Coming into yesterday's game, the Jim Thorpe and Lehighton baseball teams had some unfortunate statistics in common. Both had won just three games and both have been struggling to score runs.

So when the Olympians first batter, Alex Steigerwalt reached base on an error in the top of the first inning, Coach Derek Reis had him steal second, then had Brendan Carroll sacrifice bunt him to third. Steigerwalt scored on a ground out by Jordan McElmoyle in what would be the first run in Jim Thorpe's 9 -5 win over the Indians."We haven't had many early leads," said Reis. Getting up on them early was big because we could be more aggressive on the bases too."Reis forced his offense in the second. Dave Everitt reached on an infield hit. After DH Jake Burkhart doubled Everitt home, Derek Joyce singled to right. Reis put on the suicide squeeze bunt with Chris Micciche and Burkhart scored on a close play at the plate.After Micciche held Lehighton scoreless from the mound for the first two innings, Thorpe struck for three more runs in the third. Four straight singles with an Indian error and a walk mixed in put the Olympians up 6-0 after two and a half.Lehighton scored twice in the home third without hitting the ball out of the infield. Donovan Buchinsky started the rally with a swinging bunt down the third base line. Joe Heery walked and after two were out, Brody Hydro walked to load the bases. Brady Niehoff was hit by a pitch for an RBI before the second run scored on an infield error.JT regained its six run lead in the fourth with the help of three stolen bases, two hits and a sacrifice fly by Will Kovolejko."We have had a lot of trouble scoring too," said Lehighton coach, Brian Polaha. "The bottom of the fifth was our chance to come back, but an unusual play cost us big time."The Indians would score three times in the fifth, but the "unusual play" may have prevented an even bigger offensive inning. With one out, Hunter Greene foul tipped a pitch into the catcher's glove while a teammate was stealing third. The runner made it safely but thinking he had to go back to second because the ball was tipped, he walked out of the baseline and was called out."I don't know if most kids know that a foul tip into the catcher's glove is a continuation play and the ball is not dead," said Polaha. "It was a game changer because who knows if we might have extended the inning. Like I said runs have been scarce for us and when we have hit the ball hard it seems to always find a glove somewhere."Lehighton's Hunter Greene came in relief in the fifth and allowed only one run in three innings to help keep his team in the game, but Minniche pitched a complete game seven hitter, with five of the seven being infield hits."Chris only walked two batters, and that's what we have worked hard on this year," said Reis. "Last year we walked 86 in 112 innings and now this year we have given up only 40 walks in about 90 innings so far. Of course, that keeps pitch counts down too, and that's why Chris could finish what he started."Carroll, McElmoyle, Steigerwalt, Derek Joyce and Everiit each had two hits for Jim Thorpe while Greene and Buchinsky had a pair of singles a piece for Lehighton.Jim Thorpe 123 200 1 - 9 12 2Lehighton 002 030 0 - 5 7 3Cordova and Joyce; Micciche and Scherer. W - Micciche. L - Cordova.