Wood, Panthers shut down Avoca
BY BOB BENZ THE LEADER

ERIC WENSEL/THE LEADER Campbell-Savona's Neil Pruden, right, was called safe as Avoca's Matt Rodburn makes the play.

AVOCA - Against many of its Steuben County foes, defending Class D state champion Avoca could get away with three early errors and still prevail.

But not against Campbell- Savona. And certainly not when pitcher Sam Wood has his best stuff working from the mound.

The Panthers capitalized on three Avoca errors in the first two innings and let Wood do the rest. Campbell- Savona scored each of its five runs in the first and second innings, while Wood fanned 11 and fired a complete-game threehitter to help the Panthers pick up a 5-1 victory.

"We just kind of had the wind knocked out of us early and we didn't get back up quite quick enough," Avoca head coach Aaron Mullen said. "Wood pitched a good game and we just try to tip our cap to him."

"It feels good," Wood said after his Panthers handed the Tigers their first Steuben County Athletic Association loss of the season. "They have a very good lineup and you have to mix it up a lot."

Just two days after Avoca erupted for 16 runs on 15 hits in a rout of Jasper- Troupsburg, Wood made Avoca's potent lineup seem ordinary. Wood struck out at least two batters in five different innings and was working on a shutout through six innings. He also gave up just one walk.

"Sam had great control," Campbell-Savona head coach Kurt York said. "His pitch count was low 90s, his ratio of balls to strikes was fantastic. One bad inning and one walk - I can't say enough about the young man - super job,"

The Tigers scored their only run when Freddy Klock smashed a solo home run to right-center field to lead off the seventh. Other than Klock's blast, Avoca had just one baserunner advance past second base the rest of the way.

Campbell-Savona wasted little time getting on the scoreboard and did so by taking advantage of a sluggish start defensively for Avoca.

Will Cornett sparked a threerun first by reaching base on an error. Cornett scored the game's first run on a passed ball.

Neil Pruden reached on an infield single and scored on Andy Knowles' RBI single to make it 2-0. J.R. York scored later in the inning to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead.

Knowles led Campbell- Savona at the plate, going 3- for-4 with three RBI and a steal.

Jeff Lyons drilled a one-out double to ignite the Panthers' secondinning

rally. Knowles then ripped a two-out two-run single that increased C-S's lead to 5-0.

"To get the early runs always helps the pitcher," York said. "The only thing I like about playing away is that you get the chance to hit the ball first and these guys love to hit. A lot of our practice goes into that and it pays off."

Wood was certainly appreciative of the five-run cushion he had to work with.

"It just takes an extra burden off your back," Wood said.

Despite the rocky start, Joe Wallace settled in on the mound for Avoca and held the Panthers to just three hits after the second inning. Wallace struck out six in a complete game.

"Campbell played a great game and we just weren't ready for them in the first inning and that was pretty much the game," Mullen said. "And after that, I thought we played pretty nice, but we let a few too many good pitches go by and that wound up hurting us."

"The thing that we can always hope for is to play up to the competition," York said. "My biggest fear is that they start letting up on teams. When you play Avoca - state champs - you have to be up. Coach Mullen does a great job and their kids are super ballplayers, very respectable kids and it's fun playing them."