Baseball: Sweeney, Lions shut down Eagles

UNIONTOWN - Francis Scott Key had a chance to get even with Liberty at home late in the game Wednesday, but the Eagles couldn't convert on the opportunity. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Eagles had runners on first and second with no outs after back-to-back singles to start the inning. But Shane Sweeney took back control of the game.

Chase Cregger popped up to the catcher then Jacob Leimbach hit a fly ball right at the right fielder Bobby Summersgill. Sweeney ended the inning by striking out Eric Smith as he went down swinging on a breaking ball. Sweeney struck out six batters in six innings and allowed just two hits helping Liberty capture an 8-0 victory.

"It's huge to get out of innings like that, my defense picked me up a couple times and I threw some great pitches, and we got out of it," Sweeney said. "I just wanted to keep the runs down because I know [Alex] Eckenrode is a great pitcher."

At that point in the game, the Lions (4-1, 2-0 in the county) held just a 1-0 lead, the lone run coming off a Summersgill double to left-center field in the top of the third. Liberty had just three hits in the first five innings off Eckenrode, but it broke the game open late when Eckenrode was relieved.

"Shane's done great this year, it's huge the way he came through and threw his way out of the fifth," Lions coach Jim Miller said. "Then he came up in the sixth and had a huge at-bat and helped us get some runs, I know it's early in the season but he's pitched in three games, and he's been great."

Liberty's Tim Anderson had an RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth off Joseph Eyler. Anderson would hit another triple in the seventh inning for the Lions, as they scored six runs in the inning putting the game out of reach for FSK.

Ben Warren added a pair of RBIs on a double in the seventh. After struggling to get hits off Eckenrode, Liberty had four extra base hits in just the last two innings.

"The second kid who came in wasn't a bad pitcher, we just had some opportunities and jumped on them," Miller said. "He wasn't throwing strikes as much as Eckenrode was."

Despite Sweeney's scoreless outing, the Eagles had runners on base in every inning except for one, but couldn't get the hits they needed to produce runs from those situations. After an error in the bottom of the sixth, FSK (1-2, 1-1) had runners on first and second again, this time with two outs. But Sweeney shut the door on a potential rally by striking out Jacob Engel.

"When we had runners on in the fifth, I had people up to bat that I have confidence in, and in the past we've had those guys driving the ball," Eagles coach Craig Walker said. "But today we didn't make contact and we were facing a good pitcher and he got the job done. The last couple of games we were getting runs out of those situations, but today was a little bit different."

The Lions are off to a strong start to the season through five games, but Miller knows it's early and doesn't want his players to get ahead of themselves.

"I just told these guys it's a great 8-0 win, but I saw a lot of things that we can still improve on," Miller said. "The season's still young and we're going to get a lot better."

Liberty 001 001 6 - 8 11 2

Francis Scott Key 000 000 0 - 0 3 0

L-Shane Sweeney, Jacob Roach (7) and Kyle Leonard; FSK-Alex Eckenrode, Joseph Eyler (6) and Chase Cregger. 2B: L-Bobby Summersgill, Sweeney, Ben Warren. 3B: L-Tim Anderson (2). WP: Sweeney. LP: Eckenrode.