MIKE GROSS | Sports WriterCaiden Murphy couldn’t find the ball.
The Garden Spot catcher had done a nice job of blocking a pitch in the dirt in the bottom of the fifth, but the ball bounced and spun, just a little, coming to rest no more than four feet from him.
Coming to rest, that is, unluckily for the Spartans, behind Murphy, where he couldn’t locate it quite quickly enough to keep Shaun DiBello from thundering home with the go-ahead run in Donegal’s 2-1 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Three win over Garden Spot in a tense pitchers’ duel at Clipper Magazine Stadium Friday.
Donegal (7-0 Section Three, 9-2) has won eight in a row, with two wins over Garden Spot this week — 4-2 at Mount Joy and 2-1 — giving the Indians a stranglehold on the section race, three games clear of second-place Manheim Central and flour ahead of the Spartans (4-4, 7-5).
“We have a real good group here,” said Adam Frey, Donegal’s first-year coach. “They’re great. They’re gritty, and they’re learning how to win baseball games when we’re not necessarily clicking offensively.”
That usually involves pitching, which the Indians got from reliable sources Brock Hammaker for the first five innings and Ryan Shepard for the critical final two.
Garden Spot, which also got elite mound work from starter Ryder Hertzler and reliever Caleb Zimmerman, led 1-0 through three-and-a-half innings.
The run came on a legit shot to right-center by Zimmerman for a triple, followed by Karson Weaver’s clean single up the middle.
Donegal tied it in the fourth on a single by Leland Condran, who stole second and third. Condran scored on an error, although after an out on the basepaths, Devin Bailey delivered a double in the right-center gap.
The game-winner came in the fifth when DiBello reached on a fielder’s choice, then went all the way to third on a wild pickoff throw. He scored from there on the aforementioned just-a-little wild pitch.
The Indians still had six more outs to get. Frey visited Hammaker on the mound two outs into the fifth and asked if he could get one more hitter.
“He said, ‘Absolutely, then I’m about done,’ ” Frey said. “He was honest about it.”
An option like Shepard inspires honesty.
“He’s good enough to start, but he’s pretty tough in those situations,” Frey said. “He likes the relief role and we like using him that way.”
Jaden Fels went 2-for-3 for Donegal, the only multi-hit game for either side.
Hammaker allowed five hits, struck out six and walked one. Shepard didn’t allow a hit in his two innings, striking out two and walking two.
This game originally was scheduled as a home game for Garden Spot, but Donegal invited the Spartans to play on the Clip’s freshly-installed artificial turf. Garden Spot will get its shot at the Indians in New Holland May 6.
The Spartans, and most of the L-L, get a welcome weekend off after a four-game week.
Donegal will play a fifth game this week, hosting Elco at 11 a.m. Saturday..
