Dock Mennonite returns to District 1-2A final with win over Collegium Charter

TOWAMENCIN >> Dock Mennonite’s Mason Fisher is looking to complete the set.

“The big motivator for me because I’m a senior is I want to go 4-for-4 with the districts,” he said.

With his arm and his bat, Fisher helped the Pioneers baseball team move a step closer to continuing its District 1 title streak.

The right-hander gave up just three hits in a complete-game effort on the mound while also driving in a pair of runs as Dock plated four in the bottom of the second inning as the top-seeded Pioneers beat visiting No. 5 Collegium Charter 6-1 in the District 1-2A semifinals Tuesday afternoon.

“We did our job,” Dock coach Jim Smith said. “We came out, we put a good spurt in the second inning and responded. Did what we needed to do. The lineup came in, took care of business and got exciting for a bit and we just kind of just let the defense work.”

Collegium — which knocked off No. 4 Church Farm 8-3 in the first round last Friday — took a 1-0 lead in the top of first when Peter Graham, who led off the game with a double to left field, scored when Brandon Traut got caught in a two-out rundown between second and first base.

But Dock went ahead in the bottom of the inning on Clark Baker’s two-out, two RBI single then took control by adding four more runs in the second.

The win advances Dock to its fifth-straight District 1 title game against fellow Bicentennial Athletic League side No. 3 MaST Charter 4 p.m. Thursday at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. MaST defeated No. 2 Bristol 7-4 in the other semifinal Tuesday.

Dock, which has won four consecutive district championships — the last two in Class 2A — topped MaST 17-3 in their regular-season meeting April 10.

“The idea is to keep the intensity level high,” Smith said. “Treat it like every other game that we’ve played against (Holy) Ghost (Prep) and Lower Moreland, New Hope(-Solebury) and be able to raise our level of play to that expectation. To be able to set ourselves up for the first round of states.”

Brody Moyer was 3-for-4 while Michael Chavez went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored for the Pioneers, who collected 11 hits — all singles — with five coming in the second.

“You always try to take the extra base when you can, streak some hits together and always take advantage of their mistakes when they happen,” Moyer said.

After the first inning, Fisher gave up just a pair of singles — the first to Graham, who finished 2-for-3.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect, I knew they had a couple guys that could hit,” Fisher said. “And then from there on I tried to keep it low.

Fisher allowed just four baserunners in the final six frames and ended the afternoon with two walks and seven strikeouts.

“My two seam (fastball) was really working,” Fisher said. “Usually it does work well for me and then from the fourth inning on I got my curveball going too so that was helpful.”

Collegium Charter starting pitcher  Nate Gustafson took the loss, giving up six runs — four earned — on four hits in 1 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.

Down 1-0 after a half on an inning, Dock quickly took the lead for good in the bottom of the first when Baker’s two-out single through the left side of the infield scored both Christian Rush and Nolan Bolton, who drew back-to-back one-out walks.

“All year long we’ve been doing a good job of stringing things together,” Smith said. “Big hits come, big hits go but if we can string things together we can always put pressure on defenses. Offensively, we did a good job of getting on base, being able to read runners, getting stolen bases, being able to move a little bit, put some guys in motion.”

The Pioneers sent nine batters to the plate in the second, four of those coming home, extending the Dock lead to 6-1.

A Carter Jagiela fielder’s choice and John Bennett reaching on a one-out error put two on for Chavez, who singled to right to score Jagiela’s courtesy runner Andrew Bean. Fisher proceeded to help himself on the next at-bat, his base hit through the left side bringing home both Bennett and Chavez to make it 5-1.

“He gave me an inside fastball, I just tried to get ahead of it, get it out to the outfield,” Fisher said.

Two batters later, Bolton’s two-out RBI single put Dock up five.

Dock Mennonite 6, Collegium Charter 1
Collegium Charter            100 000 0 — 1   3 3
Dock Mennonite              240 000 x — 6 11 1
WP: Mason Fisher 7 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 2 BB 7 SO.
LP: Nate Gustafson 1.1 IP 4 H 6 R 4 ER 2 BB 1 SO.
2B: CC-Peter Graham.
Collegium Charter: Graham 2-3, R.
Dock Mennonite: Fisher 2 RBI; Clark Baker 2 RBI; Michael Chavez 2-3, RBI, R; Brody Moyer 3-4.