SHILOH -- What does a coach say to his players when they're getting ready to play an opponent that thumped them, 24-3, in the first meeting this season?

If you're Northeastern baseball coach Don Kauffman, not very much.

"I just said, 'I shouldn't have to motivate you a lot. Just think about the last game,'" Kauffman said.

The Bobcats followed the advice.

With the rout serving as motivation, Northeastern avenged the first-game loss by stunning the Bulldogs, 3-1, on Wednesday afternoon at Sunset Lane Park.

Nick Yinger, a junior making just his second start of the season, pitched the first four innings for the Bobcats, and Jordan Ely, a sophomore, worked the final three frames.

The two were in jams, but they found a way to work out of them, helped by some fine defense. Yinger and Ely forced the Bulldogs to strand 11 runners. West York, which scored its only run in the fourth inning, left the bases loaded in the second and third.

"My game plan was to throw strikes, keep it (the ball) low and make them hit it on the ground," Ely said. "West York is a good team, and I was a little nervous. I'm not going to lie."

Ely stayed with the script for the most part, although West York's hitters did drive two balls to deep left-center field. Bobcats' center fielder Josh Writer ran both of them down in the gap.

"They hit those two bombs, but Josh is an extremely good outfielder, and he's very fast," Ely said.

The right-hander didn't allow any runs, and his final pitch of the game was a hard-hit ground ball that the Bobcats turned into a second-to-short-to first double play. First baseman Grant Myers scooped the throw to end the York-Adams Division II contest.

"Nick and Jordan did a great job of holding them," Kauffman said. "They made pitches, plus we made some plays. Nick hasn't thrown a lot this year, and in his last inning, he was behind to every hitter. He was at 75 pitches, and that's pretty close to his total pitches (for the season). That's why we decided to bring in Jordan."

Ely earned the victory when the Bobcats rallied for all of their runs in the sixth. Joe Beckhardt opened the inning by drawing a walk, and Writer followed with a single to left field on a 1-2 pitch. Beckhardt made it to third on the hit and scored on an error. Another error allowed Writer to race home, and Myers drove in the third run with a groundout.

West York put the leadoff runner on in the sixth, but Ely used a pickoff to end the inning. The Division II-leading Bulldogs loaded the bases in the seventh with one out before the Bobcats executed the game-ending double play.

Northeastern's victory came just 24 hours after it knocked off Division I leader Spring Grove.

"We started off 6-2 this season, but then we dropped three in a row. We were discouraged, but we refocused," Kauffman said. "We talked to the kids about being more focused mentally because we were concerned that the mental part was affecting our effort. We had a nice win against Spring Grove last night and a nice win tonight. Hopefully, the kids will buy into it."

West York entered Wednesday's game coming off an impressive victory over Dallastown.

"We came off a high yesterday and came up flat today," Bulldogs' coach Roger Czerwinski said. "Give credit to Northeastern. When we don't take advantage of situations, that's going to bite us in the butt."

Czerwinski said his team will have to get back to basics.

"We had two guys picked off today, and we relied on baserunning all year," he said.

The Bulldogs' broke the scoring ice when Brandon Rauhauser drew a walk, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and raced home on Joe Prego's sacrifice fly to center field.

West York pitcher Brandon Kinneman allowed only three hits and one earned run. He struck out seven and walked six.

Despite the setback, West York still leads the division with an 8-3 record. The Bulldogs are 10-3 overall.

Northeastern is now 6-5 in the division and 7-5 overall.

OTHER BASEBALL

DALLASTOWN 6, SOUTH WESTERN 1: At Hanover, Austin Calaman pitched a complete-game eight-hitter to lead the Wildcats. He struck out three and didn't walk anyone. D.J. Reed doubled for the winners. Dallastown improved to 10-3 overall and 8-3 in York-Adams Division I. South Western fell to 8-5 and 6-4.

SPRING GROVE 12, CENTRAL YORK 5: At Central, the Rockets remained in sole possession of first place in York-Adams Division I. The Rockets improved to 11-4 overall and 9-2 in the division. Trevor Troxel pitched a complete-game eight-hitter to get the win. He fanned eight and walked five. Will Maughlin (three hits, three RBIs) and Jacob Molison (three hits, two RBIs) paced the Spring Grove offense. Travis Shaffer and Roy Walker each had two hits for Central.

EASTERN YORK 5, LIT TLESTOWN 1: At Wrightsville, the Golden Knights handed Littlestown its first York-Adams Division III loss. The Thunderbolts fell to 11-2 overall and 10-1 in the division. Eastern improved to 7-6 overall and 7-4 in the division. Terry Godfrey got the complete-game win, allowing just four hits. He struck out seven, walked two and didn't allow an earned run. Eastern scored all its runs in the first inning, sparked by a three-run homer by Buck Kauffman. The Knights finished the game with just two hits off Littlestown pitcher Ryan Kehr.

YORK TECH 16, FAIR FIELD 4: At Fairfield, Abdial Narvaez had a monster game for Tech, going 4-for-4 with six RBIs and three runs scored. His hits included two homers and a double. Blake Crumbling added a 3-for-3 game for the Spartans, with three runs scored and two RBIs. Crumbling also homered. Luke Bosley and Tyler Brown added two hits apiece for the winners. Cyrus Tome got the win, allowing one earned run over five innings. He struck out eight and walked one. The game was ended after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

YORK CATHOLIC 5, HANOVER 1: At York Catholic, Patrick Clement pitched a complete-game five-hitter to lead the Fighting Irish, who were helped by four Hanover errors and five walks. Jake Krevetski had three hits and two runs scored for the winners. Jared Peterman also pitched a complete-game five-hitter for Hanover, allowing just three earned runs.

KENNARD DALE 11, NEW OXFORD 2: The visiting Rams collected 16 hits while starting pitcher Matt Belt held New Oxford to two runs on six hits in a complete-game effort. Belt struck out four and walked four. Belt also helped the Rams at the plate, going 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Austin Kibler (2-for-3, double) paced the Colonials.

BERMUDIAN SPRINGS 6, SUSQUEHANNOCK 5: At Glen Rock, Troy Sponseller's single in the top of the eighth scored the go-ahead run for the Eagles. Aaron Spahr hit a triple and picked up two RBIs for Bermudian. For the Warriors, Sam Miller went 2-for-3, including a triple.

-- Reach Dick VanOlinda at dvanolinda@yorkdis patch.com or at 505-5407.