Boyertown advances to title round, eliminates Daniel Boone
WESTLAWN>> When you’ve won a state high school baseball championship about a month ago, the pressure isn’t so suffocating when you’re facing elimination in the Berks County League American Legion playoffs.
Members of the Boyertown state title team playing for their top-seeded American Legion club were looking down the barrel of an earlier-than-expected exit in the Berks playoffs Sunday afternoon against Daniel Boone in the losers bracket. But after Boyertown catcher Ryan Weller gunned down a runner at third in the top of the ninth, the Bears could breathe a bit easier.
Then they let their clutch-playing, state tourney pedigree carry them.
After Weller – the catcher on the Bears’ state champs – helped preserve a 3-3 tie with his arm, Mike Raineri, a middle infielder on the PIAA Class 4A winner, came through with the gamewinning hit in the bottom of the ninth. Raineri’s single to right scored pinch runner Gavin Mourar, and Boyertown’s 4-3 walkoff win at Owls Field/Ted Palka Park propelled the Bears into the championship round.
They will face Norchester, which beat Boyertown Saturday night, at 7 p.m. tonight at Owls Field. Norchester is the lone unbeaten in the Berks playoffs, meaning that to win the title,
Boyertown will have to beat the Bulldogs twice. If Boyertown wins Monday, the teams would meet again for the championship Tuesday.
Weller said the state tourney-winning experience didn’t hurt, but still there was pressure.
“I was getting nervous toward the end,” Weller said. “We kept on playing and doing the little things, and it worked out.
“During the ( Legion) league season it was a little laid back for the guys on the high school team, because we went from playing in the state tournament to playing the Legion season. Our goal is always to go as far as we can. As we did a little more and got the top seed, the pressure started to come back on a little bit, and the pressure is on now.”
As host site of the American Legion state tournament, Boyertown is automatically in that dance, and the Bears would prefer to come in with momentum and a Legion league title – an expected extra to the
state crown.
“It helps a lot,” Raineri (two hits, two RBIs) said of the school state championship experience, “but the pressure is still there, it still catches up on you. But the thing about us is, we’re not individual players, we’re a team playing as a team – 18 players who do their jobs every day.”
Both teams got solid, lengthy starting pitching from Trevor Waldman (Boyertown) and Christian Dekker (Daniel Boone). Hits were hard to come by early.
Boyertown got them when they really needed them – three in the ninth.
Daniel Boone coach Mike Barbera was disappointed about some mental mistakes – “those hurt us all season,” he said – but was buoyed by Dekker’s showing and with thoughts of the future.
“We have a deep pitching staff and everybody picked it up,” Barbera said. “Christian was amazing all season. We’re not losing too much for next year, and a lot of our staff is coming
back.”
Entering the tournament as the No. 6 seed, the Orioles topped Exeter, 3-0 in the opening round before dropping a 4-1 decision to Norchester Thursday. On Saturday, Boone eliminated host West Lawn, 2-1.
Dekker was dominant in defeating the No. 3 seed Blue Jays last Wednesday. He threw a complete-game three-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts. Zach Brightbill and Steve Williams were each 2-for-4 with an RBI.
In the defeat to Norches- ter, the Orioles had 11 hits but could never get the timely hit they needed off starter Corey Hennessey. Bryant Schwoyer and Brightbill had three-hit games and Bryce Stout had a pair of hits. Schwoyer took the loss allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits in six innings. Jordan Goodrich pitched two clean innings.
The O’s kept their tournament alive on Saturday thanks to Bologa’s superb start. He gave up four hits and a run over 7 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts before Goodrich pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for the save. Dekker was a three-hit star.
Through the first three innings on Sunday, lefty Waldman allowed just A.J. Carr’s bloop single, while Dekker, likewise, yielded just one hit in that span. Waldman minimized damage in the fourth. After the Orioles tied it on Bryce Stout’s one-out triple, Waldman notched a strikeout and Boyertown shortstop Quinn Mason snatched a sizzling high-hop off the bat of Zach Brightbill.
Boyertown nudged ahead in the bottom half of the fifth. Nick DiCiacco singled and made it 2-1 Bears when ball four to Quinn Mason skittered wide of the plate.
A passed ball helped Daniel Boone tie it at 2 in the sixth; leadoff man Sean Bologa singled and scored after the Orioles small-- balled him around the bases. The Bears regained the lead 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, with DiCiacco’s singling and Raineri doubling him in.
Back came Daniel Boone in the top of the eighth. Going against righthander Grant Fronheiser, who relieved Waldman with two out in the seventh, the Orioles tied it again. Bologna singled leading off, and with two outs, Bryant Schwoyer’s smoking, sinking liner to left tied it 3-3.
The Orioles were looking seriously at taking the lead in the ninth. An error and a Dekker single gave Daniel Boone runners on second and third with one out, but catcher Weller threw out Brady Hayes at third, with Tyler Kreitz applying the tag.
“For some reason they were taking pretty big leads at third,” Weller said. “I told (third baseman Tyler) Kreitz, any chance we get, we’re going to get them.”
In the bottom of the ninth, facing Daniel Boone reliever Brightbill, who had gotten them out in order in the eighth, the Bears delivered. Yerger and J.T. Cooley singled, an intentional walk was issued to DiCiacco, and the stage was set for Raineri.
“It feels good. We knew we could be here,” Raineri said. “We had a long school season into June but guys have kept working their tails off.”