Daniel Boone’s Berks County playoff run ends in semifinals to Wilson

READING >> The last time the Daniel Boone baseball team played at FirstEnergy Stadium, the Blazers walked off the field with a district championship trophy in 2017.

On Tuesday, Boone took the field in Reading once again, this time making their first Berks County Interscholastic Athletic Association semifinal appearance in four years against top seeded Wilson.

A dominant outing from Wilson’s Luke Holman spoiled the Blazers’ return as the Bulldogs used a 6-2 victory to advance to Wednesday’s championship, where they will face Hamburg at 6:15 p.m.

Still, the moment on Tuesday was special even for Daniel Boone seniors Matt Stevens, Chase Lacey, Tim Richard and Matt Henderson, who experienced that district title run two years ago.

“For the first time being back here, under the lights too, this was a first for me,” senior Chase Lacey said. “Everyone was excited to come. Especially since no one in the dugout throughout all their years of high school have been this far in counties. It was fun. It was a good experience.”

Holman, only a sophomore, had some dominant stuff early, hitting as high as 89 miles per hour on the stadium radar gun in the early innings along with a sharp slider in the 70s.

The Blazers trailed 3-0 when Stevens, who made two extraordinary catches in the first two innings, came up to lead off the fourth inning. Stevens doubled and later came around to score on a hit by Richard. Lacey walked and crossed home after a sac fly by Teagan Duffie, and Boone went into the bottom of the fourth trailing, 3-2.

“We put good pieces on the ball,” Lacey said. “Kids were making good plays for them defensively, but I thought we came at them well.”

“To start the game, we were taking until we got a strike,” Stevens said. “After the third inning when they realized we were taking first pitch strike, they started throwing fastballs so we switched up.”

Wilson knocked Boone starter Jeb Kurtz out of the game in the third inning. He gave up three runs in 2.1 innings pitched. Lefty Justin Peifer limited the damage before giving up a run in the fourth and two in the sixth, when Henderson relieved him.

Boone couldn’t muster any offense after the fourth as Holman used a double play to get out of the fifth unscathed and Ryan Kelly tossed two hitless innings to finish off the win for Wilson.

Holman struck out six batters and gave up two hits and two walks on Tuesday. He was also 2-for-2 with two RBI at the dish. Adam Vanino was 3-for-3 with an RBI for Wilson.

Stevens and Richard had Boone’s only two hits.

“No one’s really running out someone who throws 88 to 90 like that and spins a great breaking ball,” Stevens said. “I think it really helps us moving forward into districts.”

The Blazers’ seniors hope they have at least one more trip to FirstEnergy Stadium before their careers end. That would take another deep run through the district tournament.

They are currently ranked No. 12 in the District 3 Class 5A power rankings. However, Boone led the Berks Conference with 150 runs this season and has an offense capable of carrying it through the postseason if its pitching can hold up.

“We’ve done it before,” Lacey said. “We can do it again. When we made that run before we got taken out in the quarterfinals of counties. We made it to the semis this year. We are a lower seed as a 12, but we can be the underdogs. We can come out and expose teams.”