By Brian Holtzapple
For The Daily Item
LEWISBURG —
The Lewisburg comeback kids did it once again on Wednesday.
Just two days ago Lewisburg was within a single out of being eliminated from the Area II Major Division tournament. Now the Union County All-Star team finds itself playing for the District 13 championship.
Behind two three-run home runs from Sam Allen, and another three-run shot from Drew Newcomb, Lewisburg rallied to beat Snyder County 14-6 in the Area II championship game at Danny Green Field.
Lewisburg now plays the winner between South Columbia and Danville today at 5:30 p.m. back at Danny Green Field in the district final.The winner advances to the Section 3 Tournament beginning July 16.
"A week ago the guys said it would be great to win the area championship. I said, 'You guys shouldn't be satisfied at just winning the area," said Lewisburg manager Todd Newcomb. "Let's represent the area and go a step further and win districts. The fact that both teams will be coming in with a loss, and it's a one-game deal, is pretty cool."
A berth in the District 13 championship game for Lewisburg was in jeopardy after Snyder County jumped out to a 6-0 lead when it scored five runs in the first inning and one in the second.
Allen's first three-run homer changed all of that when he drove it over the left-center field fence in the third to cut the deficit to three and breathe new life into Lewisburg. The second three-run shot for Allen came in the fourth as Lewisburg scored five runs in the frame to take the lead and control of the game.
"When I come up to bat, I just think if I get a pitch to hit I'm going to hit it," said Allen. "There in the third I knew I needed to help the team out because we were struggling scoring, so I sparked us a little and got a rally going."
"Sam Allen picked a good time to hit two huge home runs to get us off the schneid after we really struggled in the first inning," said Newcomb. "The kids picked it up after we scored a run or two. The first three-run homer was big to make it 6-3, and you could see the guys come back to life a little bit."
In the fourth, Lewisburg poured it on to put the game out of Snyder County's reach. Drew Newcomb hit a three-run homer and Daniel Hendry hit a two-run shot as part of a six-run inning.
Drew Newcomb finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored, and Allen went 3-for-3 and had six RBIs and scored three runs.
"I'm confident in the way my guys can hit," said manager Newcomb. "They feed off each other and they get so disappointed when they don't get on base, even if they hit the ball hard and move the runner up. It's not a hit in the book, but it's a part of scoring a run."
Scoring a run, any run, became difficult for Snyder County after the first inning when Lewisburg took out starting pitcher Michael Cooper for Trent Gower, the team's No. 1 hurler.
Throwing a steady diet of curveballs to Snyder County's hitters, Gower hurled 5 2/3 innings and gave up just one run on two hits. He also had nine strikeouts and no walks.
"What I thought was cool was I couldn't miss with my curveball. I threw 10 curveballs and only had one ball. You can't get any better than that," said Gower. "It's awesome to beat the same team twice in a row and win the area championship on our field."
Leading Snyder County was Alex Hackenberg. He went 2-for-3 and had a two-run single in the first inning and a solo homer in the second.
"We quit hitting (after the second) and we had a couple of errors. Lewisburg got up on us big and we didn't come back," said Snyder County co-manager Jason Wise.
"They have some big bats and you can't say enough about that," said Snyder County co-manager Scott Sharp. "Our pitchers threw good, but towards the middle Lewisburg caught up. The home runs by Allen were shots, line drives, and they were good pitches on the outside of the plate and he just went down and got them.
