H.S. Baseball: Wozniak, Nanticoke Area shut out first-place Holy Redeemer

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NANTICOKE — Give Nanticoke Area pitcher Brandon Wozniak a couple runs to work with and his confidence on the mound grows.

Even a couple rally attempts by Division 2 leader Holy Redeemer on Tuesday didn’t rattle the Bloomsburg University recruit.

Instead, Wozniak navigated a couple situations on his way to a complete game as the Trojans defeated Redeemer 6-0 in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 baseball game.

Nanticoke Area (3-3 Div. 2, 4-7 overall) helped tighten up what should be a competitive battle for the division title. Redeemer fell to 5-2 in the division and 8-3 overall.

Wozniak struck out eight, surrendered five hits and picked off a runner in the fourth inning. He also received flawless defense, including a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Nanticoke Area took a 4-0 lead in the third. Wozniak, Derek Miller and Derek Shemanski had consecutive RBI singles while wild pitch plated the other run.

“It feels great,” Wozniak said. “When you can get a lead for me, I’m just going to pitch the way I do. You give me a 2-0 lead and we’re going to win a game.”

Wozniak had a 1.14 ERA entering the game and lowered it to 0.88.

The offensive outburst was a welcome sight for the Trojans, who have struggle to score runs this season. They have a pair of one-run losses — including 3-2 to Redeemer on April 11 — and haven’t scored more than six runs in a game all season.

“It was big because we haven’t been scoring at all with runners on base,” Nanticoke Area first-year coach Kevin Ward said. “That’s where we’ve been really struggling. Coach (John) Ivan and coach (Gerry) Shemanski made up the lineup today.

“They said we have to change some stuff around. I went with their suggestions and it worked out pretty well.”

Nanticoke Area tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Wozniak led off with a ground-rule double to center and moved to third on a single by Miller. The duo then pulled off a double steal, with Wozniak crossing the plate. Tyler Skordensky later added an RBI single to left to make it 6-0.

Wozniak held Redeemer without a hit until Drew Cisny singled to center to start the fourth. Alex Gordon and Kayden Stevenson also had singles in the inning, but the Royals came up empty.

Redeemer also loaded the bases in the sixth with two outs, but Wozniak got a called strike three to end the threat.

Nanticoke Area 6, Holy Redeemer 0

Holy Redeemer`AB`R`H`BI

Kopec cf`2`0`0`0

Cisny ss`3`0`1`0

Quaglia p`1`0`0`0

Krakosky cr`0`0`0`0

Binker p`1`0`0`0

Gordon 1b`3`0`2`0

Dugan pr`0`0`0`0

Stevenson c`2`0`1`0

Yakimowicz cr`0`0`0`0

Schultz lf`3`0`0`0

Kelsell rf`3`0`0`0

Mazzarella 3b`3`0`1`0

Hurst 2b`3`0`0`0

Totals`24`0`5`0

Nanticoke Area`AB`R`H`BI

E.Ball cf`4`0`1`0

Martinez 2b`3`1`0`0

Wozniak p`4`2`2`1

Miller ss`3`2`2`1

Shemanski c`2`0`2`1

D.Ball cr`0`0`0`0

Skordensky 3b`3`0`1`1

Stachowiak 1b`3`0`0`0

Stout dh`2`0`0`0

Beggs ph`1`0`0`0

Hull lf`0`0`0`0

Raggi rf`2`1`0`0

Totals`27`6`8`4

Holy Redeemer`000`000`0 — 0

Nanticoke Area`004`020`x — 6

2B — Wozniak.

Holy Redeemer`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Quaglia (L)`3`5`4`3`1`4

Binker`3`3`2`2`0`4

Nanticoke Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Wozniak (W)`7`5`0`0`2`8