Case Latore’s go-ahead solo home run in the top of the 7^th broke a tie and led Avonworth Varsity Baseball to a 7-5 win over host Dubois (5A) in a non-conference matchup between two teams with postseason ambitions.  Facing their toughest competition in some time, the Lopes pulled together a team effort with every player in the lineup getting a hit and with daring baserunning to outlast the Beavers and pull their record to 14-2.  Jack Dolan was 3-4 with a triple and 2 rbi, and Mason Metz was 2-2 with two walks and triple, but every batter hit balls hard and the Lopes’ pitching matched all challenges on a cool, rainy Central Pennsylania night.

The Lopes got right to it in the top of the 1^stinning.  Cooper Scharding doubled on the game’s first pitch and scored when Metz laced a single up the middle to make it 1-0.  Alex Rowe singled Metz in to make it 2-0, and the Lopes looked like they were ready to unload, but two standout defensive plays by Dubois- a classic throw to erase Dolan at 3^rd, and a deft snag at first base on a Michael Libbon line dive that was headed for extra bases otherwise – kept it to 2 runs.  In their half of the first, Dubois capitalized on their stout defense, as the first four baserunners reached base.  A hard single to center scored two runs to tie it at 2.  But pitcher Carson Franc, with 2 runners on and none out, proceeded to strike out the side and end the threat.  Franc would strike out the first two Beavers in the bottom of the second, giving him 5 consecutive K’s, before turning the mound over to Jackson Krul, who finished off the inning with no hits.

Avonworth took a 4-2 lead in the third inning.  Dolan’s single to left scored Metz, who had walked and stolen second.  After Dolan stole two bases, Libbon belted a dep fly ball to center for another tough out, but deep enough to score Dolan and make it 4-2.  The lead held until the bottom of the 4^th, when Dubois tied it on a long double to left that scored two to make it 4-4.  The Lopes were posed for a big inning in the top of the 5^th when Metz led off with a triple, but again, two great plays by the Beavers – a leaping catch of a liner by their second baseman, and an acrobatic pick and throw across the diamond by the third baseman to nail a runner – kept it tied.  But the Lopes locked it down as well, led by Krul, as the lefty reliever stepped up for his longest outing of the season, with 4.1 innings, allowing 4 runs but blanking the Beavers in the 5^th and 6^th and notching a career-high 8 Ks while pitching through some tough conditions, as a soaking rain began to fall.

Heading into the 7^th with the score tied at 4-4, the Lopes broke it open.  Leading off, Latore hit a 1-0 pitch high and deep into the darkness beyond the high centerfield fence that no one saw land, and the Lopes were up 5-4.  Dolan’s triple scored Metz, and he scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-4.  After Krul notched his final strikeout of a 90-plus pitch outing in the bottom of the 7^th, Dubois picked up a run to make it 7-5.  Like Franc before him, Krul left to a well earned ovation from the Lopes faithful, as Dolan finished up on the mound and the Beavers went down without further incident.