WEST SUNBURY — With a chance to turn the tables Tuesday evening, West Sunbury did not let the opportunity slip from its grasp.

Dawson Wallace's two-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning scored Gage Neal with the deciding run as West Sunbury edged visiting Cranberry Township, 3-2, in Butler County Area Baseball League play.

The two teams met last week in a doubleheader at Graham Park, with Cranberry prevailing in both contests.

“This feels good,” said West Sunbury coach Matt Williams. “We've been competitive all year and have been involved in a bunch of close games, but lost most of them.”

Cranberry starting pitcher Matt Stanick was on the verge of working a quiet sixth frame, but with two outs, West Sunbury's Brady Thompson and Nick Ayres drew back-to-back walks. That set the stage for Wallace, who laced a fastball to left field, scoring courtesy runner Neal.

Wallace is a travel player who was seeing his first BCABL action. He and his teammates had trouble against Stanick for most of the game. At one point, the pitcher had seven strikeouts and just one walk. The first two runs he allowed were unearned.

“He has really good off-speed stuff and a good fastball,” said Wallace, who also turned in a fine game defensively at third base. “He was going with his fastball a lot more late in the game.”

Brady Thompson, West Sunbury's reliever who took the mound to start the fifth inning, allowed the tying run on base via a walk in the seventh, but struck out Matt Lewis to end the game.

Both teams tallied just four hits.

“West Sunbury put the bat on the ball when they needed to and we didn't,” said Cranberry assistant coach Jim Lewis.

Cranberry's performance at the plate has been inconsistent this season, much like 2020.

“We have guys who are capable of hitting consistently, but we just don't have it some nights,” said Lewis. “He (Stanick) was hitting his spots. He was dealing. We made some mistakes behind him that hurt us.”

Brady Thompson struck out three and walked two in his three innings. Starter Shane Thompson had four strikeouts and two walks in four innings of work. Both pitchers allowed an unearned run.

“Our pitching was phenomenal,” said Williams. “They worked a great game and we couldn't ask for much more out of them.”

The run West Sunbury (4-6) scored in the sixth was the only earned run of the game.

Cranberry (9-4) opened the scoring by taking advantage of an error in the top of the first.

Leadoff hitter Evan Schneider reached on the miscue, took second base on a sacrifice bunt and third on a wild pitch. Stanick drove him in with a sacrifice fly.

Brady Thompson opened the bottom of the second with a double. After Stanick struck out the next two batters, Thompson stole third and raced home when the throw was errant.

The teams again traded unearned runs in the fifth. A West Sunbury error led to Nick Price's RBI single in the top of the inning.

AJ McElravy's base hit evened the score once again a half inning later.

“The top of our order has been hitting the ball pretty well, but we've struggled at the bottom,” said Williams. “It came through today, though. That was a big hit for AJ (last batter in the order).”

Cranberry Twp. 100 010 0 — 2 4 2

West Sunbury 010 011 x — 3 4 2

W: Brady Thompson 3 IP (3K, 2BB). L: Matt Stanick 6 IP (7K, 5BB)

Cranberry Township (9-4): Matt Stanick 1B RBI, Nick Price 1B RBI

West Sunbury (4-6): Gage Neal 1B R, Brady Thompson 2B R, Dawson Wallace 1B R RBI, AJ McElravy 1B RBI

Thursday: Cranberry Township at East Butler; Freeport at West Sunbury