HEGINS — Tri-Valley’s game plan worked to perfection.
Thanks to big days by a couple of the Dawgs’ “young pups.”
Freshmen Dawson Schwalm and Logan Yoder combined for six hits and four runs as Tri-Valley blew past Shenandoah Valley 11-1 in a six-inning District 11 Class A quarterfinal Wednesday.
Schwalm was 3-for-4 with an RBI while Yoder was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs as the No. 4-seeded Dawgs (13-8) advance to Saturday’s semifinals against top-seeded Marian.
Game time is noon at Blue Mountain High School’s Allen Greenawalt Field.
“Those guys came through,” Tri-Valley coach Bob Felty Sr. said. “Our freshmen have done a great job all year. We asked them to contribute and focus and play as hard as they can, and they’ve done everything we’ve asked.”
Felty and his Tri-Valley team entered Wednesday’s quarterfinal wanting to only use senior right-hander Hunter Bordner
for five innings so he would be eligible to pitch again Saturday against the Colts.
Bordner lived up to his billing, allowing just two hits over five dominating innings, striking out nine and walking none. He retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced before hitting Matt Creasy and allowing a single to John Koszyk with two outs in the fifth.
“I threw two off-speed pitches the whole game. Everything else was a fastball,” said Bordner, who threw just 65 pitches. “You don’t have to use any other pitch if you’re throwing your fastball by them and hitting your spots. You’re an effective pitcher if you can hit your spots.”
Tri-Valley’s plan, no matter how well Bordner pitched, wouldn’t have worked if the Dawgs didn’t get some offense. For the first two frames that wasn’t the case, as Shenandoah Valley starter Ian McCole recorded four strikeouts in two shutout innings.
In the third, however, the Blue Devils’ defense let McCole down. Three errors, including a pair with two outs, helped Tri-Valley tally four runs.
Shenandoah Valley (9-12), in the district playoffs for the first time since 2006, committed five errors on the afternoon, with only four of Tri-Valley’s runs earned.
“We knew coming in that we would be facing Bordner, and you can not give a pitcher like that defensive miscues like we made in the field,” Shenandoah Valley coach Jeff Maksimik said. “They did what they had to do. They put the ball in play, we did not make the plays and they capitalized on it. We didn’t make the defensive plays today.
“I can not say enough about this group,” Maksimik continued. “They achieved something this year ... nobody gave them a shot of getting to this point. I’m very, very proud of our kids. They came together as a team and achieved a goal that they set out at the beginning of the year to do.”
Schwalm got things started in the third when he reached on a two-base error by the shortstop, and he scored on an errant throw by the catcher after a wild pitch. After Bordner doubled and Hunter Herb walked, Yoder made it 2-0 with an RBI single.
After an infield error kept the inning alive, senior Mark Klinger upped the margin to 4-0 with a two-run single. Klinger finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
“I feel good for Mark Klinger because he’s a senior,” Felty Sr. said. “I didn’t really give him much of a chance to start early in the year. He’s been our DH and he’s hitting around .400. I’m real happy for him.”
Tri-Valley added two more runs in the fifth on RBI hits by Klinger and Will Kimmel to take a 6-0 lead. That allowed Felty to pull Bordner and bring in Kimmel, who surrendered a run in the top of the sixth on Derek Dombrowski’s RBI single.
The Dawgs then knocked out McCole in the bottom of the sixth, collecting five hits and scoring five runs to end the game via the 10-run rule. Bordner and Yoder had RBI doubles, Herb and Peyton Poletti plated runs and Schwalm ended the game with an RBI single.
A confidence-building win in the books, Tri-Valley can turn its attention to Marian, which defeated the Dawgs 6-2 on April 15.
Bordner didn’t pitch in that game. After Wednesday’s plan worked to perfection, he’ll be ready Saturday.
“That was our game plan, but we have confidence in our other pitchers,” Felty said. “When you have a horse like Hunter, that’s definitely what our game plan is. We wanted to make sure he didn’t go five so he could come back Saturday.”
Game Summary
District 11 Class A Quarterfinal
SHENANDOAH VALLEY (1) — I. McCole p-ss 2 1 0 0, Krusinsky cf 3 0 0 0, Gurski ss-p 3 0 0 0, T. McCole 2b 0 0 0 0, Dombrowski dh 3 0 2 1, Cespedes cr 0 0 0 0, Jacavage 1b 3 0 0 0, Urbanavage c 2 0 0 0, Creasy rf 1 0 0 0, Koszyk lf 2 0 1 0, Silverio 3b 2 0 0 0. Totals 21 1 3 1.
TRI-VALLEY (11) — Schwalm ss-lf 4 1 3 1, Lucas cf 4 1 1 0, Bordner p-ss 3 1 2 1, Herb 1b 3 2 1 1, Yoder c 4 3 3 2, Carado 2b 2 0 0 0, Harner pr-2b 1 2 0 0, Buchanan rf 0 0 0 0, Boltz cr-rf 0 1 0 0, Klinger dh 3 0 2 3, Masser 3b 3 0 0 0, Poletti ph 1 0 0 1, Kimmel lf-p 3 0 1 1, Love ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 32 11 13 10.
Shen. Valley (9-12) 000 001 — 1
Tri-Valley (13-8) 004 025 — 11
E — Shenandoah Valley 5, Tri-Valley 0. DP — None. LOB — Shenandoah Valley 4, Tri-Valley 7. 2B — Bordner 2, Yoder 2. SB — Cespedes, Lucas, Harner.
Shen. Valley IP H R ER BB K
I.McCole L,6-3 5 11 9 3 2 6
Gurski .2 2 2 1 2 0
Tri-Valley IP H R ER BB K
Bordner W,8-2 5 2 0 0 0 9
Kimmel 1 1 1 1 1 0
McCole faced 3 batters in 6th
HBP — by Bordner (Creasy), by I. McCole (Herb). WP — I. McCole 2. T — 1:52.