2022 District 3 AAAAA Championship Game - June 2, 2022: Manheim Central 2, Ephrata 1

Manheim Central claimed District Three gold by defeating the Ephrata Mountaineers 2-1 in come from behind fashion. Connor Rohrer and Jared Murray combined forces on the mound to limit the potent Ephrata offense to one run and striking out ten and scattering four hits.

Manheim scored both runs in the bottom of the 5th inning. Collin Neiles singled to left and lead off batter Kye Watson singled up the middle. With runners at first and second, Baron Catcher Mason Weaver reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Brady Harbach then delivered a sacrifice fly to center, scoring courtesy runner Ty Clugston to tie the game. Nolan Book brought home Kye Watson on a single to right center for Manheim’s second (and deciding run). In the 7th inning, Ephrata put the tying on base on an infield error. Connor Rohrer then struck out the next batter and recorded the game’s 20th out on a comebacker to the mound. Having reached the pitch count, Jared Murray came on in relief. With the tying run on second, Murray issued a walk to put the go ahead run on first base. With a 3-2 count on the last hitter of the game, and the base runners in motion, the game’s final pitch landed in Mason Weaver’s glove for a called third strike, ending the contest and earning Manheim Central its first District Baseball Championship.

The Barons had to fight and claw their way through the tournament, remarkably winning each game by a single run: First Round: 2-1 win over New Oxford; Quarter Final: 2-1 win over Red Land; Semi-Final: 6-5 win over Susquehannock.