Eagles Soar Late To Claim Schuylkill League Championship

PINE GROVE – In a clash of two balanced baseball teams, it was Blue Mountain that was victorious in the Schuylkill League baseball championship on Friday over Tri-Valley at Walter Stump Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field by a score of 3-2.

Blue Mountain (19-4) came in as the second seed from Division One while Tri-Valley (17-5) was the first seed from Division One.

To start the game, both teams went 1-2-3 in the first inning. However for the Eagles, Cohen Kirby was injured near the batter’s box after he hit the ball to second base. The planned starting shortstop was not able to return for the rest of the game.

Shifting to the second inning, Blue Mountain went 1-2-3 again, but Tri-Valley got the first hit of the game with Peyton Schley hitting a single to first base, but two strikeouts followed to conclude the inning.

Going into the third inning, the Eagles started off with a single to left field on a line drive by Frankie Russo. On the next at bat, a sacrifice bunt by Josh Hoover advanced Russo to second base, then a groundout held him (Russo) there. After a groundout holding Russo at second, he stole third base and then Riley Sebastian drew a walk to put baserunners on the corners with two outs for Blue Mountain. On the next pitch, Russo scored on a wild pitch to make the score 1-0. Right after that, a fielder’s choice ended the inning.

With one out, Tri-Valley had a big response to what the Eagles did in the last half inning with a Gavin Scheib home run to right field to make the game tied at one. After a groundout, Jason Stewart hit a single, but he was out on a fielder’s choice advancing to second base to conclude the third inning.

After a strikeout and flyout for the Eagles, Sonny Amato singled on a hard grounder to Stewart at shortstop, but nothing good came after that as a flyout took the Bulldogs off the field.

With one out, Schley drew a four pitch walk. Two batters later, Marek Zettick singled to left field, but a groundout in the next at bat would wrap up the fourth inning.

Russo started off the fifth inning with a leadoff single into the outfield, but three groundouts in a row with him advancing on each of them ended the threat the Eagles had with Russo on third base. Tri-Valley could not get anything going in the bottom half of the inning with a strikeout and two flyouts.

Heading to the sixth inning, Brady Strause hit a two out double to deep center field, but a groundout followed. For the Bulldogs, Braeden Doyle had a leadoff double to center field. On a sacrifice bunt by Gavin Klock in the next at bat, Doyle moved to third and scored on the next pitch on a sacrifice fly to center field to make the score a 2-1 lead for Tri-Valley. A groundout two pitches later ended the bite the Bullgods gave the Eagles.

Going into the top of the seventh, Blue Mountain skipper Jarrod Kramer told his team that they needed to play for one run at a time and not chase at pitches outside of the strike zone.

Evan Setlock started off the inning with a double to center field and Russo followed with another hit to center field, but this one being a single. With no outs, the Eagles had a big threat with runners on the corners. Hoover hit into a fielder’s choice but Setlock scored from third base to tie the game at two. A strikeout and two intentional walks followed, loading the bases with one out.

Lucas Pritiskutch, who came in the game for Kirby earlier and had not hit in nearly two weeks, hit into a fielder’s choice with Hoover scoring the game winning run from that, now making the score 3-2 in Blue Mountain’s favor.

After the third straight strikeout in the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles players came from all different directions to the pitcher’s mound as they threw their hats and gloves in the air, jumped up and down, and huddled around each other, meaning the Eagles won a Schuylkill League title.

“I can’t be prouder of my team, the way they came through. We were behind in the top of the seventh and the bottom of the order put us in a position to win” Kramer said.

For Blue Mountain, this championship win increased their overall record to 19-4 on the season as they prepare for the District XI Class 5A tournament where they are the top seed. That means they will receive a first round bye and face either fifth seeded Pottsville (13-7) or the four seed Pocono Mountain East (14-6) on Saturday at a time and site TBD.

As for the Schuylkill League runner-up, Tri-Valley dropped to 17-5 on the season. They will play in the 2A district tournament as a one seed, receiving a first round bye. The Bulldogs will play either the fifth seed Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes (12-8) or fourth seeded Executive Education (11-8) at North Schuylkill High School on Sunday the 24th at a time TBD.

BLUE MOUNTAIN (19-4) – 0 0 1 0 0 0 2

HITTING
Riley Sebastian (0-2, 2 walks 1 K)
Aiden Finn (LF) (0-3, 1 walk)
Cohen Kirby (SS) (0-1)
Lucas Pritiskutch (SS) (0-3, 1 RBI, 1 K)
Brady Strause (2B) (1-4)
Sonny Amato (C) (1-3, 1 K)
Evan Setlock (1-3, 1 run)
Frankie Russo (3B) (1-2, 1 RBI)
Josh Hoover (CF) (1-2, 1 RBI)
Andy Blehm (DH) (0-3, 1 K)

Doubles – Strause, Setlock
Stolen Bases – Russo, Hoover

PITCHING
Setlock (7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 8 K’s)

FIELDING
Errors – N/A

TRI-VALLEY (17-5) – 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

HITTING
Owen Miller (CF) (0-3)
Jason Stewart (SS) (1-3, 1 K)
Braeden Doyle (P) (1-3, 1 run)
Gavin Klock (2B) (0-2, 1 K)
Peyton Schley (1B) (1-1, 1 RBI, 1 walk)
Jaxon Bruso (0-3, 1 K)
Marek Zettick (DH) (1-3, 2 K)
Riley Kaslavage (3B) (0-3, 1 K)
Gavin Scheib (RF) (1-3, 1 run, 1 RBI, 2 K’s)

Doubles – Doyle
Home Run – Scheib
Sacrifice Fly – Schley

PITCHING
Doyle (7.0 IP, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 4 K’s)

FIELDING
Errors – Stewart