Devon Prep’s patient batting attack delivers when it counts in state semifinal

Pine Grove >> This spring, Devon Prep’s batters have been adept at getting on base. Check out the on-base percentages of some of their leading hitters – senior Andrew Czachor (.569, as of Monday), leadoff hitter Aaron Nuble (.480), junior first baseman Jackson Jonik (.449), sophomore outfielder Jack Eshelman (.420) and senior Matt Romano (.400).
Tuesday in the PIAA 2A state semifinal against South Williamsport, it took the Tide a little while to get their offense going against St. Bonaventure-bound senior righthanded pitcher Tripp Breen – the District 12 champions managed only three baserunners in the first five innings.

To view a photo gallery of Devon Prep’s state semifinal win click here

But in the top of the sixth, with the score tied 1-1, Devon’s first four batters – Nuble, Czachor, Jonik and cleanup hitter Pat Coleman (.333 BA, 1.012 OPS) – rallied for two singles, a double and a well-placed sacrifice fly for two runs and a 3-1 win.
Nuble, a senior infielder who will be playing baseball for Widener University in the fall, led off the sixth inning with a single on the first pitch. It was the Tides’ second hit of the game.
“Breen was difficult early, he was good at changing his tempo on the mound,” said Nuble. “He mixed his pitches very well, went to his splitter a lot, and his curve ball, so he kept us off balance. We had to stay within ourselves, get on base any way we could, and pass the torch to the next man, trust our team to score runs. I was up there looking for a fastball that I could hit, and I got a fastball right down the middle.”
Then it was Czachor’s turn at the plate. The High Point University-bound senior fell behind 0-2, worked the count to 1-2, then made a slight adjustment at the plate.
“Moments before the 1-2 pitch, Coach [Mark Aquilante] mentioned to me that my hands were separated from my feet, and I had to time them up,” said Czachor. “I kind of took a practice swing, and then everything flowed real smooth and I was able to track the next pitch.”
Czachor lined the 1-2 pitch into left center field for a double, moving Nuble to third base.
“He crushed that double,” said Aquilante. “I can’t say enough about [Czachor] – he’s a cool kid, doesn’t allow anything to fluster him.”
Czachor said, “In our league [Catholic League], we see a lot of high-velocity pitchers like [Breen], so if we have to, we can play small ball, take pitches, get hit by pitches, doing anything we can to get on base.”
With runners on second and third an no outs in the top of the sixth, Jonik came to the plate, and on a 1-2 pitch, hit a towering fly ball to right field that scored Nuble with the go-ahead run, and Czachor moved to third.
“That was a tremendous at-bat by Jackson,” said Aquilante. “To have two strikes on you, and to put that kind of a swing on the ball, says a lot about him. For our last 6, 7, 8 games, he’s been our best hitter, he’s been driving the ball all over the place.”
Then Coleman stepped to the plate, and the Haverford College-bound senior roped an RBI single into left field to make it 3-1.
“It was a curve ball, I was able to get my bat on it and hit it over third baseman’s head,” said Coleman. “I was kind of expecting a split-finger fastball after my last at bat, when he threw me one. [Breen] had some good off-speed pitches, but eventually we played a little small ball to get us going. We got some good coaching and timely hitting, and Bere Bauers and Andrew Czachor on the mound, they won this game, but everyone on our team had a part in it, even the ones who didn’t get in the game. Our bench, as you could probably see, was ecstatic at the end of the game.”
Aquilante said, “We were patient at the plate today, but we were also aggressive, and they had to be on that kid [Breen]. He was effectively wild. He would throw two pitches at your shoulders, and the next three pitches would knee high fastballs to the outside half of the plate to a righthanded hitter, and that’s really tough for [high school] kids to adjust to that. We never really got a feel for him, but we did a good job of working counts, we fouled off some two-strike pitches. I think he got a little tenative about throwing his breaking stuff with two strikes after he threw one to the backstop [in the fourth inning] to Patrick [Coleman] to allow him to get to first base. We talked about that; to not look for that pitch with two strikes because of that.”
And now the Tide is headed to the PIAA 2A state final.
“It feels great to be going to the state final; we’ve been working for this all year long,” said Coleman. “We’re all just rooting for each other, and it’s a great feeling.”
Czachor smiled and said, “Getting to the state final is a dream come true. We’ve been working for this since 2014 [Devon Prep’s last state title]. With all of the school talking about it; playing in the state final is going to be a dream. In the first game of the season, we probably weren’t looking at States, but now that we’ve come this far with our strong team chemistry, it’s a crazy experience to be here.”