1983 Lancaster-Lebanon Championship Game - May 20, 1983: Manheim Central 5, Lebanon 4

Manheim Central broke a 4-4 tie with the deciding run crossing the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning. The 5-4 lead would hold up to give the Baron’s their first Lancaster-Lebanon League Baseball title.

Junior starting pitcher Bruce Hershey went all seven innings for the Barons, working out of jams in the sixth and seventh innings to preserve the precarious one run lead. Hershey stranded a Cedar runner at second base in the sixth inning and in the seventh, pitched around runners on first and second and one out. A sacrifice fly moved the lead runner to third base. With two outs and runners at the corners, Hershey coaxed a ground ball force-out to end the game.

Manheim climbed out of a 2-0 deficit in the second inning, tying the game 2-2 with a bases loaded single off the bat of sophomore Jon Weaver. In the bottom of the third, senior Tim Becker hit a solo home run to left and added the tying run on an RBI single by Chris Hackman. After Lebanon tied the game 4-4 in the fourth, Manheim scored the game’s final run in the home half of the fifth. Tim Becker walked to lead off the inning and scored from first base on a base hit to centerfield - a bobble by the centerfielder allowed Murray to score. The run held up as the deciding run in the 5-4 victory for Manheim Central.