WHITEHALL RALLIES BUT FALLS IN FINAL TO BLUE MOUNTAIN
Late Whitehall rally cannot prevent Blue Mountain from repeating
Stymied to start the District 11 Class 5A baseball final, Whitehall battled until it chased Blue Mountain ace and Division I recruit Nate Nabholz in the seventh inning.
Another elite talent replaced him to give the Eagles a repeat championship Thursday.
Kentucky recruit Drew Grace moved from shortstop to pitcher to record the final out, inducing a popup from Owen Fischl. That left the tying runs stranded as No. 1 seed Blue Mountain held on for a 6-4 win over the second-seeded Zephyrs at CocaCola Park.
The win gave Blue Mountain (21-3 overall) its second straight District 11 5A championship and a spot in the state playoffs. Whitehall ended its season at 10-12.
Blue Mountain entered Thursday as the heavy favorite. It started Nabholz, an East Carolina commit with a fastball that reached 90 mph on the Coca-Cola Park radar gun; junior third baseman Billy Gerlott, a verbal commit to Penn State; and Grace.
That trio helped the Eagles build a 6-0 lead after four innings, but Blue Mountain found putting the Zephyrs away much harder.
“This team is scrappy,” Whitehall coach Shaun O’Boyle said. “I’m happy with the way we finished. We didn’t quit.”
A quick start
Playing in the second of three scheduled games Thursday at Coca-Cola Park, Whitehall and Blue Mountain went through a quick warmup after the District 11 2A final ended. O’Boyle thought that hurt his starting pitcher, Andrew Snyder.
The Zephyrs started Snyder, a senior, because they believed his offspeed pitches gave them their best chance to slow Blue Mountain’s lineup. Snyder allowed six hits and five runs in 2 1/3 innings.
“He didn’t have his breaking stuff that he had against Parkland,” O’Boyle said. “It took him a little bit to get it, and unfortunately they scored four quick runs.”
Two of those runs came on Nabholz’s two-out, two-run single in the second. Whitehall had a chance to escape the inning without allowing a run, but defensive indecision on a Gerlott grounder to shortstop Shane Fillman allowed the Eagles to load the bases instead of ending the frame. Nabholz then singled for a 4-0 lead.
Down by six runs after four innings, Whitehall rallied for two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh. Fillman, Adin Hoderewski and Snyder each drove in a run.
Ryan Schmidt added two hits and scored
twice for the Zephyrs. Snyder and Hoderewski are among the seniors Whitehall will lose after coming close to a District 11 championship.
“This is one of the best senior classes that I’ve had,” O’Boyle said. “Just work ethic-wise, they handed themselves with class. Each and every one, even the ones that don’t get as much playing time, they’re always the first ones to go out and warm up guys in the bullpen.
“It’s a great group of kids. We’re going to miss them.”
Let’s play 2
Coca-Cola Park will host a doubleheader Friday. Notre Dame-Green Pond starts the day with a 1:30 p.m. matchup against New Hope-Solebury in the District 11-1 3A subregional final. Emmaus and Liberty play for the District 11 6A title at 4 p.m.
District 11 officials made the quick decision to postpone the 6A final Thursday after rain began falling while Liberty and Emmaus warmed up in the Coca-Cola Park outfield. The Notre Dame-Green Pond game scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Easton High School was postponed earlier in the day.
District 11 4A runner-up Northwestern Lehigh also plays Friday, facing District 4 runner-up Danville in a PIAA 4A play-in game (1 p.m., Central Columbia High School).
Sophomore ace Carter Welch will start for Northwestern Lehigh.
Morning Call reporter Stephen Miller can be reached at 610-820-6750 or at samiller@mcall.com.