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By Steve Bennett
sbennett@citizensvoice.com
CENTER VALLEY — By the time Hazleton Area picked up its first hit of the game Monday afternoon, the Cougars found themselves in a four-run hole that at times appeared as if they were never going to be able to dig out of.
But when Jonas Aponick lined a sharp single to right off La Salle College reliever Chris Cavalcante, the Cougars had some life. So much so that the four-run deficit dwindled to just one.
But the Explorers found a way to answer right back, and eventually wore down the Cougars with a 10-4 win at Weiland Park on the Campus of DeSales University.
La Salle (24-3) will advance to Thursday’s Class 6A state championship game. Hazleton Area ends its season at 20-5.
“Obviously it was not our day,” Hazleton Area coach Russ Canzler said. “I’m proud of the way the guys battled back. They were down, 4-0, real quick. To have the opportunity to tie it or take the lead, that’s great. I’m proud of the way they battled the whole game.”
La Salle came in off a 1-0, 15-inning marathon victory over Downingtown East on Friday in the state quarterfinals. The Explorers had just one pitcher not available against Hazleton Area. The Explorers started left-hander Logan Potter who kept the Cougars off-balance with a sharp breaking ball, which made his fastball look a few ticks harder than it is.
“Logan doesn’t get squared up,” La Salle coach Kyle Werman said. “He is deceptive. I think they went in with a plan against a traditional soft-tossing lefty. They were getting beat by his fastball.”
The Explorers sent 10 batters to the plate in the second inning. Liam Hawley and Andrew Bogansky each had a two-run single to give the Explorers the quick lead and chase starter Aponick.
Hazleton Area scored three runs in the top of the fourth, one coming on a balk and the other two on RBI singles from Aponick and Logan Hearity.
La Salle responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Aimon Chandler and David Vozzo each brought a run home on a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch scored another to make it 7-3.
“We talked to the guys after they scored the three runs,” Werman said. “When you face adversity, it’s how you respond. We were able to grind out at-bats and get the three back. It’s what championship teams do. They responded and got out of the adversity. These guys are resilient, they have been battle-tested.”
The Cougars finished the game with five hits, but could not take advantage of seven walks issued by La Salle. Cavalcante pitched 3.2 innings of relief to get the win. Potter made it through 3.1 innings, but five walks hurt him. Of Hazleton Area’s first 10 outs, five of them came on balls hit in the air.
“You just tip your cap to La Salle,” Canzler said. “You can’t afford to make mistakes against a good team. They are well coached. They did a good job of putting the ball in play to make us make plays. Then they kind of busted it open. Guys were finding holes and they were hitting the ball on the ground. That is the name of the game at this level.”
