The Manheim Central baseball team beat Strath Haven, 5-2, in the first round of the state class 5A playoffs last Monday at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth.

"Very satisfying and proud of the guys," Barons' coach Jason Thompson said about gaining the state quarterfinal win. "They worked hard in this heat against a very good opponent."

Dylan Yoder's sacrifice fly to center field in the top of the sixth inning scored Cam Eberly and gave the Barons (24-2) a 2-1 lead. Eberly, a senior shortstop, was 2-for-4 at the plate, including a key 2-RBI triple in the top of the seventh to give the Barons some breathing room.

Manheim scored three times in the seventh inning, as Ky Watson singled with one out and Weaver was hit by a pitch. Colton Book crushed a pitch to left field for an RBI double. Emberly followed with his triple to center field.

Sophomore third baseman Brady Harbach, who was 3-for-3 and scored a run, led off the second with a double. Strath Haven tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Book, the Barons' ace, pitched 6 2/3's solid innings, striking out five in the win. Wyatt Becker came in to pitch and got a grounder for the last out of the game.

In the District Three Class 5A fifth place game on June 3, the Barons rallied for a 3-2 walk-off win over Lampeter-Strasburg, punching a ticket to the state playoffs. The winning run came on a throwing error that allowed catcher Mason Weaver to score.

Manheim took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Malakai Zilinski's RBI double that knocked in Collin Thompson. L-S took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third.

Weaver's RBI single knocked in Trey Derck to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh. Weaver was 1-for-2.

Zilinski was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Derck had a pinch-hit single to lead off the bottom of the seventh.

Junior Connor Rohrer pitched a gem, yielding just two hits and striking out seven in going the distance on the mound.

VOLLEYBALL

The Barons went down swinging, battling to the bitter end in an epic contest that ended with Garden Spot pulling out a 3-2 victory in the state Class 2A quarterfinals on June 5 at Manheim Township High School.

The Spartans, who beat Manheim (13-7) in three previous matches and dethroned the three-time Section Two champions, led 2-0 before the Barons came storming back. The game scores were 25-20, 25-20, 23-25, 23-25 and 15-12.

Things did not look good after the first two games, but the Barons kept fighting.

"I kind of thought we were dead in the water, and we pulled out the third game," Barons' coach Craig Dietrich said. "I looked at my assistant, Jim (Graham) early on in the fourth game and I said to him, "Garden Spot kind of looks a little gassed or, were letting off the gas' and sure enough that fourth game we kept our nose down and kept working hard and ended up pulling that fourth game out." The fifth was nip- and-tuck with 4-4, 5-5 and 5-6 scores all the way to 9-8 and then Garden Spot pulled away.

"We've struggled, and that's been our Achilles heel all year with transition defense to offense and putting the ball away on offense," Dietrich said. "Garden Spot was just a little bit more consistent than we were with that. So, you know, I credit them for being more consistent. We had our chances and had our opportunity to take the match. We just couldn't finish."

Dietrich said he is proud of his team, which he noted battled all season, noting that Manheim was playing for last year's team, the district and section champion that did not get an opportunity to defend their titles. This year's squad made it to the Lancaster-Lebanon League and district semifinals.

Seniors Blake Wagner and Jeremiah Zimmerman, both two-time All-State selections, led a young team with big-time play, as well as grooming the younger players, which included three freshmen - Peter Burkart, Logan Groff, and Jacob Moyer - in the starting lineup.

"You know, I don't think it's any secret, we were going to rely a lot on Blake," Dietrich said. "He was going to get us through a lot of matches offensively and Jeremiah just, being a three-year starter, really for a lack of a better term, sets the table for us. He knows exactly what I want done. He did a nice job of bringing along a younger team like we had and giving them the opportunity to be confident. When we had a lead, he gave them the opportunity to attack the ball and if they did not succeed the first time, he'd go right back to them. Their leadership on the court is something that if we didn't have it, there is no way we'd go as far as we did."