Ben Mostosky’s fist pump told the story.

By the time Mostosky came off the mound, his teammates had already joined in the celebration.

Mostosky finished off a key 5-3 NORCO Legion win for the Birches over East Stroudsburg with a big strikeout on Friday night to cap a complete game effort.

It was a victory the squad needed, and one that helped it emphatically stake its claim as one of the top teams in the North Division.

“It means a lot to take back, or to take, first place in general,” said Mostosky. “And hopefully this draws a lot of momentum for us and we can just keep it riding.”

Mostosky was dealing early for the Birches (6-2), recording five swinging strikeouts through the first three innings. He got early run support when Nate Loch laced a leadoff triple to right field, and came around to score on a Ryan Kymer groundout to make it 1-0.

East Stroudsburg (6-3) pulled the run back in the top of the fourth inning when Thomas Mathiesen dropped a single into left field to score Ross Huffman, who smoked a one-out single, to even the score at 1-1.

Huffman was also stout through four innings on the mound for East Stroudsburg, surrendering three hits, while striking out six.

But Birches rallied in the bottom of the fifth inning with Huffman out of the game.

It started when Austin Ratti walked and Blake Walters was hit by a pitch with two outs.

Loch cashed in, sending a deep drive to left field with two strikes. The ball was misplayed, with Ratti scoring and the throw home getting away, allowing both Walters and Loch to cross the play to push Birches ahead 4-1.

“He’s been in a slump for quite a while, and he came up and he broke out,” said Birches mentor Butch Foust. “He hit that ball to start us off and get the first run, and he hit the deep ball then with two outs and two strikes. Anything can happen there, and he hit it deep and he put it in play. He didn’t strikeout.”

The surge continued as Kymer followed with a single and stole second base before Andrew Meitzler delivered a hit and another error allowed Kymer to race home and make it 5-1.

Birches played an aggressive game on the bases, something that suits the team’s style. Jack Smale doubled and stole a base in the fourth, while Shane Knappenberger stole a bag after a single in the fifth.

“We don’t have the biggest kids; we have a lot of small kids,” joked Foust. “But for the small kids, they can run. I always said they run like deer. They hustle. They’re looking to steal bases, and when you steal a base or two, that means a lot.”

East Stroudsburg made it 5-2 in the sixth when Christian Maccarrone’s RBI single scored Liam Huffman.

After a Pietro Maccarrone RBI single cut the deficit to 5-3 in the top of the seventh inning, Mostosky punctuated his outing with a swinging strikeout - his 10th overall - to finish the game.

“It feels good to always throw seven innings,” said Mostosky. “It just feels amazing. I know our team needed it. It’s a big win. We definitely needed it and it saves pitching for the next games.”

SOLID WORK

... Mostosky finished the outing with outing with 92 pitches, “For me, it was to start with the fastball, and then I would say go in with curveball,” Mostosky said of his approach. “And then if they bit, I would probably go back to the fastball, and if that doesn’t work, then I’m going back with the curveball, and that’s kind of what happened in that last at-bat.”

BIG WINS

... Birches has now beaten East Stroudsburg twice this season, something Foust knows could be big down the stretch. “So the tiebreaker would go to us if we end up tied,” he said. “They’re a pretty good team, but we know we’re a pretty good team. We were slumping a little bit with the bats, but when we have to put it in play, and when we get to the big games we usually respond well.”

NO BREAKS

... Birches will play five straight days next week starting on Monday.

East Stroudsburg 000 101 1 - 3 5 4

Birches 100 040 x - 5 7 0

R. Huffman, Durand (5), Henriquez (6) and L. Huffman, Melchiori (4); B. Mostosky and Meitzler. W - B. Mostosky. L - Durand.