Hamburg reaches PIAA Class AAA semifinals with extra-inning win
SCOTLAND >> This crazy ride the Hamburg Hawks have embarked upon is dangerously close to dancing with destiny. Maybe it’s already underway and the ride is the fabric.
In any case, Hamburg — which had never appeared in a District 3 final nor had ever qualified for the PIAA playoffs before this season — moved to within two stakes of the Impossible Dream Thursday afternoon at Greene Township Park with a 4-3, 9-inning win over Punxsutawney in a state AAA quarterfinal clash.
Austin Schlenker drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to send Hamburg (18-8) into a semifinal match with Bellefonte on Monday at a site and time to be determined. Bellefonte beat Erie Cathedral Prep 1-0 in its quarterfinal contest to advance.
Nick Evangelista’s crew coolly walked off a Punxsy squad like they had five previous postseason opponents.
The team doesn’t shake under pressure. They answer fire with fire. They shake off errors and blown saves and go back to work, full of confidence. And, so far anyway, they are perfect in the postseason. Six down, two to go.
“These kids are so mentally tough it’s almost unspeakable,” Evangelista said “We have some baseball talent, yeah, but it’s in here, in our hearts, and in our minds. I couldn’t be prouder of a group of kids.”
Schlenker’s walk-off walk from the bottom of the order serves as testament to that mindset. He fouled off several tough pitches from Punxsy reliever Brandon Matthews before ball four sailed high and tight to send Hamburg flying into the state semis.
“I thought it was pretty cool that I got up,” Schlenker said, typifying the loose attitude the Hawks have displayed ever since a nine-inning upset of Susquehanna Twp. three weeks ago in the first round of districts kicked off this improbable journey. “(Matthews) was throwing pretty hard. He was just as worked up as I was. He had a couple of extra miles per hour on his pitches.
“To be honest, I didn’t even see (the full-count pitch). I just saw it off the top of my eye how high it was.”
The game-winning free pass was set up by Ryan Smith’s leadoff double, his second two-bagger of the day. Nick Kuhn was intentionally walked, then Mike Procek lined out to short — but an errant snap throw attempting to catch Kuhn at first base was wild. Courtesy runner Reece Adam and Kuhn moved up to third and second base, respectively. Punxsy offered up a second intentional pass, this one to Hunter Epting, to load the bases.
That set up the force at any base — but also ratcheted up the pressure on Matthews from the mound.
Smith’s pawprints were all over this game. He relieved starter Nick Kuhn for the sixth inning, in charge of a 3-2 lead. But Punxsy tied it up in its final at-bat to force extra innings.
John Matthews led off Punxsy’s seventh with a booming triple to left center field, then was driven home three batters later by Dylan Huey on a saw-off dink shot to right to knot the game at 3.
It could have been worse. Before Huey’s hit, Smith had plunked Joey DiPietro with one out. So Smith faced runners on first and second — but danced out of it by forcing Peyton Graham to pop out and Lucas Ambler to fly out to center.
“First off, he put a really good swing on that ball,” Smith said of Matthews. “A lot of credit there.
“But executing pitches, especially off-speed pitches with them. It seems they struggled with off-speed stuff and his hit was on fastball. so we stuck with the off-speed stuff after that and it seemed to work out OK.”
Smith faced a second jam, in the top of the eight, loading the base with two outs. But he got DiPietro to pop out to third base to wiggle out of that jam.
Hamburg’s resolve was evident in the middle innings, when the Hawks coughed up an early 1-0 lead (on a Hunter Epting RBI single) in Punxsy’s fourth. The Chucks scored two runs off Kuhn to grab a 2-1 lead, the big blow coming from Lucas Ambler’s two-run double to the gap in right field.
The Hawks responded immediately, with two in their half to regain the lead at 3-2. Smith smoked an RBI double to left to plate Corey Evangelista, who had walked with one out and moved to second on Logan Adams’ single. Adam was then brought around on Kuhn’s bloop single to right.
“We were able to refocus, yet again, one more time” Nick Evangelista said. ” I can’t say enough about these kids and their mindset and their mental approach.
“Down to four teams. State semifinals. … It’s a great group of young men to be with every day and to see them grow and mature.”
PIAA Class AAA quarterfinal
at Greene Twp. Park, Scotland
Hamburg 4, Punxsutawney 3 (9 inn.)
Punxsy – 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 — 3 7 1
Hamburg – 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 — 4 10 4
WP: Ryan Smith LP: Brandon Matthews
2B: H, 2 (Smith 2): P, 1 (Lucas Ambler)
3B: P, 1 (John Matthews)
