MONTGOMERY–Jimmy Mussina did not produce the way he wished last spring. After watching film, he understood why.

It is a simple change the Montoursville senior made but it is producing impressive results as he flips last year’s script. And that was especially the case Saturday against Montgomery.

Mussina went 4 for 4, scored three times, drove in a run and added a stolen base, helping Montoursville turn an early three-run deficit into a 10-5 win.

“Last year I hit like .120 (.138 to be precise) because I was looking to get certain pitches. This year I’m trying to be really aggressive,” Mussina said. “I’m looking for a pitch to hit. I can’t get a hit if I don’t swing, so that’s all I’m trying to do.”

He is starting to do it really well.

Mussina is 5 for 5 in his last five plate appearances and has not stuck out this season. He suddenly has moved to second on the team in average, hitting .467. Add in two walks and two hit by pitches and the right fielder features a .550 on-base percentage.

Saturday, Mussina ignited a two-run third inning rally after Montgomery built a 3-0 lead, hitting a lead-off single. An inning later he singled and scored again and was part of a go-ahead five-run surge. He went the opposite way in the fifth inning, drilling an RBI single and led off the seventh inning with another single as Montoursville improved to 6-1.

“He punches it out there and he’s getting good swings on balls,” Montoursville coach Jeremy Eck said. “He’s been around for a while. He’s been playing for three years at the varsity level, so he’s starting to settle in which is nice to see for him.”

Mussina was one of eight Warriors who reached base and one of seven who produced 11 hits. The Warriors scored 10 straight runs from the third-fifth innings, building a 10-3 advantage.

After Montgomery closed within 10-5, Logan Kirby slammed the door. He entered with two on and two outs in the fifth and threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings, while striking out five on a day his brother Noah produced two hits, including a ground-rule double.

While hits came from throughout the lineup, the bottom of the order especially did damage. Mussina, hitting in the eight spot, combined with Jonah Heddings and Michael Reeder to reach base eight times, score seven runs and drive in two.

They perfectly set the table for the team’s leading hitter Royce Bowes who effectively brought them in, collecting three RBIs in three consecutive at-bats over three innings.

“Royce is one of the best lead-off hitters in the area. Michael and I won’t hit it over the fence, but we can get on base, and we know we have the hitters to bring us in,” Mussina said. “If we get runners on base for him, we have guys on first and second and they’re thinking we have to get through all these dangerous at-bats again. We never really have a spot in the lineup that’s dead if you keep Reeder and I at the bottom.”

Ironically, it’s what they did not do which Eck enjoyed most about Mussina, Reeder and Bowes’s approaches. On a day Montoursville went stranded four runners in scoring position over the last two innings, including in the sixth with no outs, all three simply did whatever it took to move runners and/or score runs.

Bowes and Reeder combined for three RBIs in the game-changing third and fourth innings, while Mussina’s two-strike single gave Montoursville its biggest lead, 10-3. Montoursville had several chances to widen the lead after Montgomery made it a five-run game but went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position there.

“We have to do better at making adjustments,” Mussina said. “You have to move up and get low and poke it and just try and survive; we’re trying to take daddy hacks.”

“What guys don’t understand is they don’t have to unload on it,” Eck said. “The biggest concern is when we have runners in scoring position we didn’t change our approach. We just dug in and tried to hit the ball out of the park and be heroes rather than just shortening up.”

Montgomery (7-2) delivered the kind of hits Eck is looking for in those situations in both the first and fifth innings. Freshman Chase Bennett laced a two-out, two-run single in the first inning and surging Ethan Hugar belted an opposite field, two-out, two-run single which pulled Montgomery within 10-5.

Parker Bennett enjoyed another good day as well, going 3 for 4. He followed a Trace Furman single with a single in the first inning before both scored on his brother’s clutch hit. Bennett ignited that fifth inning rally as well, delivering a lead-off single.

“Parker Bennett can play for me any day of the week. He’s a great player,” Eck said. “He doesn’t say a word. He just battles and competes and plays the game the right way.”

Montoursville did not play the complete game it was hoping but it still handed a good team just its second loss in nine games. Production came from throughout the lineup at times and Montoursville took another step forward after last Monday’s loss against Danville.

The Warriors are not yet at their best but better to be learning as they win than the other way around. The end game is what matters most, so the work continues.

“We talk about higher standards all the time and we have to take a deep breath and just play our game and do our thing,” Eck said. “There are definitely some things we need to iron out, but once we start doing that, I think we’re going to be a pretty complete team down the stretch.”

Montoursville 002 530 0–10 11 4

Montgomery 210 020 0–5 8 8

Brody Aldenderfer, Royce Bowes (3), Logan Kirby (5) and Noah Kirby. Parker Bennett, Mason Bryson (4) and Lincoln Miller. W–Bowes. L–Bennett.

Top Montoursville hitters: Jimmy Mussina 4-4, 3R, RBI, SB; N. Kirby 2-4, 2B; Bowes 1-4, 3 RBIs; Aldenderfer 1-2, 2 BB, RBI, 2R; Jonah Heddings 1-4, R; Michael Reeder 1-3, RBI, 3R; Zack Neill 1-4. Top Montgomery hitters: Bennett 3-4, 2R; Ethan Hugar 2-4, 2 RBIs; Chase Bennett 1-2, 2 RBIs; Trace Furman 1-3, R; Victor Ottmann 1-4, R.

Records: Montoursville 6-1. Montgomery 7-2.