PINE GROVE — Connor Hinchliffe’s fly ball appeared as though it was headed for foul ground down the right-field line.
Then it turned into one of those “baseball plays.”
A gust of wind blew the ball back into fair territory. The Marian right fielder couldn’t recover in time to make the catch. The throw back to the infield was off target.
Just like that, Hinchliffe’s swing changed the complexion of the Schuylkill League semifinals.
Darion Jacoby and Sam Siminitus scored on the play as Pottsville seized the lead and momentum, pulling away from Marian for a 6-2 victory at Stump Stadium on Tuesday night.
The defending Schuylkill League champion Crimson Tide (17-4) advance to Thursday’s championship game opposite wild card Blue
Mountain, a 5-1 winner over Schuylkill Haven. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Stump Stadium.
Hinchliffe’s RBI single in the fifth inning broke a 2-2 tie. The off-line throw allowed the second run to score.
“I kind of swung at a bad pitch and just got it in the air,” Hinchliffe said. “I was running down the line, it started foul and started working its way back. It was a tough play for the right fielder. It caught him in a bad spot.”
Added Pottsville coach Mike Welsh: “That’s the unpredictable part of baseball and that’s why baseball is a beautiful game. You never know when something like that is going to happen.”
And Marian coach Tony Radocha possibly had the best — and worst — view of the play.
“I had a perfect view of it. It just got caught up in the wind, and he charged after it,” Radocha said. “He ran with his head down, and when his head looked up, the wind just blew it three feet to the left.
“He made a recovery to try to get it in, and we were in position for a piggyback to get a relay home,” Radocha added. “It just breaks my heart that a play like that determines the outcome of this game. But that’s baseball; that’s what I told them.”
Travis Blankenhorn added some insurance for the Tide.
The potential MLB draft pick continued to excel on the big stage with between 10-15 scouts in attendance again. After starting the night 0-for-3, Blankenhorn crushed a first-pitch change-up to right-center field for a two-run homer that gave Pottsville a 6-2 lead through six innings.
“I think the first three at-bats weren’t too good, so try to flush it,” Blankenhorn said. “Not think about the ones before and just come out, new at-bat. I guess I got a pitch I liked and hit it pretty well.”
The late-game heroics overshadowed a strong performance from Marian starter Joe Nahas. The junior righty tossed five-plus innings of four-hit ball. He was responsible for five runs, but kept Pottsville off-balance for most of the night with deceptive speed on his fastball.
After strong performances against Schuylkill Haven and Crestwood, Radocha said Nahas and the Colts continued to take it one pitch at a time.
“He kept his head,” Radocha said. “He was able to stay ahead of some batters. They have an excellent lineup. To be able to do that, that’s an ace effort.”
Daniel Keer’s RBI double in the first inning gave Marian (17-3) a 1-0 lead in the first.
A perfectly executed safety squeeze by the Tide’s Trent Barnes in the second knotted the score, and Pottsville went ahead when Gavin Hinchliffe scored on a wild pitch in the fourth.
A pair of Pottsville errors allowed Marian to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth before Connor Hinchliffe’s hit in the fifth gave Pottsville the lead for good.
“We knew we were going to get a battle out of those guys,” Pottsville coach Mike Welsh said. “They’re 17-2 and all they know how to do is win.”
Marian finished with three hits off three Pottsville pitchers. J.J. Spehrley pitched into the fourth before Eli Nabholz threw 1.2 scoreless innings and Blankenhorn pitched the final two to close it. The trio combined for 11 strikeouts.
“It wasn’t a sign of disrespect throwing Spehrley out there, we just thought that we had to do something to put ourselves in a position to win two,” Welsh said. “We knew J.J. had been in some tough games for us this year. That was the plan to have him go four, Eli one and Travis two. It almost worked out to perfection as far as the pitching side goes.
“You tip your cap to Marian because they really battled and tested us. I’m proud of our guys. They stood up and made some plays when they had to.”
Game Summary
Schuylkill League Semifinal
At Stump Stadium, Pine Grove
POTTSVILLE (6) — Blankenhorn ss-p 4 1 1 2, Painter 2b 4 0 1 0, Jacoby cf 2 1 0 0, Nabholz 1b-p-1b 2 0 1 0, O’Pake 1b 0 0 0 0, Siminitus cr 0 1 0 0, C. Hinchliffe c 4 0 1 1, Liptock cr 0 0 0 0, Daubert lf 4 0 0 0, Spehrley p 0 0 0 0, Robison 1b 0 0 0 0, G. Hinchliffe dh 3 2 2 0, Wapinsky rf-ss 2 1 0 0, Barnes 3b 2 0 0 1. Totals 27 6 6 4.
MARIAN (2) — Salerno c 3 0 0 0, Hinkle rf 3 1 1 0, Snerr 3b 2 0 0 0, Evitts ss 3 0 0 0, Inama 1b 0 0 0 0, Keer dh 3 0 1 1, Collevechio pr 0 1 0 0, Maskornick cf 3 0 1 0, Nahas p-ss 3 0 0 0, Kubishin 2b 2 0 0 0, Paisley cr-p 1 0 0 0, DeAngelo lf 2 0 0 0. Totals 25 2 3 1.
Potts (17-4) 010 122 0 — 6
Mar (17-3) 100 100 0 — 2
E — Pottsville 2, Marian 3. DP — Pottsville 1, Marian 0. LOB — Pottsville 8, Marian 5. 2B — Keer. HR — Blankenhorn. SB — Painter, Jacoby, G. Hinchliffe 2, Salerno. CS — Nahas. S — Barnes.
Pottsville IP H R ER BB K
Spehrley 3.1 2 2 1 2 5
Nabholz W,7-0 1.2 0 0 0 1 3
Blankenhorn Sv 2 1 0 0 0 3
Marian IP H R ER BB K
Nahas L,3-2 5 4 5 4 7 5
Paisley 2 2 1 1 0 2
WP — Nahas 3, Nabholz. PB — C. Hinchliffe.