Hamburg dances its way into PIAA 4A semifinal with a 3-2 win over North Schuylkill

PINE GROVE >> As far as high-wire acts go, it was worthy of big top billing.

 

Hamburg danced around multiple late-inning threats to book its second ticket to the PIAA semifinals in four seasons Thursday afternoon, with a 3-2 win over North Schuylkill in a Class 4A quarterfinal contest held at Stump Stadium.

 

The Hawks were a 3A combatant in 2016 when they last got this far, a first in program history and the last season played under the old classification system. They’ll look for an inaugural state championship berth Monday against Selinsgrove in the state 4A semifinals, site and time to be determined.

 

Thursday’s successful verdict at Stump against the Spartans was messy and inartistic. Fortunately for the Hawks, style points do not count as runs. Hamburg won the game on just two base hits, both coming in the same frame, while issuing nine walks along the way.

 

The box score math doesn’t add up sliced and diced six ways to Sunday but here we are. Baseball.

 

“Our kids have battled, every single pitch, all year, and I’m just so proud of them,” Hamburg head coach Nick Evangelista said. “North Schuylkill cans swing the bats. … We walked too many guys, hit too many guys. Fortunately, for us, we were able to overcome that but we’ll need to clean it up for Monday.”

 

Owen Zimmerman provided the offensive heroics for Hamburg (21-7), driving in all three of his club’s runs. His two-run home run in the top of the third off North Schuylkill (22-7) starter Jake Green was an arching shot that hugged the foul line but tucked in fair beyond the pole in right field to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead. His bases-loaded walk against Green (who had re-entered the game with seven pitches left) in the top of the seventh provided what turned out to be a necessary insurance run.

 

“He threw a fastball and I was thinking right-center with it,” Zimmerman said of his home run. “I hit it and thought I had popped it up, a routine fly-out. Then I saw it go over the fence when I was rounding first. I thought I got under it too much.”

 

Zimmerman was in eighth grade the last time Hamburg made the state semifinals. He’s relishing the opportunity to play a key role this time around.

 

“I was at that semifinal game (in 2016) and I remember sitting out in left field and it was such an exciting atmosphere, I wanted to play that day,” he said. “Now, I get a chance to do it. We get another win, we change the course of history.”

 

Starter Jared Sterner and reliever Ethan Naftzinger somehow managed to quilt a positive outcome from chaos. Sterner battled control issues all afternoon but when the big out was needed, he got it. The control issues spiked the pitch count, however, and he was gone after 4 2/3 innings with 106 pitches in the book. Green, his opposite number Thursday, managed to ding him for an RBI single to right in the bottom of the third to halve the lead to 2-1, but Sterner managed to prevent further damage.  

 

Naftzinger got the call and recorded the final out of the fifth with the tying run on base. He escaped a perilous bottom of the sixth with the lead intact, then repeated the effort in the seventh to send the Hawks to the semis.

 

North Schuylkill’s Reggie Crawford had been drafted in the 37th round by the Kansas City Royals the previous night. Now, Crawford stepped into the box against Naftzinger with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of sixth, his team trailing 2-1.

 

Naftzinger ran the count full before floating a full-count changeup past Crawford for a huge second out. After plunking the next batter — Hamburg’s third of the game — Naftzinger got Max Schalley on a groundout to short with the bases loaded to snuff the threat. Zimmerman had to tag out the runner on a wide throw from short to ensure it.

 

“Crawford came up and I thought, ‘I’ve gotta throw my best stuff here’,” Naftzinger said. “Obviously, he’s their best hitter, he just got drafted last night. If I can strike him out, I’ve got something on him here. … That last pitch, he’s out on his front foot on the changeup and I got him.”

 

Crawford was 0-for-3, with two punch outs and two HBP. His fly ball to left with a run already in, the tying and winning runs perched on base in the bottom of the seventh with Naftzinger still out there, ended it.

 

“It’s a big honor to be here,” Naftzinger said. “Just to be in the state playoffs, at this spot. Two steps from a state title. It’s a little emotional right now.

 

“We’ve got a great group of guys here and I don’t see a reason why anyone can stop us. Why not us. That’s our saying. It’s written up on a chalkboard.”

 

PIAA 4A quarterfinal

at Walter Stump Stadium, Pine Grove

Hamburg 3, North Schuylkill 2

H –  0  0  2   0  0  0   1  — 3  2  2

NS –  0  0  1   0  0  0   1  — 2   5  1

WP: Jared Sterner  LP: Jake Green 

H, Sterner (Ethan Naftzinger 5) and Austin Gromlich; NS, Green (Brandon Rockwell 7, Green 7) and Mike Little

HR: H, Zimmerman (3rd, 1 on, 2 out)

 

 

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