Leed claims 1st career W as Streaks win third straight

Following a long 3-day weekend for the Blue Streaks, Manheim Township returned home to host the undefeated Penn Manor Comets on Monday afternoon at Westfield Insurance Park.

Braden Leed (5 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 4 K), a Sophomore pitcher for the Blue Streaks, got his first Varsity start this afternoon after making two relief appearances earlier this season. The Comets made the most of two 1st-inning walks and a passed ball to score the first run of the game on Leed. The early run would be all Penn Manor would get off of Leed through all five of his innings as the young righty settled in and kept the opposing offense quiet.

Trailing 1-0 coming to the plate for the first time, the Blue Streaks responded quickly. Three consecutive 1-out walks to Ryan Brader, Ty Jenkins, and Ben Connors loaded the bases for Township. Cole Stoltzfus grounded into a fielder’s choice at 2nd, but Brader crossed the plate to tie us up at 1-1. While the Comets were scoreless through the next four innings, the Blue Streaks opened up a big lead in the bottom of the 4th.

Stoltzfus took a pitch off the hands to reach base as the leadoff man in the big inning. Bunt singles from Nick Tomlinson and Gavin Glass loaded the bases with no outs for Trey Eckman. A 4-pitch walk for Eckman pushed the go-ahead runner across for Township before Josh Boll collected a pair of RBIs on a ground ball through the right side of the infield to make it 4-1 Blue Streaks. After 2 outs, Jenkins singled to shallow right to score both runners on 2nd and 3rd and cap off the 5-run 4th inning for Township.

With a comfortable 6-1 lead, Leed continued to control the game on the mound by setting down the top of the Penn Manor lineup 1-2-3 in the 5th. Township threatened again in the bottom of the 5th by putting runners on the corners with only 1 out, but couldn’t bring either guy home. Leed was replaced with Glass after the first batter in the 5th and the Comets leaked back onto the scoreboard with a 2-run single after two fielding errors on the play moved the runners all the way around to home.

Now with just a 6-3 lead, Township came to the plate looking for extra insurance going into the last inning – and the offense delivered. With 1 out, a solo shot beyond left-center field for Brader, his second homer of the season, put the Blue Streaks on top by four. Walks for Jenkins and Connors and an infield error on a grounder by Stoltzfus loaded the bases again for the Streaks. Tomlinson drove in two runners with a single to left field and a SAC fly from Glass made it 10-3 MT. Traeton Sauder entered to pitch for the Blue Streaks in the top of the 7th and comfortably retired the Comets to hand them their first loss of the year and give Township their third consecutive win.

At 4-2 on the season, Manheim Township will visit Hempfield on Wednesday afternoon for the teams first matchup of the year. 4:15pm start.