Vikings in Training, at School of Hard Knocks

5 years ago
Vikings in Training, at School of Hard Knocks

Mar 29, 2019
Jeff Falk
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Baseball, FEATURE STORIES, Northern Lebanon
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BY JEFF FALK

FREDERICKSBURG – Talking is teaching.

Listening is learning.

And doing is experiencing.

The Northern Lebanon baseball team has a solid foundation from which to toil.

On an overcast Friday evening, the Vikings experienced some growing pains, while taking a step forward, during a 6-1 setback at the hands of the Donegal Indians. Northern Lebanon surrendered the first five runs of the Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three contest, before breaking through in the home half of the sixth inning.

Though the Vikings never seriously threatened Donegal’s early lead, the performance was in stark contrast to their first two this spring, when they were outscored by a combined total of 25-10, issued 17 free passes and committed a total of ten errors. Yesterday’s result made Northern Lebanon 0-3 overall and 0-3 in Section Three, while the Indians improved to 2-0 on the year and 2-0 in the circuit.

“I told the guys I feel a lot better walking off the field tonight than I did after our first two games,” said Northern Lebanon head coach Daryl Hess. “We gave some things away in our first two games. But we’re going to be fine. I don’t want to be 0-3, but I’m happy with the progress we’ve made. I have two guys with varsity experience. They’re getting their feet wet a little bit. We’ve just got to get better everyday.

“It’s a young crew,” continued Hess. “But they’re coming from coaches who coached them well. We’re just trying to refine them a little bit. It’s just the little things. Varsity baseball is a little different. These kids are fundamentally sound. We’re just trying to learn to play the right way.”

Facing a 5-0 deficit, Northern Lebanon scratched out a run in the bottom of the sixth, with two outs and without the benefit of a hit. Cameron Seiger scored it, on a ball that was hit – then misplayed – by teammate Ben Bomberger.

“I thought we played well,” said the always optimistic Hess. “The first two games we gave some extra outs, and they led to runs. We didn’t do that tonight. We can’t give teams extra outs.

“Tonight we had no walks and two errors,” added Hess. “That’s what I needed to see. In our scrimmages, that’s the way we played. Playing games is different than scrimmages, but we needed to get back to that. Some of these kids were playing their first varsity game. They’ve shown me they can play the way they did tonight.”

The Indians got to Northern Lebanon starter Brandon Breidegan for single runs in each of the first two frames.

The combination of Drew Bechtold’s lead-off triple and Kyle Burger’s sacrifice fly staked Donegal to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Then the Indians tacked on in the second, courtesy of singles from Noah Karichner and Solomon Myers, and Zach Leid’s RBI-grounder.

“It definitely changes things, both as a coach and a player,” said Hess of playing from behind. “But that’s a nice ball club over there. They do some nice things. They made plays when they needed to. I thought they played well too.

“I felt like we rebounded well tonight,” Hess added. “I was looking for a change today.”

Donegal really put the Vikings behind the eight-ball with a three-spot in the top of the fourth. All three of those runs were unearned, thanks to two Northern Lebanon errors and a wild pitch.

Xavier Cannon stroked a run-scoring single for the Indians, while Bechtold came through with a two-out, tw0-run base knock.

Before giving way to reliever Derek Hocker in the top of the fifth, Breidegan was charged with two earned runs and six hits, struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.

“I thought he hit good spots,” said Hess of Breidegan. “It wasn’t like he was leaving the ball up. They (the Indians) were hitting good pitches. This was the first time he threw in a game (this spring). I was pleased with the way he threw. And now all of our guys have had a chance to toe the rubber.

“We always try to do the best we can in the section,” Hess continued, “and try to do the best we can to get to the postseason. It’s a team goal and it’s my goal.”

The pitching victory went to Donegal right-handed starter Matt Wallace. In his five-and-two-thirds innings of work, Wallace fanned five, did not issue a free pass and yielded singles to Seiger and Cameron Stickler.

The Vikings had hitters reach base in five of their seven at-bats.

“I thought he (Wallace) threw well,” said Hess. “He had a little pop. He was sneaky fast because he set us up with his off-speed stuff. And he was around the plate.

“I thought we were aggressive in the zone,” continued Hess. “We hit some balls right at them. I tell them (his players) to be aggressive in the zone and patient when the ball is out of it. We’ve been doing well with our approach at the plate.”

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2019 Northern Lebanon Baseball Schedule



Date	Teams	Score
3/25 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Cedar Crest	Ppd.
3/26 4:15 pm	Elco at Northern Lebanon	16 9
3/27 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Octorara	1 9
3/29 4:15 pm	Donegal at Northern Lebanon
4/01 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Manheim Central
4/03 4:15 pm	Cocalico at Northern Lebanon
4/05 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Garden Spot
4/08 4:15 pm	Lancaster Mennonite at Northern Lebanon
4/12 4:15 pm	Columbia at Northern Lebanon
4/15 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Lancaster Catholic
4/17 4:15 pm	Lebanon Catholic at Northern Lebanon
4/18 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Pequea Valley
4/22 7:00 pm	Annville-Cleona Northern Lebanon at Earl Wenger Field
4/24 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Elco
4/29 4:15 pm	Octorara at Northern Lebanon
5/01 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Donegal
5/02 4:15 pm	Palmyra at Northern Lebanon
5/03 4:15 pm	Manheim Central at Northern Lebanon
5/06 4:15 pm	Northern Lebanon at Cocalico
5/08 4:15 pm	Garden Spot at Northern Lebanon

Lancaster-Lebanon League

Section Three Standings


	League			Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	RS	RA
Manheim Central	3	0	100.00	3	0	100.00	30	3
Donegal	2	0	100.00	2	0	100.00	13	3
Octorara	2	1	66.67	2	1	66.67	16	16
Garden Spot	2	2	50.00	2	2	50.00	18	6
Elco	1	2	33.33	1	2	33.33	21	30
Cocalico	1	3	25.00	1	3	25.00	10	10
Northern Lebanon	0	3	0.00	0	3	0.00	11	31