Hamburg falls to Bellefonte’s last-out rally, 5-4, in PIAA playoffs

SCOTLAND >> Baseball can be the cruelest of team sports.

One out away from playing for a state title, the clinching moment never arrived for Hamburg. In its place, celebration was usurped by a vacuum of stunned silence. Twenty outs were recorded by the Hawks before the whole thing came hurriedly crashing down. They never got a 21st.

Bellefonte rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Monday afternoon to beat Hamburg, 5-4, in the PIAA Class AAA baseball semifinals at Greene Township Park. The Red Raiders will play Susquehanna Twp., winners over North Pocono, for the state title at Penn State’s Lubrano Park on Thursday.

Bellefonte’s Storm Smith smoked a full-count, two-out offering from Hamburg reliever Janson Youndt into the left field corner, plating the game-tying and -winning runs. Smith barely fought off a number of tough pitches before a center-cut fastball found the fat part of his barrel. The Raiders had gotten consecutive infield hits from Tanner Helms (at third base) and Cade Fortney (in the hole), both bang-bang plays, with two gone to put the ducks on the pond.

“We went 3-2 there and he brought that fastball into my hands, it was the first inside fastball I saw all day,” Smith, a senior, said. “I fouled that one off, but I knew I was gonna see that pitch again. He came down the middle. … It wasn’t an attempt to get both runs in, it was an attempt to tie the game. I saw it go and I said ‘OK, tie game.’ I rounded first and looked over and (Fortney) was rounding third. It’s a feeling you can’t describe.”

It was a sudden end to what had been a storybook ride for Hawks, who didn’t even qualify for the Berks League playoffs as third-place finishers in a brutal Section 2. But a run to District 3 title from the 14th seed continued deep into the PIAA playoffs, before the tide turned Monday in a most vicious manner in mere moments.

“We had ’em, that was our game,” Hamburg head coach Nick Evangelista said. “They didn’t put a lot of good swings on baseballs, but they fought until the end and it went in their favor.”

Youndt relieved starter Ryan Smith for the fourth inning, making him the pitcher of record for the Hawks. The southpaw breezed through a quick fourth and fifth with his club holding a 4-1 lead, retiring six in a row. But he encountered some turbulence in the sixth. Bellefonte came to life for the first time in the ballgame, scoring a pair of runs on four base hits and one costly error to shave Hamburg’s lead to 4-3.

Evangelista came out during the rally, but stucky with his lefty instead of going to Nick Kuhn (who was playing shortstop). Youndt was still throwing strikes, however.

“Sometimes they (hits) fall, and they fell the last two innings,” Youndt said. “(I tried) to stay focused. Same mentality I’ve had. That ball hit to Corey (Evangelista) at third base, that’s a tough throw for any third baseman to make, no matter who you are. Can’t blame anybody. … Other ball was in the hole between short and third, then a double down the line six inches from being foul.”

Hamburg jumped in front 1-0 in the top of the first on Ryan Smith’s sacrifice fly to right, which scored Youndt, who had singled to lead off the game. The Hawks doubled the lead in the third off Red Raiders’ starter Kyler Mellot on Logan Adams’ RBI single to shallow right. That run also plated Youndt, who was plunked with one out.

Bellefonte got a run back in the bottom half on a delayed double steal. Logan Mathieu hit a one-out double to wall in left off Smith and moved to third on Nick Jabco’s follow-up single. The pair then pulled off the double steal — Jabco drawing the throw down to second, with Mathieu breaking for home.

But the Raiders gave it back, and more, in the top of the fourth when Hamburg scored a pair to push its lead to 4-1.

Kuhn was hit by a pitch to lead off and moved to third on a couple of free passes, to Mike Procak and Austin Schlenker. Kuhn scored on an infield error, then Procak scored when Derek Roberts hit into a 6-4 fielder’s choice the Raiders thought was a 6-4-3 double play. Mathieu, Bellefonte’s first baseman, tossed the ball toward the mound, assuming an out call to end the frame. Procak alertly scampered home with Hamburg’s fourth run when the call turned out to be “safe”.

It was a three-run edge that would hold until the Raiders began to chip away in the sixth.

The devastating end for the Hawks could not diffuse, however, the magic and the memories they generated for their program, school and the Hamburg community. It will not likely ever be forgotten.

“I feel very fortunate and blessed to have been able to coach this group,” Evangelista said. “It was great, it was fun. I told the kids that we didn’t come up short, we just lost a game today. This run has been amazing. It’s something I wish everyone could experience. I don’t want the kids to ever forget the feeling of the run, not the feeling they have right now.”

 

PIAA Class AAA semifinal

at Greene Township Park

Bellefonte 5, Hamburg 4

Hamburg – 1  0  1   2  0  0   0 — 4  4  2

Bellefonte – 0  0  1   0  0  2   2 — 5  9  3

WP: Dom Masullo  LP: Janson Youndt

2B: B, 2 (Tanner Helms, Storm Smith)