Gov. Mifflin, Exeter advance to Berks championship game

READING >> By now, he completely knows and understands his role with his team.

So when Governor Mifflin’s Hunter Reeser stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning, the senior knew it was time to deliver.

“We wanted to get momentum on our side early on,” he said. “We knew if we could get something started early, we could be tough to overcome.”

With his bases-clearing double sparking the team’s six-run second inning, Reeser and Mifflin blew past Twin Valley, 10-2 on Monday night at the Reading Fightin Phils’ FirstEnergy Stadium.

With the win, Gov. Mifflin will go up against Exeter — 8-2 winners over Berks Catholic in the earlier semifinal — for the Berks Conference championship on Wednesday. The Mustangs will be in search of their 13th conference title (second in a row) while Exeter is seeking its first.

“It’s a special feeling to be going back to the county championship,” said Reeser, who has been a three-year starter with Mifflin. “Coming into the season, everyone was counting us out — saying we lost too many seniors and don’t have enough upperclassmen. We came into this and said ‘Let’s make something happen.’”

And they did.

Photo Gallery: Exeter vs. Berks Catholic, click here

Photo Gallery: Governor Mifflin vs. Twin Valley, click here

Reeser set the tone right from the start.

The shortstop finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs and a run scored, accounting for five of his team’s first six runs. Designated hitter Austin Baker was 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored and a RBI while Noah Angstadt ripped a triple and scored a run in the second inning.

Gov. Mifflin head coach Christian Hole says his team heard the critics early on in the season. Rather than focus on the six starting seniors they lost from last season, though, his team focused on who was coming back.

“Every year it’s a different group of kids, and you want to see them experience a championship game,” he said. “Thankfully they put themselves in position to compete again. Corbin (Dunnuck) pitched really well and we hit the ball all over the place.

“It means a lot for our program, but more importantly it means a lot for our senior class to get back. It defines the work that they’ve all done to get here.”

On the mound, Corbin Dunnuck was effective into the fifth inning, scattering four hits and three walks before leaving with the bases loaded in the fifth. John Davis came on for the final two frames, yielding just one hit to shut the door on the Raiders.

Dunnuck didn’t play any games or pull any tricks on the mound. With his fastball lingering in the low-to-mid 80s throughout, the junior stuck with what was working.

“The fastball was doing pretty good for me,” he said. “I threw it on 100 percent of my pitches. I don’t really have anything off-speed, so for me it’s all about painting the corners.”

Twin Valley head coach Chad Walters says his team took a bad approach at the plate.

“All season, we’ve been a team that takes a lot of pitches and makes the pitcher work,” he said. “We were almost too aggressive. We were way out in front, popping a lot of pitches up and struggling to make solid contact.

“But hey, we’ve gotta give him (Dunnuck) credit. He battled. He peppered the strike zone and made us do all the work.”

Shortstop AJ Alexy (1-for-3) knocked in both of Twin Valley’s runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with the bases loaded. Mitch Carsley and Dom Kennedy finished with a hit and a run scored.

Aside from trailing by a run right out of the gates, Twin Valley was presented with an even bigger challenge just six batters into the game.

First baseman Colby Hiddemen collided with the fence along the first-base line while trying to retrieve a foul ball and was eventually forced to leave the game.

“That deflated us a little bit,” said Walters of losing their three-hole hitter. “That’s not an excuse. They get that early run and then Colby goes down — it wasn’t the start we were looking for. We had to rush some guys around and shake some things up.”

Though they won’t have a chance to compete for the Berks County title, Walters and his team plan to embrace the down-time as they gear up for the District 3 playoffs.

“These guys are pretty resilient,” he said, “this will go past them. Now we’ve gotta take the next couple of days, regroup and get ready for districts. We’ve still got more baseball to play.”

* * *

Having made it to the Berks County semifinals last season where they lost 2-1 to Gov. Mifflin, Exeter head coach Justin Freese says this season has been all about taking the next step for the Eagles.

“They’ve used last season as motivation to get back here,” he said. “Now that we’re here, we want to win it.”

Berks Catholic scored a pair of runs in the first inning. Exeter starting pitcher Jake Fry limited the damage, stranding the bases loaded.

Chris Smith took the win on the mound, limiting the Saints to just three hits across 5-2/3 relief innings.

On Monday, the Eagles took a huge step. After trailing Berks Catholic 2-0 in the first inning, Exeter crossed a run in the first, added four more in the third and three more in the fourth to claim it.

Fry (double) and Joe Fylypowycz each posted two hits apiece while Smith finished with two RBIs and two runs scored.

“We’ve played in a lot of close games this season,” said Freese. “We knew that if we could get out of that first inning without too much damage, we could take over the game.”