Harbor Creek pitcher Josh McAnulty proved variety is not only the spice of life, it is also the key ingredient in silencing Meadville’s potent bats.

In the opening round of the District 10 Class AAA baseball playoffs at Allegheny College’s Robertson Field, McAnulty rung up a dozen Bulldog batters and allowed just two hits. Harbor Creek advanced to the Class AAA semifinals with a 4-1 win.

“Josh did a great job,” Harbor Creek head coach Tim McQueeney said after the game. “He’s been our big-game pitcher all year. When the big game comes up, it’s Josh’s ball, and he went in and threw just great.”

“I was just trying to mix my pitches and hit my spots,” McAnulty said. “They’re all good hitters; they hit me before. So I just tried to change my pitches to keep them off balance and make them think.”

Meadville (14-6) looked to have things under control through three innings, taking a quick 1-0 lead on an RBI single from Ben Lowmaster in the first.

But in the bottom of the fourth, the flood gates opened for the Huskies (13-7).

On a close call at first base, McAnulty reached on an error.

“One inning we had two miscues and what I thought was a bad call at first. I don’t want to blame the whole game on one play, but right there we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and didn’t recover from it,” Meadville coach Joe Hruska said.

Ryan Sheridan laid down a bunt single to follow, and Scot Stephenson went with the same tactic for yet another Bulldog error.

Two outs later, Keven McQueeney took a half-swing and punched a ball into shallow right field for two RBIs and a 3-1 margin.

In the fifth, the Huskies brought one more around on a two-out shot to left field by reserve player Cameron Folga.

“We had two kids step up and get some clutch hits for us,” Tim McQueeney said. “Keven McQueeney got a two-out single with two strikes to get us the lead. Then Cameron Folga did the same thing later.

“If you can put the ball in play, something good may happen. In this case, both times, something good really did happen.”

Losing pitcher Dillon Tabar fanned eight batters, but he also allowed eight hits and fell victim to the two boots in the field.

McAnulty heated up on the hill in the second, seating three straight.