleanest contests in the league to date this season.
“That certainly helped,” Schuylkill Haven coach Scott Buffington said about Yoder. “But what helped probably most was the defense. I think this is the first game all year where we didn’t make an error. What a time for it. We did a couple different things between last game and this game that we won’t talk about. We did a couple different things defensively and played with no errors today. Hopefully that continues. I don’t believe Williams Valley had an error either.”
The Hurricanes struck quickly in the first inning when Alan Evans scored on a wild pitch and Yoder delivered an RBI single to give Haven an immediate edge. He added to that lead in the third, launching a solo home run to right to push the advantage to 3-0 and keep the momentum firmly on Haven’s side.
Evans handled the rest from there, working 4.2 innings to earn the win. The right-handed junior allowed five hits and one run while striking out six, working around traffic as Williams Valley stranded nine baserunners to Haven’s five.
Landon Trostle came on in relief and shut the door, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings to secure the save.
Schuylkill Haven added an insurance run in the fifth on an RBI double by Chase Maley, finishing with six hits on the day. Yoder and Evans each doubled, while Michael Terefencko and Bradyn Diehl chipped in with key hits to keep the offense moving.
“Pitching and defense,” Buffington said about the key to winning games. “That is what wins in high school. When are you going to see a high school game without an error? (The Vikings) played a nice game too. Williams Valley teams in the past, and they said that, they didn’t make those plays. And they’re all young kids. They’ll be good.”
For Williams Valley, freshman Cayden Witmer continued to show promise on the mound despite taking the loss. The right-hander went six innings, allowing four runs on six hits while walking four and keeping his team within striking distance throughout.
Witmer also contributed at the plate, driving in the Vikings’ lone run with an RBI single in the fifth. Gavin Trawitz led Williams Valley with two hits, while Fletcher Thompson added a hit and scored the team’s only run.
Despite the opportunities, the Vikings couldn’t come up with the timely hit, and Schuylkill Haven’s early execution proved to be the difference.
Game Summary
At Scott Buffington Field
WILLIAMS VALLEY (1) — Thompson c 4 1 1 0, Rautzahn 2b 3 0 1 0, Witmer p 4 0 1 1, Deiter lf 3 0 0 0, Trawitz 1b 3 0 2 0, Berger ss 2 0 0 0, Mihalik rf 3 0 0 0, Green 3b 1 0 0 0, Bowser cf 2 0 0 0, Schaeffer ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 26 1 5 1.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN (4) — Evans p-ss 3 1 1 0, Gerber cf 2 1 0 0, Yoder ss-1b 2 2 2 2, Hinnershitz 3b 3 0 0 0, Maley 2b 3 0 1 1, Terefencko rf 3 0 1 0, Houck dh 2 0 0 0, Wehr lf 0 0 0 0, Diehl c 3 0 1 0, Bayer cr 0 0 0 0, Trostle 1b 2 0 0 0. Totals 23 4 6 3.
| Teams | 123 | 456 | 7 | — | Runs |
| WV (10-6, 8-3) | 000 | 010 | 0 | — | 1 |
| SH (11-6, 9-2) | 201 | 010 | 0 | — | 4 |
E — Williams Valley 0, Schuylkill Haven 0
DP — Williams Valley 1, Schuylkill Haven 0
LOB — Williams Valley 9, Schuylkill Haven 5
2B — Rautzahn, Evans, Maley
HR — Yoder
SB — Thompson, Yoder, Gerber
Williams Valley
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Witmer L (4-1) | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
Schuylkill Haven
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Evans W (6-1) | 4.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Trostle S | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
