Valley Sports ReportOWEGO — Jack Pipher belted a pair of home runs to lead the Waverly baseball team to a 17-4 victory over Owego here Monday and just one win away from its first STAC Central Division title.
Pipher smacked a one-out, two-run homer to right in the top of the second inning to give the Wolverines a 5-1 lead, then added a solo shot in the third to give Waverly a 10-1 cushion.
“Jack Pipher is locked in at the plate. He hit two solid home runs. He has been taking BP rounds with a purpose,” coach Kyle McDuffee said.
Meanwhile, Ronin Ault threw six innings of four-hit ball, striking out four and walking two while surrendering two earned runs.
“Ronin did another outstanding job on the mound,” McDuffee said.
Hogan Shaw led off the game with a single up the middle, moved to second on Pipher’s sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on Ault’s base hit, Shaw scored on an error and Ault scored on Justin Koenig’s base hit.
The River Hawks got the run back in the home half of the first as Dylan Brace reached second on an error and scored on Lynkon Craft’s single to center.
Waverly opened up the flood gates in the second, scoring seven runs. Axel Murray and Daltton Davis singled, and Murray and Davis scored on a pair of errors with S Cheresnowsky at bat, making it a 4-1 game.
Next came Pipher’s first Dinger to make it 6-1, then Ault singled, Matthias Welles was hit by a pitch, Ben Shaw singled to plate a run, then an error off the bat of Murray scored Welles and Ben Shaw for a 9-1 advantage.
Pipher’s next at-bat, in the third, produced another homer for a 10-1 lead.
Owego would pick up a pair of runs in the fourth as Craft singled, Noah Christ doubled, Sam Buchsbaum singled to score Craft and Mat Lewis plated Christ on a ground out.
In the fifth, Murray walked and scored on a Hogan Shaw single for an 11-3 advantage and Shaw scored on an error following Pipher’s base hit, then Pipher scored on a single by Ault, giving the Wolverines a 13-3 cushion.
Waverly scored its final four runs in the seventh. Porter Daddona singled, Pipher and Ault walked, Welles took one for the team, and Koening and Ben Shaw drew walks with Daddona, Pipher and Ault scoring. The Wolverines’ final run came with Welles scoring on Murray’s ground out.
The River Hawks managed one more run in its final at-bats as Nolan Card singled, advanced to third on Payden Morales’ double and Card scored ona Connor Kotski ground out.
The Wolverines pounded out 15 hits and also took advantage of five Owego errors.
Pipher finished the day 3-for-3 at the plate with four runs and three RBI; Ault was 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI; and Hogan Shaw went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Ben Shaw added a hit, run and two RBI; Murray had a hit, two runs and one RBI; Welles chipped in with two runs and an RBI; Koenig added a hit and two RBI; Daddona, Davis and Cheresnowsky recorded one hit and one run each; and Ahren McCarthy tacked on a hit.
Craft had two of Owego’s six hits.
Hogan Shaw pitched one inning of relief, striking out two and giving up two hits.
Owego is a good team, and we just need to stay locked in for the rest of the series,”said McDuffee.
Waverly improves to 10-0 in the division and can claim the title with a win over Owego (7-6) on Tuesday.
——————
PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
