Eckman dazzles with 10Ks in first Varsity start, Blue Streaks win 6-0

After falling 4-3 at the hands of the Solanco Golden Mules in their first outing of the season on Tuesday afternoon in Quarryville, the Manheim Township Blue Streaks hosted their home opener at Westfield Insurance Park on Friday afternoon – also against the Golden Mules.

Trey Eckman (6.1, 3 H, 0 R, 10K), who pitched in relief of Gavin Glass on Tuesday, got the nod in this one (his first career Varsity start) to try and bring Township their first win of the season. In the top of the 1st, Eckman started strong by striking out his first batter and after a HBP to Solanco’s Underwood, Eckman collected a fielder’s choice and a second strikeout to end his first inning.

The Blue Streaks’ bats were slow to start as the only action for the home team on the bases through 2 innings came from walks to Ryan Peipher and Eckman in the 2nd.  Township loaded the bases in the bottom of the 3rd, but came up empty on the scoreboard.

Eckman continued to roll through the Golden Mules’ lineup as he picked up 1-2-3 innings in the 3rd and 4th – using strikeouts to retire three of the six batters. MT finally broke through in the bottom of the 4th after Cole Stoltzfus reached base on an error in the infield and advanced to second base on the bad throw. Glass stepped in with 2 outs and lined a double to left field that brought home Stoltzfus and gave Township their first run and lead on the day. Tyler Mulholland immediately followed up with an RBI-double of his own to center that scored Glass and made it 2-0 MT after 4.

Another fast and quiet inning for Solanco in the 5th brought the Blue Streaks back to the plate looking for more run support for their junior starter. A leadoff single for Ty Jenkins got things going before Nick Tomlinson singled and landed at second on an errant throw. With both runners in scoring position and 2 outs, Jenkins stole home on the first pitch of Stoltzfus’ next at-bat and made it 3-0 MT. Stoltzfus’ next pitch was sent back up the middle to the shortstop who booted the ball allowing Tomlinson to round 3rd and score from 2nd.

With a 4-0 lead, Eckman didn’t let up. Three outs on four batters in the top of the 6th kept the shutout intact before another two insurance runs were added in the bottom half of the inning. A single from leadoff man Ryan Brader combined with a single for Ben Connors and another Solanco fielding error gave Township the first of two runs to come in the inning. Consecutive SAC bunts for Jenkins and Peipher brought home the final run on the day for MT. Eckman reached his pitch limit after nabbing one out in the 7th, but Braden Leed came on in relief and finished the job to secure the 6-0 payback victory over Solanco.

With the win, Township now sits at .500 through 2 games as they look forward to the beginning of Section One play on Monday with Warwick coming to Neffsville at 4:15pm.