“I think we have pretty good ptiching and defense,” said Sauley. “This was our fourth game in-a-row where we played pretty well. The pitching and defense have been there. The offense has been the struggle. You can’t do a lot of things when you’re behind.

 “Tonight was better than we’ve been playing,” Sauley added. “It was the best game we played all year.”

  “The kids got a little dejected right away,” said Schaeffer. “We fell behind and hung our heads a little bit. When you get down one or two runs and you’re slumping, it’s tough.”

 Sipling made the early pair stand up. The tall glass of right-handed water worked out of some first-inning trouble, then retired eight Post 915 batters in-a-row.

 Fredericksburg got to Sipling in the top of the fourth, courtesy of Trevor Zohn’s walk, Seth Daubert’s single, a wild pitch and Bailey Keefer’s run-scoring grounder, to pull to within 2-1 of the lead. That run snapped F-burg’s score-less innings streak at 17.

 For his part, Sipling went the distance, fired 99 pitches, struck out 11, walked one and gave up five hits.

 “He was great,” said Sauley of Sipling. “With that fastball, it looked like he got stronger as the game went on. He pitches in college for Elizabethtown. It was not his first rodeo.”

 “Annville’s kid pitched a fanstastic game,” said Schaeffer. “He worked the corners really well. He lived there. If I’m a pitcher, I’m going to live there too. We’re just not scoring runs.”

  “Our hitting needs to come around,” added Schaeffer. “I’m just not sure what it is. Maybe some of the kids at the top of the lineup are putting too much pressure on themsleves.”

 Annville pushed its lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth, after Freeman and Speraw recorded no-out safeties. Jeremy Seyfert plated Freeman with a sacrifice fly to left field.

  Fredericksburg starter Brandon Shollenberger competed admirably and finished what he started, as well. On 94 pitches, Shollenberger fanned six, walked two and yielded seven hits.

 “We did enough to win,” said Sauley. “The first couple of innings we got going and we kept it going. We played a little small ball. But we have to work on our hitting a little bit.

 “He (Shollenberger) threw well,” continued Sauley. “He kept us off balance. We squared the ball up a couple of times.”

  “He kept the ball down,” said Schaeffer of Shollenberger. “He got the ball up in the first inning. But after that, he was fine. I think he only gave up a few hits after that.

 “My pitching is spot on and our defense isn’t making many mistakes,” added Schaeffer. “We just need to hit the baseball. They (his players) need to go back to having fun playing the game. But we’re alright.”

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2019 Annville Schedule

 2019 Fredericksburg Schedule

 Lebanon County American Legion Baseball League

 West Division Standings

 East Division Standings