Keystone responded with four runs on three hits in the bottom of the inning to regain a two-run lead. The two-run advantage led to a 13-3 thumping over Upper Dauphin in the opening round of the Section 3 tournament.

Keystone is set to matchup with the winner of the opening game between the District 13 champion and District 15 champion at 8 p.m.

“We’ve got to play the hot streak, play the hot hand,” Keystone coach Cole Hanley said. “We just got to keep going, I think we’re starting to get hot at the right time.”

From the early jump Upper Dauphin came ready to play as the road team. Dauphin jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Devyn Troutman hit a single and eventually scored on an error by Keystone and Cole Hubler singled. Mason Leitzel then hit an RBI single that increased Dauphin’s lead to 2-0. Two early miscues in the first inning gave way for two early runs that threw Keystone off balance.

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette A Keystone player swings at a pitch against Upper Dauphin on Tuesday.

“I just told them we have to stay calm and battle back,” Hanley said after the win. “I told them we’re fighters and winners and that it’s just the first inning.”

Once Keystone got out the bottom of the jam, the team put its bats to work. Evan Edwards, who went 2-for-3 on the evening with two runs, a solo home run and a three-run homer, hit his first homer on the third pitch of the inning. Carter Frank, who was also 2-for-3 on the day with two runs, doubled and Logan Bower reached on an error.

Camden Fuller, who was a perfect 3-for-3, hit a three-run shot that moved Keystone back into the driver’s seat.

That willingness to fight back and keep their heads was crucial for Keystone not just at the plate, but defensively as well. After giving up two runs on three hits in the opening inning, Keystone pitcher Carter Frank came out and made a statement to Upper Dauphin in the top of the second.

Frank gave up one walk in the inning, and while three reached base–two due to errors and one on a fielder’s choice–he stranded them all. Frank’s ability to hold Dauphin to zero runs was critical for the remaining flow of the game.

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette Keystone players celebrate scoring a run against Upper Dauphin in Tuesday's Section 3 tournament game.

“Carter (Frank) really grew a lot this year and the past couple years,” coach Hanley said. “He works tremendously hard and his head game was right there. He was ready and in crunch time he knew he had to step it up.”

Upper Dauphin held Keystone to just two walks on no hits or runs in the bottom of the second inning. In the third inning is where Keystone began to make noise. In the top of the inning, after Frank was relieved by pitcher Bryan Rote on the hill, Rote held Upper Dauphin to one hit and two walks in the inning.

In the bottom half of that inning, Keystone used that firepower from Rote’s pitching at the plate. Keystone totaled four runs on five hits. Frank and Fuller both singled and scored, Evan Batterson hit an RBI single and scored and Hayden Hanley walked and eventually added a run. Hayden Whitman hit a crucial RBI single and Logan Daniel followed with a two-RBI single.

As Keystone moved the score to an 8-2 contest, Keystone essentially released the hitting floodgates.

“The bats are waking up (and) that’s what we needed coming in,” coach Hanley said. “That’s what we kept preaching to these guys; ‘we gotta get the bats going,’ they’re finally waking up and it couldn’t be at a better time.”

In the fourth, pitching by Rote and his defense kept Keystone in the driver’s seat, letting up nothing across the board in the top half of the frame. In the bottom half, Keystone continued to strike. Angelo Tarantella began the inning with a single, a ground rule double by Heath Marino put two runners on.

Edwards then smacked his second homer of the game, a three-run bomb that was hit just fair enough. The three-run, four-hit inning shut the door on any other hopes Upper Dauphin had on the game.

Keystone completed the game with the 10-run rule in the fifth after giving up one a solo home run to Hubler. Fuller and Batterson led off with consecutive singles and eventually scored. Hanley and Whitman then hit back-to-back RBI singles that gave Keystone the two runs they needed.

Keystone 13, Upper Dauphin 3.

UD 200 01–3 6 1

KEY 404 32–13 16 4

Chevy Green, Cayden Witmer (3), Hayden Murray, Dawson Lower. Carter Frank (3), Bryan Rote (3). W: Frank. L: Green. S: Rote.

Top Upper Dauphin hitters: Devyn Troutman 1-3; Cole Hubler 2-3; Chevy Green 2-3, 2B; Mason Leitzel 1-2. Top Keystone hitters: Evan Edwards 2-3, 4RBI, 2R, 2HR; Carter Frank 2-3, 2B, 2R; Camden Fuller 3-3, 3 RBIs, 3-run HR; Evan Batterson 2-3, RBI, 2R; Hayden Whitman 2-3, 2 RBIs.