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Wyatt strikes out 17; Middle falls in tourney final

Zach Wyatt of Middle Township struck out 17 batters in a win over Salem on Saturday.

Zach Wyatt of Middle Township struck out 17 batters in a win over Salem on Saturday.

Zach Wyatt has pitched some good games for the Middle Township High School baseball team over his career. But the senior lefthander was as good as he’s ever been on Saturday.

Wyatt flirted with a program record by striking out 17 batters as Middle beat Salem, 6-1, in the first round of the Lee Ware Tournament at Woodstown High School Saturday. Later in the day, Middle lost the title game to the host Wolverines, 5-3.

Wyatt came close to matching the program record for strikeouts in a game, which was set in 2008 by Scott DeCecco when he struck out 19 batters in a game at the same tournament. DeCecco went on to pitch at Division I South Carolina Upstate and later pitched for three seasons in the Seattle Mariners minor league system.

Wyatt, who is set play at Division II Bloomsburg University next year, conceded five hits and one run, which was scored in the seventh inning, in the win over Salem. He also had the game-winning RBI on his RBI double in the second inning. Caleb Maguire had two RBI and Drew Harris, Sean Dougherty and Jake Cooper each added RBI hits in the victory.

Dougherty had three hits in the tournament title game loss for Middle.

— Brian Cunniff