Tyler Browne is one player confident in his baseball team.
That’s why, when Brad Fryer tied Saturday’s District 11 Class AA semifinal game at 1-1 with his 12th-inning single, Browne figured he also had a chance to do something special.
“Just for the fact, through our lineup, we have very good hitters,” Schuylkill Haven’s No. 9 batter in the order said. “I believed we could win this game, start to finish.”
The finish was Browne’s two-out, RBI single to left field that scored Mike Ulsh with the decisive run as Schuylkill Haven rallied to beat Salisbury 2-1 in 12 innings Saturday at Pottsville’s Steidle Field.
The victory advances top-seeded Schuylkill Haven (19-3) to Tuesday’s District
11 final, where the Hurricanes will oppose North Schuylkill at 4 p.m. at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown.
That game may not rival Saturday’s for sheer drama.
“We ended practice yesterday getting 21 outs, nobody even thinking anything like this was going to happen,” Schuylkill Haven head coach Scott Buffington said.
It took more than 21 outs for both teams before Schuylkill Haven staged a rally for the ages.
After the teams battled through 11 scoreless innings, Mike Palmer’s RBI single off reliever Danny Blugis in the top of the 12th gave Salisbury (13-10) a 1-0 lead.
Falcons pitcher Chase Rogers then got a strikeout and flyout to open the bottom of the 12th before everything changed.
Rogers issued a four-pitch walk to Blayne Moyer. Mike Ulsh then lined a full-count pitch to left field for a single. Dawson Evitts replaced Moyer as a pinch runner at second base.
That brought up Fryer.
“I have been in a lot of pressure before. I played in the Schuylkill League final in soccer last year,” said Fryer, who was the Hurricanes’ soccer goalkeeper. “I was just looking to get a pitch on the outside and hit it that way.”
Fryer did just that, poking a grounder between the first baseman and foul line to score Evitts with the game-tying run and sending Ulsh to third base.
Browne then saw five pitches, including two foul balls, before lining a 2-2 pitch into left field for the game-winning single.
“I was just trying to do my job and put the ball in play,” Browne said. “All of the stress to get us to that point, it was in Brad’s hit.”
Added Buffington: “Heck of a game. You’re not going to see a high school game better than that. What a way to lose a game, what a way to lose a game, what a way to win a game.”
By the end, starting pitchers Nick Behm of Schuylkill Haven and Chad Cooperman of Salisbury were almost forgotten players. But they were the reason the teams got to the 10th, when both were replaced.
Cooperman allowed just four hits.
Striking out seven and walking one, Behm retired 11 in a row at one point, but it wasn’t always easy.
“Sometimes I thought we hit the ball too hard at them,” Salisbury head coach Mike Pochron said of several Falcon lineouts. “We had opportunities. They had a couple of baserunners. It was a hard-fought game.”
In the opening inning, Schuylkill Haven lost its best bid to score in regulation when Blugis was tossed out at the plate on a throw from left field while attempting to score on Noah Saul’s single.
Salisbury left two runners on base in the seventh when Behm induced a groundout and got an inning-ending strikeout.
In the 10th, Schuylkill Haven wasted another chance when Ulsh was caught too far off third base during a groundout by Browne. Ulsh’s dive back to the bag was too late to avoid the tag for the inning-ending double play.
Finally, in the 12th, the scoreless tie was broken when Salisbury’s Nick Sikora doubled. He scored when the next batter, Palmer, singled.
Schuylkill Haven escaped further trouble when Colin Wagner grounded into a double play.
Last year’s Class A champions, the Hurricanes then rallied to reach the Class AA final for the first time since they lost 10-3 to Pine Grove in the 2009 championship game.
“We made the plays when we had to. We just didn’t quit,” Buffington said.
Game Summary
District 11 Class AA Semifinal
At Steidle Field
SALISBURY (1) — Rogers c-p 5 0 1 0, Galantini cf-c 4 0 1 0, Kulig ss 4 0 1 0, Cooperman p-2b 4 0 1 0, Sikora 3b 5 1 2 0, Palmer lf-cf 4 0 2 1, Miller rf 0 0 0 0, Fletcher dh 2 0 0 0, Wagner ph-dh 2 0 0 0, Schware 1b 4 0 0 0, Zong ph 1 0 0 0, Tocci 2b-lf 4 0 1 0. Totals 39 1 9 1.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN (2) — Webb cf 4 0 0 0, Blugis c-p 4 0 2 0, Fink 2b 4 0 0 0, Saul lf-c 5 0 1 0, Handling pr 0 0 0 0, Behm p 5 0 0 0, Br. Moyer lf 0 0 0 0, Conage 3b 0 0 0 0, Bl. Moyer dh 0 0 0 0, Evitts pr 0 1 0 0, Ulsh ss 5 0 3 0, Fryer 1b 3 1 1 1, Cook ph 1 0 0 0, Browne rf 5 0 2 1. Totals 36 2 9 2.
Sal (13-10) 000 000 000 001 — 1
SH (19-3) 000 000 000 002 — 2
Two outs when winning run scored.
E — Salisbury 1, Schuylkill Haven 0. DP — Salisbury 1, Schuylkill Haven 2. LOB — Salisbury 6, Schuylkill Haven 6. 2B — Cooperman, Sikora. SB — Blugis, Browne. CS — Fink. S — Galantini, Fletcher.
Salisbury IP H R ER BB K
Cooperman 9 4 0 0 2 5
Rogers L 2.2 5 2 2 1 0
Haven IP H R ER BB K
Behm 9 6 0 0 0 7
Blugis W,2-0 3 3 1 1 1 0
WP — Cooperman. T — 2:50.