MILTON -- When Kyle Ranck struck out the first five Milton batters of the game Thursday night, including four on sharp-breaking curveballs, Milton American Legion manager Dave Byers knew an adjustment was needed.
The response was quick and loud: a solo homer off the bat of Ty Sampsell, staking Milton to a quick lead in the West Branch League playoff opener at Veterans Memorial Park.
Lewisburg never made the adjustment to Andy Milheim's breaking ball, which resembled a slider more than a curve. In the end that was the biggest difference as Milheim carried a no-hitter into the seventh before settling on a one-hit shutout in Milton's 4-0 victory.
Milton, the No. 2 seed in the four-team West Branch playoffs, travels to take on top-seeded Hughesville today in a winners' bracket game. Lewisburg hosts West Snyder in an elimination game. Both games are at 5:30.
Both Ranck and Milheim were on top of their game Thursday. They allowed just seven hits between them and walked just one while combining for a dozen strikeouts.
"That was a well-pitched game on both sides," said Byers. "Kyle pitched against (Milton) at the end of the high school season and he really mowed them down. He came out striking everyone out, so we moved up in the box and we started to hit the ball."
That simple adjustment made all the difference. It was one Lewisburg manager Dave Hoffman stressed to his players, but one they could not come up with.
"We kept chasing that breaking ball," said Hoffman. "We are a good fastball hitting team and I told them to let that curve go and wait for a fastball. We kept swinging at it and either hit the ball in the air or right at someone."
Perhaps Milheim's best attribute in the one-hit gem was his ability to throw first-pitch strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to 12 of the first 14 batters of the game, and 17 of 23 over seven innings. He needed just 73 pitches to go seven, and had just two three-ball counts the entire game.
"He was getting ahead of everybody and that's exactly what you want your pitcher to do," said Hoffman. "Our guys were behind in the count from the first pitch."
Milheim allowed three runners to reach base in the first six innings, all coming on infield errors. The only hit for Lewisburg (3-10) came in the top of the seventh when Elliot Goff slapped a hard single through the hole at shortstop.
"We knew he had the no-hitter, so he almost got the game ball," Byers joked.
Ranck was just as sharp early, striking out the side in the first inning before fanning the first two hitters of the second. That's when Sampsell stepped up and lined a shot to the opposite field and beyond the fence in right center. That started a string of scoring for Milton (5-8), which got single runs in three of the next four inning to provide Milheim with all the support he would need.
Andy Kerstetter singled home a run in the third to make it 2-0. Braden Bastian doubled in the fourth and later scored on a single by Brandon Herman to extend the lead, and Milton got its final run in the sixth when Herman scored on an error.
n Hughesville 16, West Snyder 1
HUGHESVILLE -- Top-seeded Hughesville scored eight times in the first inning, sparked by a three-run homer from Brendan Bonnell in an easy playoff victory.
Hughesville (6-7) hosts Milton today, while West Snyder (2-10) visits Lewisburg in an elimination game.
Levi Shirk had two hits for West Snyder, including a solo homer in the third. Steve Brouse also doubled. Hughesville banged out a dozen hits, led by Cam Taylor, who went 3-for-4 with a double, a three-run homer in the fourth, and five RBIs. Skyler Reese drove in four runs.
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American Legion baseball: Milheim hurls 1-hitter in Milton victory
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