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Hoover propels Dragons

HUGHESVILLE — After Aaron Hoover struck out his fourth straight Hughesville batter Friday, a frustrated Spartan yelled that the team was making him look like Cy Young.

Hoover and Lewisburg simply are happy he looks like the 2017 Aaron Hoover again.

Showing the form that made him one of the area’s best pitchers last year, Hoover put on a pitching clinic at Bodine Park, throwing a three-hit shutout and striking out six as surging Lewisburg blanked Hughesville, 2-0. Hoover threw his second straight complete-game and Aaron Strosser delivered two clutch, two-out RBI hits as Lewisburg (5-4) won its third straight.

“I was hitting my spots more and my breaking ball was finally working,” Hoover said. “It hadn’t been working the last couple of games, but it is now and I’m keeping hitters off-balance. Everything is working for me right now.”

Hoover won four games and compiled a 1.83 ERA last year as Lewisburg ended a 17-year playoff drought and reached the District 4 Class AAAA semifinals. But 2018 started rough as Hoover allowed seven hits and 10 runs in 1 2/3 innings against Selinsgrove in the team’s opener. He has progressed in each start since, throwing a seven-hitter last Saturday against Milton.

And Friday, everything came together. Hoover was brilliant, mowing through Hughesville on just 83 pitches. His off-speed stuff was nasty and he consistently worked ahead, throwing first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 25 batters he faced. Hoover walked none, went to a three-ball count just twice and threw 59 of his 83 pitches for strikes.

Jacob Corson hit a one-out single in the first inning and reached third, but Hoover retired the next two batters, preventing Hughesville from taking an early lead. That was the only time the Spartans threatened. Hoover retired 20 of the last 23 batters he faced, struck out four straight at one point and retired nine straight at another time. He ended the game with a perfect seventh inning and Lewisburg took another big step forward following a slow start.

“Hughesville is a great team who can do a lot of different things. We just needed our pitcher to throw some groundballs for us and he did a great job,” Lewisburg coach Brian Zysset said. “Aaron is a competitor. He has a good mindset.”

“Usually the first inning is tough for me but once I get past that I’m usually pretty good. I start getting in a groove,” Hoover said. “The way our defense was playing and the way I was throwing strikes, I felt good. It really helps when my defense is making plays for me.”

Center fielder Andrew Ramirez highlighted a strong defensive performance with some nice catches and Lewisburg broke through offensively in the fourth inning. A Peter Marrara single and a costly error gave Strosser a chance to atone for strikeouts in his two previous at-bats. The junior shortstop fell behind in the count 1-2, but reached out and drilled an RBI single down the right-field line, giving the Green Dragons a 1-0 lead.

It was a near repeat in the sixth inning. Hoover reached on an error, stole second and went to third on a two-out error. This time, Strosser worked the other side of the field, going the opposite way and smashing a 3-1 pitch down the left-field line. The way Hoover was throwing the two-run advantage looked more like 12.

“I was just looking for anything to put in play,” Strosser said. “I had gotten caught on the outside part of the plate my first two at-bats and that third at-bat I got something off the plate also and I swung at it and it ended up working out. I wanted to make up for those strikeouts and it felt good to come back and put the ball in play.”

“Aaron is a great kid. He always hustles and he’s mindful of every play,” Zysset said. “He doesn’t get down on himself. I’m happy for him. He knows he still has to earn it every single pitch, every single at-bat, but we love him because he’s such a great kid. He’s going to work hard and play hard. That’s the type of attitude and mentality you’re going to get from him.”

Hughesville pitchers Chance Webb and Zack Murray pitched a combined stellar six-hitter and allowed no earned runs. All three errors in the fourth and sixth innings provided huge blows. Take those away and Strosser would not have had a shot at delivering those timely hits.

The Spartans (3-4) had won two straight and Jaret Stroup delivered two hits but compounding the mistakes with Hoover’s dominance was too much to overcome. Hughesville has made 13 errors in its last four games, including eight this week.

“We’ve kicked the ball around this year and that’s not Hughesville baseball. Unfortunately those things have reared their ugly head despite our pitchers doing a great job and giving us quality starts,” Hughesville coach Chris Kish said. “Two balls hit down the line and that’s the difference in the game, but again it all comes back to kicking the ball around and that hurts you, especially in a game like this when you’re against a guy who’s absolutely dealing. He was unbelievable.”

Lewisburg 000 101 0–2 6 1

Hughesville 000 000 0–0 3 3

Aaron Hoover and Dakotah Snyder. Chance Webb, Zack Murray (4) and Jared Snyder. W: Hoover, (2-2). L: Webb, (0-1).

Top Lewisburg hitters: Aaron Strosser 2-4, 2B, 2 RBIs; Snyder 3 BBs; Josh Heath 1-3, 2B; Peter Marrara 1-4, run. Top Hughesville hitters: Jaret Stroup 2-3; Jacob Corson 1-3.

Records: Lewisburg (5-4), Hughesville (3-4).

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