Berks falls late to Lehigh Valley in Carpenter Cup quarterfinal

PHILADELPHIA >> The Lehigh Valley and Berks County teams met in Saturday’s Carpenter Cup Classic quarterfinal with a reminder of what they were playing for just across Broad Street.

A win would allow the chance to play in the semifinals at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. A loss would end the team’s Carpenter Cup run.

The Berks County team was just three outs away from a trip to the semifinals and the chance to play at CBP. Lehigh Valley had other ideas, rallying for two runs in the ninth inning to eliminate Berks from the tournament with a 3-2 victory.

“It was a great experience. This was my first time,” Daniel Boone’s Jeb Kurtz said. “ You really want to get to Citizens Bank because it’s a great opportunity to play there. It’s fun competing against the other teams because they’re top teams, and you can see what you can do against them.”

The Berks County pitching staff allowed just one unearned run through the first 17 innings of the Carpenter Cup entering the top of the ninth Saturday. Brandywine Heights’ Chase Renner, who worked a scoreless inning in the team’s opening round win over Delco, came into the game in the top of the ninth to close out the victory with Berks holding a 2-1 lead.

Stroudsburg’s Braden Breithaupt lined a single off the glove of a leaping defender to start the inning. Northwestern’s Nicholas Henry’s seeing-eye hit through the right side scored him with one out. Henry later scored on a sac fly by Pocono Mountain East’s Ben Stokes to send Lehigh Valley into the bottom of the ninth with a 3-2 advantage.

Kurtz started a rally in the bottom of the ninth by wheeling out an infield single. Berks Catholic’s Brendan Long roped a double down the line to put runners on second and third with one out. Pleasant Valley’s Daniel McEvoy struck out the next two batters to finish off the Lehigh Valley win.

“Top to bottom, we thought all our pitchers threw great games,” Boone coach Jason McCord said. “They scored those two runs in the top of the ninth on a pair of seeing-eye singles. Maybe a play should have been made here or there. They scratched a couple across. They just found the gaps that we couldn’t.”

Berks started the game’s scoring when Wilson’s Damaurys Rodriguez knocked home Boone’s Matt Stevens with an RBI triple in the first inning. Rodriguez came home on a sac fly by teammate Randy Carlo to put Berks up 2-0 after the bottom of the first.

Manheim Central’s Colton Book allowed just one hit in three scoreless innings. Kutztown’s Trevor Leverington, who worked two innings, gave up the first Lehigh Valley run (unearned) in the top of the fourth. Twin Valley’s Trevor Laraia pitched a scoreless sixth inning before getting into trouble in the top of the seventh.

Boone lefty Teagan Duffie came in with no outs and runners on first and second. Duffie forced a fielder’s choice and walked a batter before using an infield pop-up and groundball to second to get out of the inning unscathed.

“It was a tough situation, but when you’re in a game like Carpenter Cup, you know you have elite defenders behind you,” Duffie said. “It sort of takes a lot of the pressure off. You know you can just throw strikes and people will make plays behind you.”

After picking up two hits in the first inning, Berks had just one hit, a single by Governor Mifflin’s Kolbie Reeser for the next six innings. Warwick’s Brendon Martin and Boone’s Mike Gregos worked one-out hits for Boone in the bottom of the eighth, but a double play ended the threat.

After LV starter Evan Zwolenik (Northhampton) gave up two runs in the first, he combined with Eric Gustofson (Easton), Carter Welch (Northwestern) and McEvoy to hold Berks scoreless the rest of the game.

Berks combined for 10 hits in two games. Stevens (2-for-3) had two of them to go along with a run scored and two RBI. He was the only player with multiple hits and only player to record a hit in both games.

“I hope schools had a chance to see him because that’s a guy who can definitely play at that next level,” McCord said.

Duffie was part of the Berks team that lost 12-3 to the Inter-Ac squad in the opening round last season. This year’s squad got one step closer to reaching CBP.

Though his team fell a game short, playing with and against some of the tri-state area’s top players alongside teammates Stevens, Kurtz, Gregos and Tanner Vanderslice was a rewarding experience once again.

“It’s elite competition,” Duffie said. “At the end of the day, you’re tested every single pitch, and it’s just fun to compete against the best guys around.”