Governor Mifflin stuns Cedar Crest, 9-0, in District 3 6A quarterfinal

SOUTH LEBANON — Just get in. Anything can happen.

Governor Mifflin did and the Mustangs are maximizing that old axiom.

Mifflin went on the road Thursday afternoon and trounced Cedar Crest 9-0 in a District 3 6A baseball quarterfinal contest, eliminating the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s Section 1 champion and the bracket’s second-seeded team in somewhat unexpected fashion.

The Mustangs plated six runs in the top of the fifth inning to extend a one-run edge to 6-0, then added three more in the seventh for verification purposes.

Mifflin emerged as the No. 7 seed in 6A when the district power rankings were released, coming off a solid but certainly unspectacular, by their standard, regular season — a 12-10 overall mark and a third-place finish in the Berks League’s Section 1 race.

A Monday survival of Hempfield by a 5-4 count in the opening round sent Chris Hole’s gang to South Lebanon to face the Falcons, who received one of five first-round byes in the 10-team bracket.

Now, Mifflin finds itself in the semifinals, one victory from securing a PIAA berth and two from a district title after dusting the best L-L had to offer.

 “We knew they were an exceptional team coming into this game,” Hole, Mifflin’s veteran skipper, said. “We had that one big inning that broke things open and we started having much better approaches at the plate. Earlier in the game, we weren’t hunting that fastball. We were popping balls up.

“I just told them to not be satisfied. We have a lot of potential. We have pitchers who throw strikes and we play solid defense. When pitching and defense carries you it relaxes your hitters at the plate.”

Mifflin subdued one of the better hitting teams in the region through the mound effort of Tristan Kochel. Kochel was not overpowering — he did not strike out a single batter Thursday — but what he did do was throw strikes, pitch to contact and let his defense handle the details. He surrendered just four hits and of those, only one — a sixth-inning double — went for extra bases.

“Cedar Crest has some exceptional bats, but that’s what he does,” Hole said of Kochel, who hurled a 90-pitch complete game. “For the most part, he keeps the ball down and he has a couple of pitches (fastball, changeup) he can throw for strikes to both sides of the plate. Keeps hitters off-balance.”

Kochel:  “I was throwing strikes and I had a lot of trust in my defense. They made good plays (behind me). Those five runs were a big stress reliever.”

The Mustangs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, when Justin Del Vecchio’s base hit to center field scored Trevor Woolwine, who had walked to open the frame and moved to second base on a wild pitch.

But it was the next inning that put Mifflin firmly in command. The Mustangs sent nine batters to the plate and pushed across five runs on four hits, chasing Crest starter Chad Ryland from the game. The underdogs loaded the bases twice, with Joe Adametz delivering the big blow — a two-run single in the right centerfield gap that plated two runs and extended the lead to 5-0.

Prior to Adametz’s hit, a bases-loaded popout from Woolwine was subject to a rarely-seen rule: Crest first baseman Joseph Carpenter stepped out of the field of play with both feet while making the catch. Although the putout stuck, all baserunners advanced, giving Mifflin a 2-0 lead. A wild pitch two batters later made it a 3-0 game. Kochel helped himself, post-Adametz, with an RBI single to push the lead to six.

Three doubles and a single with no outs in the seventh against Crest relief pitching ballooned the final margin.

Hole accepts — heck, he might prefer — the role of underdog as the district playoffs progress.

“I think what we’ve been able to do the last few years, outside of our league specifically and in districts, has built a lot of confidence with these boys,” he said. “When we get to this point in the season we believe that we can be successful.

“That confidence and that experience matters. It’s one of those intangibles you just can’t coach. The kids have it and we were able to capitalize on it today.”

District 3 6A quarterfinal

Governor Mifflin 9, Cedar Crest 0

GM – 0  0  0   1  5  0   3 — 9   11  1 

CC-  0  0  0   0  0  0   0 — 0  4  0

WP: Tristan Kochel  LP: Chad Ryland

GM, Kochel and Del Vecchio; CC, Ryland (Dan Mancill 5th) and Kyle Poorman

2B: GM, Trevor Woolwine, Isaac Ruoss, Justin Del Vecchio; CC, Joseph Carpenter