Sentinel photo by YUSHENG HE
Lewistown Foxpro’s Landen Eichhorn tags out Howard Hawks’ Dylan Womer during the fifth inning.
HOWARD — Lewistown Foxpro (6-2) had their three-game winning streak snapped in the Centre County Baseball League on Tuesday afternoon. Nine Hawks’ runs in the first inning helped Howard (5-5) gain a 16-6 victory in six innings.
“We made the best of what we had today,” said Evan Pupo, Foxpro’s head coach. “Howard is a good team and we gave it our all.”
The Centre County Baseball League is an amateur sports tournament in Pennsylvania. Five recent Mifflin County High School graduates, Landen Eichhorn, Xavier Smith, Tucker Gill, John Paul Pannizzo and Doug Weaver are on Foxpro’s team this season.
Eichhorn will continue to play baseball at Juniata College and will major in sports management or education. He said Foxpro (also known as the Predators) is a platform for him to play with his high school baseball teammates.
“This is one extra way for us to keep playing together,” Eichhorn said.
Eichhorn noted stakes aren’t as high in the CCBL compared to high school ball. But, he mentioned the CCBL campaign requires hard work to succeed.
“This is a little more relaxed but still competitive,” Eichhorn said. “Pitching is about the same.”
Pupo also played center field in Tuesday’s game and scored a run. He said he wanted to play baseball when he grew up.
“This is my passion. This is what I love to do,” Pupo said. “I have a bunch of friends on this team. I enjoy playing ball with them. We all have the same goal — winning. When you get a bunch of guys that want to win together, you know it’s a good commodity for the team and we all have fun.”
Hawk Kahale Burns doubled twice, scored two runs in the first inning, and helped the team take a 9-0 lead. Burns first scored on a wild pitch, then scored on Gavin Eckley’s single.
The Hawks added four runs in the fourth inning, making it a 13-2 contest. Burns doubled to left-center, then moved to third and scored on Dan Cole’s RBI single.
Foxpro answered with four runs in the fifth inning to cut their deficit to 13-6. Kristian Bulick got an RBI double, scoring Pupo. Landen Black added a run on Eichhorn’s RBI single.
Pupo said high school and college students “are a majority of the team.”
“We missed a lot of them tonight. When we get them back, we’re as good as any other team in the league,” Pupo added. Foxpro
He hopes his players enjoy playing baseball and finish the incoming games strong. Foxpro will visit Millersburg at 6 p.m Thursday at Millersburg Community Park.
“It’s a competitive league and we’re a competitive team,” Pupo said. “We’re playing good ball up to now… We’re going to make a push through the second half of the season,” Pupo said.
In the CCBL, Blanchard Bees are in first place at 8-1, Spike Island Pirates are second at 7-1, Lemont Ducks are third at 7-2 and Foxpro is fourth.
Standings updated as of June 19.
