WAYNESBORO – The Waynesboro American Legion baseball team had one bad inning, but it was enough – combined with struggles at the plate – to give Fayetteville AA the competitive advantage as the visitors defeated Post 15 by the score of 12-1 in five innings, Wednesday at Robinson Field. Fayetteville sent 13 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning and scored nine runs to put Waynesboro deep in the hole, making a comeback in the category of a miracle. “We just played them a week ago and we were down early in that game and came back and won,” said Waynesboro manager Dan McCleaf. “It’s been a challenge so far with a lot of guys in and out of town and dealing with different lineups every night. It’s just a matter of figuring things out.” Fayetteville got a lot of help from Waynesboro’s pitching and an error produced an unearned run. Post 15’s Aiden Campbell walked the bases loaded. An error sent lead-off batter Gage Brookens home for the first run, and there were many more runs to follow. After an out, Ryan Schellhase drove in two runs with a single. Following another out, Tyler Foreman walked to re-load the bases. Nathan Minnier then delivered a two-run single. Brookens came up to bat for the second time in the inning and walked. Trevor Holden also sent home two runs with a base hit. It seemed that good things came in twos because Elijah Metzger singled home two runs to make the score 9-0. Waynesboro, who beat Fayetteville 9-5 last Wednesday, posted one run in the home first, but that was all the scoring it would see. Dylan Morgan walked and scored on a single by John Kahl. “We just can’t find the bats yet,” McCleaf said. “We’re struggling a bit with the offense. When you get down 9-0 in the first inning, it’s kind of tough to stay focused and come back.” Brody Daywalt came on in relief of Campbell in the first inning and did a decent job of quelling Fayetteville’s offensive firepower. He pitched out of a jam in the second thanks in large part to an inning-ending double play. Third baseman Ethan Earley stabbed a ground ball and threw to catcher Tyler Caron for the first out. Caron quickly threw to first baseman Blake Daywalt to end the inning. But Post 15 couldn’t get anything going at the plate. Waynesboro had five base runners from the second through fifth innings. Post 15 left runners on second and third in the second inning and left a runner on third in the third inning. It wouldn’t have mattered if all three runners scored because Fayetteville plated three runs in the top of the fourth to put the game out of reach. Waynesboro’s record now stands at 4-3. Post 15 plays at Shippensburg Thursday and hosts Martinsburg (Junior team) on Friday.
