Christopher Dock erases early deficit, rolls past Plumstead Christian in District 1-A semis
WORCESTER >> A trio of errors by the Christopher Dock baseball team led to three unearned runs for Plumstead Christian in the top of the second inning.
Getting into an early hole was an inauspicious start to Thursday afternoon’s District 1-A semifinal, but the Pioneers were confident they could climb out of it.
“Definitely wasn’t the start that we wanted,” Dock’s Andrew Walters said. “But we know this team has tremendous ability. We knew we were going to come back and score runs. It happened all season.”
The Pioneers did not wait long. Christopher Dock sent 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second, collected six hits – three doubles by Tim DiLoreto, Rashid Saint-Fleur and Walters and quickly flipped a three-run deficit into a 7-3 advantage.
Four more runs were tacked on by the Pioneers in the fourth while another two in the fifth capped the victory, as top-seeded Dock earn a spot in the district final for the second straight season with a 13-3 five-inning win over the No. 5 Panthers at Methacton High School.
“We came in real pumped to play, but when it came down it we got almost too high and too jittery. So we weren’t getting the job done,” DiLoreto said. “We got to play smarter. We can’t play sloppy in the field. So, we came in after that inning, Coach (Ed Melendez) was somewhat upset. But we knew what we had to do. We had to get our pitcher’s back, get our guy’s back that had some trouble and we got the job done.”
Walters was 2-for-2 with three RBIs – two on sacrifice flies – DiLoreto went 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored with Elias Gehman drove in three runs for defending district champ, Christopher Dock (17-2), which faces Jenkintown in the 1-A final Wednesday at a site to be announced. The second-seeded Drakes bested No. 3 Delco Christian 11-1 in five innings in the other semifinal Thursday at Glen Mills School.
“If you come and play the game and respect the game, so you don’t surrender in one inning, you play five, six, seven inning in the same way you play (the first inning),” Melendez said. “And that is what this thing is all about. We have been in the season down the first couple innings, but then we bouncing back. That’s a good thing for us. It’s a good signal. It has been the whole season like that, so we have a really good chance.”
#BASEBALL: @timdiloreto crushes a 2-RBI double to left, putting @DockHighSchool up 4-3 B2 vs. Plumstead Christian. pic.twitter.com/EZ3jQ7mfoY
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) May 27, 2016
In Plumstead Christian’s half of the second, Austin Pfaff reached on an error while Artie Michael singled to put two on with one out. After Dock forced Pfaff out at third on a Josh Ruch fielder’s choice, Connor Seelig singled to right, scoring Michael, with an errant throw to home plate allowing Seelig to advance to second.
The Pioneers thought they had the third out on Brendan Meyer’s grounder and began to head to their dugout, but first baseman Justin Burkholder was ruled to have come off the bag. Both Ruch and Seelig came home on the play, giving the Panthers a 3-0 lead.
Dan Sabath put an end to the top of the inning by striking out Ben Weaver.
Dock responded quickly. Walters led off with single, Nolan Bolton walked and Walters scored from second on Burkholder’s RBI single. A Gehman sacrifice fly plated Bolton to make it 3-2.
After a Ryan Nichols base hit, Plumstead Christian could not force out Burkholder at third on a Sabath bunt, loading the bases for DiLoreto. The Pioneers catcher put his side up for good by belting a two-RBI double to left field.
“In my first at-bat, I got a little anxious,” DiLoreto said. “So it was nice to kind of get in there, stay focused and hit a ball hard.”
CD took a 5-3 lead when Sabath’s courtesy runner, Sam Gwiazdzinski, scored on a wild pitch. With two outs, Saint-Fleur brought in DiLoreto with a double to left. Walters collected his second hit of the inning the next at-bat, doubling to right center to plate Saint-Fleur for a 7-3 lead.
“Everybody in the lineup can hit, which really helps everything,” Walters said. “To get Tim hitting that first double and then Rashid and then myself, it just helped us out tremendously from a confidence perspective and also just scoring runs.”
Sabath earned the win for the Pioneers, the right-hander allowing three runs – all unearned – on five hits in four-plus innings. He struck out four and walked one.
“They were sitting on the fastball, they were really waiting for it,” Sabath said. “You could tell by the first pitch of the game when (Meyer) lined it to center, I think. So we were just trying to mix in the sliders and stuff, see what we could do to mix them up.”
#BASEBALL: Andrew Walters' RBI double to right center puts @DockHighSchool up 7-3 B2 vs. Plumstead Christian. pic.twitter.com/0eHXkHaPiR
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) May 27, 2016
Starter Cam Kantner took the loss for Plumstead Christian, giving up seven runs – all earned – on six hits in 1 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out one.
Meyer was 2-for-3 while Michael went 2-for-2 for the Lions, who lost to Christopher Dock 4-0 in last season’s 1-A semifinals.
The Pioneers stretched their lead to 11-3 with four runs in the fourth. After Walters’ sacrifice fly scored DiLoreto, a Bolton RBI single put Dock up six. Burkholder proceeded to single with both Bolton and Burkholder coming home on Gehman’s base hit.
Two runs by Dock in the fifth enacted the 10-run rule. A DiLoreto single and back-to-back walks by Tyler Alderfer and Saint-Fleur loaded the bases for Walters, who plated DiLoreto with a sac fly. The next at-bat, Alderfer scored as Bolton reached on an error.
