Tamaqua baseball standout Mason Ligenza brought his A-game Monday afternoon.

The University of Pittsburgh commit was nothing short of stellar on the bump in the Raiders’ 8-3 Schuylkill League victory over Lehighton.

The lanky southpaw survived a shaky opening inning before settling into a masterful performance that saw him strike out 14 batters.

“The first inning was a little rough ... I made some mistakes, but I got through it and after that I felt confident,” Ligenza said. “I was able to bear down, and my defense made plays behind me.”

While Ligenza was quick to credit his defense, in reality the Raiders didn’t have a lot to do in the field. That’s because the junior whiffing machine accounted for 14 of the 18 Lehighton outs in his six innings of work via the strikeout.

Ligenza was eventually pulled because of the 100-pitch limit. Wyatt Steigerwalt came in for mop-up duty and recorded a strike out.

“Mason threw a hell of a game, absolutely,” said veteran Tamaqua manager Jeff Reading. “I felt bad for him in the first inning, a couple of miscues and we’re down 2-0. But I think that motivated him a little bit. He reared back, and he had some good velocity and his curve was outstanding.”

Lehighton (10-4, 4-4) came into the game riding a four-game win streak, and with a District 11 playoff berth already clinched. The Tribe was trying to stay close in the Division I playoff chase where they trail both Blue Mountain and Tamaqua.

Tamaqua improved to 10-2 overall and 6-1 in the league, clinching a district spot in the process.

“This stamps us for a District 11 spot,” Reading said. “And we’re battling for a league playoff spot, too.”

After the Tribe jumped in front with two unearned runs in the first on RBI singles by Brady O’Donnell and Jake Yeakel, the Raiders flipped the script with two big rallies to seize the lead.

Tamaqua slammed out four hits in the second inning, as the bottom of the order fueled a four-run outburst. Landon Kamant, Logan Morgans, Steigerwalt and Luke Kamant all had hits, with Steigerwalt driving home a run and Luke Kamant driving in two.

Tamaqua added three more runs in its next at-bat, and once again the bottom of the order played a huge role. Lamont Kamant singled, swiped second and rode home on Yenser’s RBI single. Ligenza legged out an infield hit before Steigerwalt smoked a single to left plating both Yenser and Ligenza.

The Raiders capped off their scoring with a solo run in the fifth when Lamont Kamant singled and eventually scored on a Luke Kane hit.

“We were able to get some runs - mainly because of the way the ball bounced - but also because of some outright hustle by our kids,” Reading said.

Meanwhile, Ligenza was on center stage when the Indians were at the plate. The only batters who solved his offerings were Jake Lewis (two singles) along with Yeakel and O’Donnell (one hit each).

Ligenza pounded the zone for three strikeouts in the both second and sixth innings. His curve was nasty and sinking, and his fastball was popping.

“I felt nice and loose,” Ligenza said. “I needed to get ahead in the count, because when you fall behind that can be trouble. But when I was ahead, I was able to throw some balls outside the zone, and get them to chase some pitches.”

That effort was certainly not lost on Lehighton manager JC Dietz.

“Mason was really tough. Good fastball, good curve ball,” Dietz said. “He just shut us down. We couldn’t hit. We couldn’t get guys on base.

“When we’re successful, we’re getting guys on base, we’re stealing bases. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those games that we were able to do that.”

INTIMIDATING … Ligenza can be intimidating on the mound. It seems like he is right on top of the hitters.

QUOTABLE …”Huge win. We’re still in the hunt for the league. From here on out, every one is big. Today, we just beat a very good ball club.” said Reading.

STREAK SNAPPED … Lehighton came into this contest riding high after reeling off four straight wins. The Indians are undefeated outside of league play at 6-0 - including 5-0 against Colonial League teams, the league they will be playing in next season.

Tamaqua 430 010 0 – 8 10 2

Lehighton 200100 0 – 3 4 3

Ligenza, Steigerwalt (7) and Fronheiser; Lewis, Albert (4) and Light. W – Ligenza L – Lewis.