Dylan Biever was in control from his very first pitch.
The Orwigsburg left-hander struck out nine in 5.2 innings and hit a key home run as Orwigsburg defeated Pottsville Rotary 7-2 in a District 24 Little League 11-12-year-old Tournament semifinal Sunday.
The win advances Orwigsburg (6-0) to Tuesday's championship game, where it will play Upper Dauphin County, a 6-4 winner over Saint Clair/Port Carbon/New Philadelphia, at 5:30 p.m. in Gratz.
"Dylan came out and was firing strikes and moving the ball around. He was really making it tough on them and keeping them off-balance," Orwigsburg manager Bill Holler said. "Because of that we were able to keep a real good offensive team in check."
Biever allowed six hits and walked one, reaching the 85-pitch limit with two outs in the sixth inning. Chris Holler recorded the final out to seal the victory.
Biever gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning and a run in the fifth inning, quieting a Rotary attack that had scored 10 runs in each of its past two games.
In between, Orwigsburg gave Biever plenty of support, collecting 12 hits and scoring in five of its six at-bats.
Orwigsburg started the game with Derrick Yuengling's single to right field. Chris Holler hit into a fielder's choice, forcing out Yuengling at second. Holler took
second on a wild pitch, then third when Biever reached on a third strike/passed ball.
Holler gave Orwigsburg a 1-0 lead when he scored as part of a double steal, as the throw to second skipped into the outfield.
Rotary (5-1) tied the game in the bottom of the first when Mason Barnes singled to center and stole second. After an infield error, Barnes scored on Nate Robison's RBI single.
Biever put Orwigsburg ahead to stay with a long, solo home run over the center-field fence on a two-strike pitch in the third inning.
Orwigsburg pulled away with two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
In the top of the fourth, Alex Tidmore and Matt Coller had back-to-back singles. After a fielder's choice forced out Coller at second, Yuengling hit a sacrifice fly to score Tidmore.
Orwigsburg extended its lead to 4-1 when Chris Holler's RBI single scored Jared Lopez.
"I really thought it was a good team effort for us as far as hitting throughout our lineup," Bill Holler said. "We were able to keep the ball in play."
Orwigsburg had another big inning in the top of the fifth. Blake Lipko doubled to left field and Carter Leiby followed with a bunt single to put runners on first and third. Tidmore doubled, scoring two more runs to make it 6-1.
Rotary sliced the lead to 6-2 on Barnes' sacrifice fly in the fifth, but Orwigsburg answered with a run in the sixth on a throwing error to set the final score.
Orwigsburg will face Upper Dauphin County at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the championship game.
"Every game is a new challenge and every team we play is going to be a quality ball club, so we have to go back to work (today) and fine tune," Bill Holler said.
"We'll be ready to go for the championship," he added.
The loss ended a strong run for Rotary.
"Coming into today, we were all real positive, but it's baseball. You can't win every game," Rotary manager Bryn Dragna said. "They just hit the ball where we weren't.
"I love to see kids like this have the determination and the will to play. I couldn't be more proud or more blessed."