Pottsville honored its four senior baseball players prior to Monday night’s Schuylkill League Division I clash with Tamaqua.
In front of a packed house that included 5-6 professional scouts, those four seniors made major contributions in helping the Crimson Tide capture their second straight Division I championship.
Eli Nabholz tossed a two-hit shutout, Travis Blankenhorn scored a pair of runs and Ty Painter and Connor Hinchliffe played key offensive roles as Pottsville blanked Tamaqua 3-0 at Steidle Field.
The victory advances Pottsville (13-4, 10-1 D-I) to next week’s Schuylkill League semifinals, where the Crimson Tide will face Division III winner Marian, on a day and time to be determined, at Pine Grove’s Stump Stadium.
“It was a special night for our seniors. They’ve done so much for our program,” Pottsville coach Mike Welsh said. “Sure enough, look at the guys who came through.
“I’m so proud of our team, especially the seniors.”
Nabholz struck out nine and walked one in his 100-pitch effort, allowing a double to Brett Kosciolek in the first and a single to Zach Coleman in the third.
The Penn State-bound right-hander used a good combination of breaking pitches mixed with a potent fastball to keep the Blue Raiders off-balance. The win
improved Nabholz to 6-0 on the season.
“We needed (to throw more breaking pitches) and I wanted to do it,” Nabholz said. “They’re a fastball-hitting team for sure.
“In the bullpen warming up before the game, both Connor and I thought I had everything working today, change-up, curveball, cutter. It was something where I could throw any pitch in any count today. It was big to be able to do that today.”
Tamaqua (11-6, 5-5 D-I) threatened only once, loading the bases with two outs in the sixth on a hit batsman, an infield error and a walk.
When Nabholz’s 0-1 pitch to freshman Casey Rother bounced away from the catcher Hinchliffe, the runner on third, Bo Rottet, tried to score. A perfect relay from Hinchliffe to Nabholz got Rottet at the plate and ended the inning.
“Bo is a competitor. He wants to do whatever he can to win the game,” Tamaqua coach Jeff Reading said. “Pottsville has a short backstop. The ball isn’t really going to go anywhere. It was a bad read, a bad decision.
“In these games, you have to work for a run,” Reading continued. “We didn’t do some things well. They were able to capitalize on our mistakes. We didn’t come through when we needed to.”
Offensively, Pottsville mustered only two hits off Rottet, and none until the sixth.
The Tide scored a run in the bottom of the first when Blankenhorn walked, Painter sacrificed him to second, he took third on a flyout by Darion Jacoby and scored on a two-out infield error.
The same scenario happened in the sixth.
Blankenhorn worked a walk after an 11-pitch at-bat and Painter laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move him to second. This time, Jacoby singled to right-center — Pottsville’s first hit — to give the Tide a 2-0 lead.
Hinchliffe followed one out later with a single to left to score Jacoby and make it 3-0.
“When you’re playing tight games like this, it’s the little things,” Welsh said. “Travis is such a good hitter, he can do a lot of things. He has a great eye. To be able to work a walk there is critical.
“Ty is so fundamentally sound in everything he does. He’s such a solid player. He doesn’t get a lot of credit because of the other guys, but he’s the glue of our infield. He does a ton of things.
“Those bunts were beautiful.”
Pottsville entered the game already having clinched a Schuylkill League playoff berth due to Blue Mountain’s 2-1 victory over North Schuylkill earlier Monday.
The Crimson Tide capitalized on their chance to wrap up the Division I title right away.
“That was the approach today,” Nabholz said. “It’s not something that we really talked about, but everybody knew about it coming into the game and we were focused. No really said anything until the seventh inning, when Ty was like ‘This is Division I right here, let’s go get it.’
“This is the first of hopefully many championships. It gives you momentum, it gets you started, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Game Summary
TAMAQUA (0) — Rottet p 2 0 0 0, MacDonald 2b 3 0 0 0, Kosciolek 1b 3 0 1 0, Bates c 2 0 0 0, Moll cr 0 0 0 0, Barron cf 0 0 0 0, Rother dh 3 0 0 0, Hartung 3b 2 0 0 0, Blaker ph 1 0 0 0, Humes lf 3 0 0 0, Coleman ss 2 0 1 0, Minchhoff rf 2 0 0 0. Totals 23 0 2 0.
POTTSVILLE (3) — Blankenhorn ss 1 2 0 0, Painter 2b 1 0 0 0, Jacoby cf 3 1 1 1, Nabholz p 3 0 0 0, Liptock cr 0 0 0 0, C. Hinchliffe c 3 0 1 1, Daubert lf 3 0 0 0, O’Pake 1b 0 0 0 0, G. Hinchliffe dh 2 0 0 0, Wapinsky rf 1 0 0 0, Barnes 3b 2 0 0 0. Totals 19 3 2 2.
Tam (11-6, 5-5) 000 000 0 — 0
Potts (13-4, 10-1) 100 002 x — 3
E — Tamaqua 1, Pottsville 1. DP — None. LOB — Tamaqua 4, Pottsville 3. 2B — Kosciolek. SB — Coleman, Jacoby. S — Painter 2.
Tamaqua IP H R ER BB K
Rottet L,2-3 6 2 3 2 3 6
Pottsville IP H R ER BB K
Nabholz W,6-0 7 2 0 0 1 9
HBP — by Nabholz (Rottet). WP — Rottet, Nabholz 2. T — 1:34.