Christo Hunsicker-Wilson

Wilson and Gov. Mifflin aren’t just rivals. They’ve been two of the top baseball programs in District 3 for several years. The Mustangs entered the week riding an 8-game winning streak. They had outscored their opponents by an astounding margin of 85-6 during that stretch. The Bulldogs were looking forward to the challenge on Monday afternoon in Shillington. Christo Hunsicker delivered a tiebreaking 2-run triple in the top of the 7th inning that propelled Wilson to a 6-3 victory. “It feels great. When we play good competition, it’s really fun,” said Hunsicker. It was scoreless through three innings which wasn’t a surprise considering who was on the mound. UConn commit Tyler Minick made his first start this season for Gov. Mifflin. He was (4-0) with a 0.93 ERA last year. Promising southpaw Matt VanOstenbridge was on the mound for the Bulldogs. The junior has a-half dozen Division I offers. Senior catcher Jordan Shutter got Wilson on the board first with a single to center field that scored Hunsicker in the 4th. The Bulldogs took a 2-0 advantage on one of several odd plays. Catcher Darien Troche threw down to second base. Ethan Grim was supposed to cut off the throw during an attempted steal. The ball deflected off Grim’s glove and hit shortstop Bryce Detwiler in the head. That allowed Nick Crocona to race home from third base. Troche knocked in the Mustangs’ first run with a single to left in the bottom of the frame. In the top of the 6th, Crocona came to the plate with men on second and third and nobody out. Grim, who moved to the outfield after a pitching change, made a diving catch of Crocona’s line drive down the left field line. Hunsicker appeared to score easily after tagging up, but the umpire ruled that he left early. A sacrifice fly turned into a double play. Wilson did tack on a run when Shutter provided another RBI single. Gov. Mifflin got a pair of runs in the bottom of the 6th to even the Division 1 matchup at 3-3. Xander Velez scored on a wild pitch by VanOstenbridge. The lefty was replaced by Crocona with one out and two men on base. Jon Radwanski then hit a grounder back to Crocona who turned and fired to second base to start a double play. However, the Mustangs’ runners were on second and third. The tying run scored on that strange sequence. Crocona, a senior right-hander who also plays football and basketball, composed himself and got out of the 6th without any further damage. Tommy Hunsicker, Christo’s older brother, and Rafael Fernandez set the stage with back-to-back singles in the top of the 7th. Christo Hunsicker followed with a two-out triple off Detwiler that was hammered to center field. Matt Novotny came out of the Gov. Mifflin bullpen and gave up a line drive RBI single to center by Nick Fiorini. Crocona picked up the win with a scoreless 7th inning. The (7-3, 3-2) Bulldogs piled up eleven hits. The (9-2, 5-1) Mustangs were held to four, two coming from Minick. Wilson has won five of its last six contests. VanOstenbridge allowed three runs, two earned, over 5.1 innings. He struck out nine, walked three, and hit two batters. Minick permitted two runs on four hits in four innings with five strikeouts. Detwiler took the loss. He was charged with four runs on six hits in 2.2 innings. Tommy Hunsicker, Fiorini, and Shutter had two hits apiece. Christo Hunsicker was 3-for-4 with two runs. The first baseman mentioned that he gets along well with his brother. “He takes me to school every day and we get to hang out a lot. I’m just glad we have such a good relationship,” said Christo. He’ll certainly have a lot to talk about with Tommy on their car ride to school on Tuesday morning.