Daniel Boone bats go quiet as Palmyra ends Blazers’ season in District 3-5A first round

PALMYRA >> Returning to the District 3 baseball playoffs after a one-year respite, Daniel Boone hoped that an attack that plated 153 runs during the season would contain enough fire to power the Blazers past host Palmyra and into the second round of the rugged 5A bracket.

A bright start Tuesday afternoon gave hopeful credence, but it could not be sustained and the season came to an end.

The host Cougars spotted the Blazers a pair of first-inning runs, then rallied for three in the second and one in the fourth to lift Palmyra to a 4-2 win in the first round of the D-3 5A playoffs. The game was postponed by a day due to poor field conditions on Monday, following heavy rains Sunday night.

Daniel Boone’s season ends at 12-9. Palmyra (17-4) advances to play at Cedar Cliff in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Jake Roe’s two-run double to the gap in deep right center field plated a pair of runs off Boone starter Teagan Duffie in the bottom of the second inning to hand Palmyra a 3-2 lead, an edge that would not be headed.

“In the first inning we did exactly what we practiced, exactly what we prepared for,” Boone head coach Jason McCord said. “We were driving the ball the other way a little bit. We just lost our approach, lost our focus. We started rolling over on ground balls, trying to do too much with (the pitch). … We just didn’t execute.”

Boone’s 153 runs led the Berks League circuit this spring and the Blazers came out of the chute at Palmyra looking like it. They parlayed a hit batsman and a walk in the top of the first into a pair of opportunistic runs against Cougars starter Braden Drescher, the capper a two-run double to right field off the bat of Tim Richard.

Despite the shaky start to his afternoon, Drescher settled in after that. Boone’s biggest threat the rest of the way was back-to-back one-out singles in the top of the fourth — but the Blazers ran into an out at third base on the second single when Jake Wagner uncorked a seed from left field to the nail Duffie, the lead runner, at third base for the second out.

“We scored over 150 runs this year and this was a guy (Drescher), we felt confident we should be able to go out and execute against,” McCord said. “Rolling over ground balls, out in front on fly balls. It’s disheartening to go out like that.”

A pair of walks to open Palmyra’s at-bat in the second opened the door for the Cougars. Wagner chased a run home on a an infield hit comebacker that clipped off the top of Duffie’s glove, before Roe chased home the tying and lead runs with his blast to a deep part of the yard.

“I was just looking for a fastball on the outside part of the plate,” Roe, a righty, said. “I’m a right-center approach, all the time. Coach (Neil Weber) always tells me to think outside, adjust inside. It was good pitch that I was able to throw my hands out at and barrel it up.”

Walks have hurt Boone throughout the season.

“They had that big three-run inning that started with those two walks, and walks have been an Achilles’ heel for our pitching staff this year,” McCord said. “You give ‘em two free baserunners and next thing you know, they score.

That’s kind of the difference in the game right there, those two runs that scored, were baserunners that we gave up.”

The Cougars chased Duffie in the bottom of the fourth with three consecutive base hits, the third of which was an RBI by Wagner to right field to make it 4-2. Duffie was relieved by fellow southpaw Justin Peifer.

Peifer held Palmyra to one hit the rest of the way but his effort fell short, as the Blazers were unable to generate much off Drescher and Brian Coburn, who closed it out in the seventh for the save.

“This a group that we’ve worked really hard with and we rebounded after a letdown season last year,” McCord said. “Got to say good bye to these guys, especially some seniors who put together incredible seasons, is really, really tough.

“It’s always hard to say good bye to the season. But this group, with the way they committed to try to put the program back on track, it’s hard to say good bye.”