BY JEFF FALK
ANNVILLE – Catch a couple breaks.
Gain a little confidence.
Start believing.
Pick up some momentum.
And anything can happen.
Fredericksburg is playing its best baseball of the summer. Post 915 has gotten hot at the right time.
On a humid Friday night at Annville-Cleona High School, Fredericksburg pummeled Annville 11-0, in a critical Lebanon County American Legion baseball contest shorted to five innings by the mercy rule. F-burg scored a whopping nine runs in the top of the third inning, and slinging southpaw Brandon Shollenberger took care of the rest.
The outcome gave Fredericksburg a one-game advantage over Annville in the race for the final playoff spot in the summer baseball circuit – second place in the West Division. With two regular-season contests remaining, Fredericksburg is 6-9 in the league.
Annville dropped its third straight, and fourth in its last five outings, to fall to 5-10.
The squad which finishes second in the West will play the champion of the East Division, in a best-of-three series beginning on Tuesday.
Annville had taken the previous two regular-season meetings with Fredericksburg this summer, 7-2 at Earl Wenger Memorial Field on June 28 and 3-1 in Annville on June 25.
“We’ve played well a couple times this season and lost,” said Fredericksburg manager Tim Schaeffer. “We’ve not been out of many games. I think we’ve lost five games by one run. They’re (his players) better than they’ve played. They just have to believe.
“We’ve gotten a little more intensity from our top players,” continued Schaeffer. “We still don’t have that leader. But that’s OK, because we play as a team.”