Mid-Penn championship preview: Mechanicsburg vs. Northern

Here's an in-depth preview capsule in anticipation of Wednesday night's Mid-Penn baseball championship game between Mechanicsburg and Northern. Due to the late weekday deadline this will not appear in The Sentinel.

Mechanicsburg (Keystone champion, 15-5) vs. Northern (Colonial champion (15-6)

Site: Northern

Time: 7 p.m.

Coaches: M - Clay McAllister (4th year); N - Brian Robison (3rd year).

Mechanicsburg key players: Ben Anderson, sr., CF (.448, 4 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 17 RBIs); Aaron Jones, sr., UTL-RHP (Batting: .421, 5 2B, HR, 12 RBIs. Pitching: 4-3, 40.1 inn, 2.66 ERA, 48 hits, 35 SO, 18 BB); Ryan Mentzer, sr., 1B (.391, 5 2B, HR, 14 RBIs); Jake Burkholder, jr., DH (.345, 3 2B, HR, 10 RBIs); Jimmy Spanos, soph., INF (.333, 4 2B, 8 RBIs); Devon Hensel, sr., OF (.321, 2 2B, 5 RBIs); Russell Woleslagle, jr., 3B (.320, 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBIs) Andy Nauss, jr., RHP (6-0, 31.1 inn., 1.35 ERA, 34 hits, 23 SO, 14 BB).

Northern key players: Jake Warner, jr., INF (.475, 3 2B, 3B, 13 RBIs); Sam Crater, jr., SS-RHP (Batting: .434, 5 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 18 RBIs. Pitching: 8-0, 48 inn., 2.17 ERA, 37 hits, 71 SO, 28 BB); Joe Tuschak, soph., OF (.391, 4 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 22 RBIs); Quin Taylor, sr., 1B-RHP (Batting: .382, 2B, 3B, 16 RBIs. Pitching: 42 inn., 3.16 ERA, 35 hits, 49 SO, 17 BB); Hank Sanders, sr., C (.382, 7 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 26 RBIs); Ryan Steele, jr., DH (.369, 6 2B, 3B, HR, 16 RBIs); Eric Junkins, sr., 3B (.354, 2 2B, 7 RBIs).

Mechanicsburg notes: Utilized three fifth-inning runs to clip Camp Hill, 6-5 in the Mid-Penn semifinals Monday. ... Nauss will get the start Wednesday. ... won nine straight and 12 of its last 13. ... needed eight innings to beat Hershey on April 24 and nine innings to beat Gettysburg on April 29. ... started the season 3-4. ... Anderson (above) is fifth in the area in batting average (minimum 50 at-bats). ... with pitchers of at least 30 innings pitched, Nauss leads the area in ERA. ... opens play in the District 3 Class AAAA playoffs against Red Lion at 4 p.m. Friday at Memorial Field in Hershey.

Northern notes: Trailed Red Land, 1-0, after one inning Monday before cruising to an 11-2 win. ... lost its last two games of season to Waynesboro and Susquenita. ... prior to those two losses had won 11 straight games. ... 3-1 record in one-run games. ... two of last three games went eight innings. ... has reached double digits in 11 games and unbeaten when achieving that feat. ... Warner leads the area in batting average (minimum 50 at-bats). ... Crater leads the area in strikeouts by 13 over second-place Matt Spiegel of Camp Hill. ... Taylor is fourth in the area in terms of strikeouts. ... opens District 3 Class AAA playoffs against ELCO on Friday at 4 p.m. at Manheim Twp.'s Westfield Park.

Bottom line: Look for a pitching split from Northern between Sanders and Taylor. Mechanicsburg threw Matt Koveleski and Jones on Monday and probably won't use either in the championship. Nauss has nice numbers but hasn't faced an offense quite like Northern's. If the Polar Bears get to the junior and Mechanicsburg piles up runs the way it has been we could be in for an explosive final.