SCOTLAND — Greencastle-Antrim junior Cam Niland made his first varsity start Friday afternoon against county rival Chambersburg.

Niland made the absolute most of his chance.

Cam Niland

He silenced the Trojans on three hits, walked none, and helped the Blue Devils take a 4-1 non-league baseball victory at Greene Township Park.

Greencastle coach Eric Shaner said, "We're always trying to get better, and Cam has been throwing the ball well. We felt he deserved a shot and when he got it, he came through."

"I had to be ready when called on," Niland said. "I've been a starting pitcher, so I just did my usual routine. I know some of those (Chambersburg) guys, and that gave me a little boost."

Niland threw 91 pitches, including 54 for strikes, and fanned three batters. In the first three innings, he got six outs on balls hit in the air (and 10 for the game), and in the final four innings, he induced six ground balls.

"I had to battle early, but my four-seam (fastball) was working and they flew out a lot," Niland said. "Then my slider worked later and they hit it into the ground. My ball was moving more later in the game."

The only run scored by Chambersburg came in the fifth and it was unearned. Aaron Vasquez hit a grounder to third that was thrown away and Vasquez raced to third base. Wyatt Martin then grounded out to shortstop to bring Vasquez in.

The Trojans (3-6) had only one other runner get to third base. In the second, Ceagan Truett blasted a shot to deep centerfield that Carter McCauley nearly flagged down at the warning track. Truett moved up on on a fielder's choice, but was stranded there.

Shaner said, "We try to get Cam to trust his stuff, because it can be nasty. When he got ahead in the count he was able to use it. And when he has it working, it's hard to square up."

Chambersburg coach Scott Folmar said, "Their pitcher did well. But we just have to get better offensively. We get hits, but they're scattered instead of being bunched, and we can't get the two-out hits we need."

In addition to Truett's deep hit, Joey Diaz and Evan Brown sent G-A leftfielder Ryan Farrow back almost to the fence on well-hit balls, but he hauled them in.

"We hit some balls well today, but not enough," Folmar said.

Chambersburg starter Carter Zeger, also making his first start of the season, had a good outing, too. He allowed four runs, but all were unearned. He was touched for five hits, walked two and struck out five.

Leading off in the fourth inning for the Blue Devils (4-4), Briggs Remenick got a second life when his foul ball was dropped. He then crunched a double to left-center. Parker Funk lined a single to left that was misplayed, allowing Remenick to score and Funk to reach third. Funk then scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

Remenick, who was 3-for-4, also started G-A's rally in the fifth with a two-out single. Funk walked and when a grounder to shortstop was thrown away, both runners raced home for a 4-0 lead.

Shaner said, "It feels good to finally get some breaks. We were able to capitalize on some things, and we did better hitting with two strikes."

"Our pitchers did well, but the defense didn't help," Folmar said. "We usually play cleaner defense than today (4 errors)."