COCHRANTON — David Manning’s two-run single in the sixth broke a 5-5 tie and the Youngsville Eagles improved to 12-2 on the season Thursday, outlasting Cochranton 8-5 at Cochranton High School.

With the win, the Eagles complete a 3-0 week and sit in second place in the Region 3 standings just one game behind region-leading Saegertown in the loss column. The Eagles and Panthers are scheduled to meet in Saegertown on Wednesday.

“It’s been a long two weeks, playing six of our last seven on the road,” said Youngsville coach Eddie Dorunda. “We just didn’t help our pitcher much tonight and made the score a lot closer than it needed to be. Going into next week, we need to focus on cutting down our swings and just putting the ball into play. We can’t strike out 10 times and leave 12 men on base against a team like that and let them hang with us.”

The Cardinals were the first to score on Thursday, needing just two batters to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Walker Carroll led off the game with a double off of Youngsville starter Nathan Lucks and Blake Foulk followed with an RBI single to get the hosts on the board.

The one-run lead held until the third inning when the Eagles were able to break through with a four-run frame. Youngsville loaded the bases without a hit, leading to two runs scored by Talon Mesel and James Johnson.

Later in the inning, third baseman Braydon Baker came through in the clutch with a two-out, two-run single to score Wyatt Dalrymple and Manning and give the Eagles a 4-1 lead.

The Cardinals scratched and clawed their way out of the three-run hole in the bottom of the third, scoring runs on an error, passed ball and an RBI groundout from Brayden Burnette to tie things at 4-4.

Both teams traded runs in the fourth to keep things knotted up. In the top half, Lucks tripled and scored on Manning’s RBI groundout. Cochranton responded with a run on a two-out passed ball to make it 5-5.

After both teams went scoreless in the fifth, James Johnson and Lucks led off the Youngsville sixth with singles and both runners moved up after a passed ball. Manning then came through in the clutch, delivering the two-run single that put the Eagles ahead for good.

Matt DeSimone doubled and later scored on James Johnson’s sacrifice fly to give Youngsville an insurance run in the top of the seventh before Cochranton came back to the plate three outs away from defeat.

Lucks got a strikeout for the first out before reaching his pitch limit and being pulled for Dalrymple. Dalrymple entered and got Carroll to line out to DeSimone in center and Foulk to pop out to shortstop James Johnson to end the game.

Lucks had another huge night at the plate with a 3-for-3 performance and coming up just a homer shy of the cycle. Manning had a team-best three RBIs and DeSimone and Baker had multi-hit games for the Eagles.

Lucks got the win, pitching 6.1 innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits while striking out nine.

Youngsville returns to the diamond on Monday when they host Rocky Grove at Davis Street Field.

“We’re giving them the weekend off to heal up and rest their arms to get ready for a couple of important games starting with Rocky Grove on Monday before Saegertown on Wednesday. I’m confident we’ll be ready to go.”

YOUNGSVILLE (8): Matt DeSimone, cf, 5-1-2-0, Talon Mesel, lf, 4-1-0-0, James Johnson, ss, 3-2-1-1, Nathan Lucks, p-c, 3-2-3-0, David Manning, 1b, 5-1-1-3, Wyatt Dalrymple, 2b-p, 2-1-1-0, Cole Johnson, c-2b, 4-0-1-0, Lane Buccardo, rf, 3-0-0-0, Braydon Baker, 3b, 3-0-2-2, Totals: 32-8-11-6

COCHRANTON (5): Carroll, ss, 2-2-2-0, Foulk, c, 3-1-1-1, Field, lf, 3-0-0-0, Burnette, 3b-2b, 3-0-0-1, Mattocks, 2b-p, 2-0-0-0, Long, 1b, 3-0-0-0, Deeter, dh, 3-0-0-0, Goodge, rf, 0-0-0-0, Albert, p-3b, 3-0-0-0, Hoban, cf, 1-2-1-0, Totals: 23-5-4-2

Youngsville 004 102 1 – 8 11 1

Cochranton 103 100 0 – 5 4 1

2b- Matt DeSimone (Y), Nathan Lucks (Y), Carroll (C). 3b- Lucks (Y). WP- Lucks. LP- Mattocks. Save- Wyatt Dalrymple.