ALLENTOWN — Ethan Conage was a nervous wreck.
The Schuylkill Haven junior right-hander battled through the school day, anxiously awaiting Tuesday’s District 11 Class AA baseball championship game against North Schuylkill at Coca-Cola Park.
Pitching in the biggest game of his life so far, and for the first time since May 6, Conage took a few batters to get rid of the jitters.
Once he settled in and got used to pitching in the home of the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, he was just fine.
Conage tossed a complete-game seven-hitter and struck out five, pitching the Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory over the Spartans.
Ryan Fink was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Nick Behm had a key two-run single as Schuylkill Haven (20-3) hoisted a District 11 trophy for the second straight season.
The victory moves the Hurricanes into the PIAA Class AA Tournament, where they will play the District 12 runner-up — either MaST Charter or Neumann-Goretti — in Monday’s first round at a District 11 site.
“My teammates calmed me down,” Conage said. “When I got here, I was a little shaky, a little nervous. This is my first year on varsity, so coming out here, pitching here was pretty nerve-racking.
“My first inning was a little shaky. Once I calmed down, I did well. I got into my groove.”
With ace Behm having thrown nine innings in Saturday’s 2-1, 12-inning semifinal win over Salisbury and unable to pitch due to PIAA pitching rules, it was up to Conage to come through Tuesday.
The lanky right-hander had a shaky start, walking the leadoff batter and giving up a double to Richie Zahodnick three pitches later that gave North Schuylkill a 1-0 lead just two batters into the game.
After a sacrifice bunt moved Zahodnick to third, Conage induced a groundout and flyout to end the frame. He retired nine of the next 11 batters he faced over the next three frames, deftly mixing a slow curve with a fastball that reached 80 mph.
“He struggled a little bit in the first inning, but after that he pitched one heck of a game,” Schuylkill Haven coach Scott Buffington said. “He had a real good rhythm going with his fastball and his breaking ball. He got into a groove there where he mixed his pitches really well, which you must do against a lineup like that.”
Added Conage: “My curveball is a lot slower than my fastball, and my goal is to keep the batters off-balance with it. It seemed to be on today. It was working.”
The Hurricanes answered North Schuylkill’s early run with two of their own in the bottom of the first.
After Danny Blugis was hit by a pitch from Spartans’ starter Tevin Murray with one out, Fink roped a hit-and-run single into center field. Noah Saul walked to load the bases, and Behm stroked a two-run single to left that put the Hurricanes up 2-1.
“All year we’ve been riding on pitching and defense,” Fink said. “Today we knew we had to hit the ball. To come out and get two runs in the first inning like that was huge.
“Ethan was really nervous for this game, and to get two runs for him and get him a lead right out of the gate meant a lot. He settled down and pitched a phenomenal game.”
Schuylkill Haven left the bases loaded in the first inning, but Buffington was pleased with the Hurricanes’ patient approach. After not scoring a run for 11 innings in Saturday’s semifinal win over Salisbury, Haven came out focused on the task at hand offensively Tuesday.
“That was the key ... we were patient,” Buffington said. “We didn’t chase pitches out of the zone. We got good pitches to hit and those guys put good swings on them and hit them hard.
“(Getting that early lead) was really important. It basically let us know that we could win this.
“Coming off Saturday, that emotional high that we were on, it carried over,” Buffington continued. “Give the credit to the kids.”
Murray, meanwhile, never got into a rhythm. The junior left-hander threw 32 pitches in the first inning, and Haven added another run in the second when Blugis singled, stole second and scored on a single by Fink to take a 3-1 lead.
When Murray walked two of the first three batters to open the third, North Schuylkill coach Nick Brayford brought left-hander Bobby Grigas out of the bullpen.
“He had a tough time,” Brayford said of Murray. “Hitting the second kid of the game on a 1-2 pitch, it kind of snowballed on him. He wasn’t as sharp as he was the other day against Catasauqua.”
Schuylkill Haven made it 4-1 in the fourth inning when Zavier Webb singled, stole second, took third on a flyout to right and scored on an infield single by Fink.
Fink hit a routine grounder to the right of the first baseman, but outran the pitcher to the first-base bag for the hit.
That run proved critical when North Schuylkill (16-7) started to slice into the Haven lead.
A two-out RBI single by Jordan Marlow made it 4-2 in the fifth, and the Spartans threatened to tie it in the seventh when Ryan Hillbish reached on an error and scored on Zahodnick’s two-out double.
With the tying run on second base, Conage bore down.
He got Marlow to fly out to right to end it, setting off a celebration on the Coca-Cola Park mound.
Last year, Schuylkill Haven won the Class A crown and reached the PIAA semifinals. Now they’ll embark on a state playoff run in Class AA.
“This is great. This is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had,” Conage said. “I wouldn’t change it for the world. Especially coming out here with all my best friends even makes it better.
“Last year we had a great run in states. It was an awesome time. Hopefully we can do it again.”
Game Summary
District 11 Class AA Championship
At Coca-Cola Park, Allentown
NORTH SCHUYLKILL (3) — B. Grigas cf-p 2 1 1 0, Zahodnick ss 4 0 2 2, Marlow rf 3 0 1 1, Rupinski lf-cf 3 0 0 0, Burke c 3 0 0 0, Murray p-lf 3 0 1 0, Antalosky 2b 0 0 0 0, Hummel dh 3 0 1 0, S. Grigas cr-pr 0 0 0 0, Steinhilber 1b 3 1 1 0, Hillbish 3b 3 0 0 0, Wagner pr 0 1 0 0. Totals 27 3 7 3.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN (4) — Webb cf 4 1 1 0, Blugis c 2 2 1 0, Handling cr 0 0 0 0, Fink 2b 3 1 3 2, Saul lf 2 0 1 0, Conage p 0 0 0 0, Behm dh 2 0 1 2, Bl. Moyer 3b 2 0 1 0, Ulsh ss 3 0 0 0, Fryer 1b 3 0 0 0, Browne rf 3 0 0 0. Totals 24 4 8 4.
NS (16-7) 100 010 1 — 3
Haven (20-3) 210 100 x — 4
E — North Schuylkill 0, Schuylkill Haven 1. DP — None. LOB — North Schuylkill 6, Schuylkill Haven 9. 2B — Zahodnick 2. 3B — Murray. SB — Zahodnick, Webb, Blugis. CS — S. Grigas. S — Marlow, Behm.
North Sch. IP H R ER BB K
Murray L,4-3 2.1 5 3 3 3 1
BGrigas 3.2 3 1 1 2 2
Sch. Haven IP H R ER BB K
Conage W,7-1 7 7 3 2 2 5
HBP — by Murray (Blugis). T — 1:56.