JOHNSTOWN — The day didn’t start well for Upper Dauphin, but the Trojans couldn’t have asked for a better ending.
Tanner Miller paced the offense to back pitcher Aaron Cleveland and lead UDA to a 6-2 win over Richland in the first round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs Monday at Johnstown’s Point Stadium.
The victory is the Trojans’ first in the PIAA playoffs since they reached the Class A semifinals in 2001. They’ll play District 7 runner-up Quaker Valley, a 3-1 winner in eight innings over Cranberry, in the quarterfinals Thursday at a time and location to be determined.
But Monday’s game nearly didn’t happen. Not because of rain, but because of transportation.
Upper Dauphin’s bus was 40 minutes late to pick the team up for Monday’s game, and the Trojans didn’t get to Point Stadium until 5 p.m. — one hour before first pitch — when they immediately took the field for warm-ups.
“My blood pressure was up before we ever even left the school,” Upper Dauphin coach Ryan Lentz said. “It was pandemonium when we got here. But hey, we’ll be able to relax on the way home.”
Upper Dauphin (15-10) wasted little time getting to Richland starter Jake Buchanan. Miller led off with a single to right-center on the first pitch. Kaleb Hoch struck out in the next at-bat but reached first on a dropped strike three. Casey Wise’s bouncer to second was mishandled, allowing Miller to score before Cleveland drove in Hoch on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
All three of Miller’s hits were leadoff singles.
“I was seeing the ball really well, getting on base, putting myself in a good position for players on my team to hit me in,” Miller, a senior team captain, said. “It was a great feeling today.”
Getting in front early has been Upper Dauphin’s recipe for success this postseason, as the Trojans have been the visiting team in every playoff game of 2015.
“We’ve been the underdog the whole way through this,” Lentz said. “I think being the visiting team in every playoff game we’ve played so far has come into our benefit. We’ve always struck blood first.
The Trojans struck again in the second inning when No. 8 hitter Travis Deitrich singled and stole second before scoring on Peyton Barge’s mishandled single to center to make it 3-0.
District 6 champion Richland (17-7) got a run back in the bottom of the third when Buchanan launched a leadoff double to center and scored after a potential double-play ball turned into an error. Cleveland got out of the inning on an infield fly-out and a groundout.
UDA threatened again in the top of the fifth off Miller’s second leadoff single. However, Miller was caught stealing and Richland first baseman Nick D’Ambrosia made a diving catch in foul territory to get the Rams out of trouble unscathed.
D’Ambrosia carried his play into the bottom of the inning with a one-out single to left. He eventually scored on Jack Shirk’s RBI single down the left-field line, but a perfect throw by Barge in left threw out the Rams’ Tyler Bodenschatz at the plate to preserve a 3-2 lead.
The Trojans made Richland pay for the mistake in the sixth. Glouner and Cleveland led off with back-to-back singles to set up Kolby Bond’s pinch-hit, two-run single to the left-center gap, extending Upper Dauphin’s lead to 5-2.
“I put him in there to pinch-hit in that at-bat and he comes through with a full-count, fouled some pitches off and comes up with a big hit,” Lentz said. “We had a lot of guys, total team effort throughout the playoffs and we just keep solidifying that.
“At one point this season, we weren’t even sure we were going to make district playoffs. We won six, lost six. It took a little kick to get us going again. Once we’ve gotten rolling, these guys are playing great baseball.”
Cleveland appeared in trouble again in the sixth after he hit Buchanan with two outs and Tim Rubal roped a ball to right-center. But Wise sprinted 20 yards from his position in center field and laid out head-first to make the catch on Rubal and end the inning.
“I wasn’t doing much in the at-bat side, so I figured I had to make it up on defense,” Wise said. “Do whatever I could, lay out, whatever I needed to do to get there.”
While Cleveland got great defense all night, he didn’t always need it. He only threw more than 15 pitches in an inning once and finished with five strikeouts, two walks and hit two batters.
Hats off to them. (Cleveland) pitched a real nice game,” Richland coach John Sidor said. “He kept us off stride a little bit. When we did get runners on base, we just couldn’t get that clutch base hit that we have been getting the last couple games.”
Like Upper Dauphin, Richland started its postseason run as the eighth seed in its district playoffs. D’Ambrosia led the Rams with two hits and a run.
Upper Dauphin scored its final run when Miller singled and scored on an error in the seventh.
“We’re one of the best eight teams in the state now,” Miller said. “From the beginning of the season, when we went on a six-game losing streak, we never thought we’d be here right now. It’s unbelievable.”
Game Summary
PIAA Class AA First Round
At Point Stadium, Johnstown
UPPER DAUPHIN (6) — Miller ss 4 2 3 0, Hoch rf 2 1 0 0, Wise cf 4 0 0 1, Lenker 3b 1 0 0 0, Glouner dh 3 1 1 0, Cleveland p 3 0 1 1, Snyder cr 0 1 0 0, M. Deitrich 1b 2 0 1 0, Lesher c 2 0 0 0, Bond ph 1 0 1 2, T. Deitrich 2b 3 1 1 0, Barge lf 3 0 1 0. Totals 28 6 9 4.
RICHLAND (2) — Bodenschatz lf 3 0 1 1, Frear 2b 3 0 0 0, Shirk ss 3 0 1 1, Kutchman 3b-p 3 0 0 0, Onderko c 3 0 0 0, Pasko rf 2 0 0 0, Buchanan p-cf 2 1 1 0, Rubal cf 1 0 0 0, Faight dh 2 0 0 0, D’Ambrosia 1b 3 1 2 0. Totals 25 2 5 2.
UDA (15-10) 210 002 1 — 6
Richland (17-7) 001 010 0 — 2
E — Upper Dauphin 1, Richland 3. DP — Upper Dauphin 1. LOB — Upper Dauphin 5, Richland 5. 2B — Buchanan. SB — Miller, Hoch, Wise, T. Deitrich. CS — Miller. S — Hoch, M. Deitrich. SF — Cleveland.
UDA IP H R ER BB K
Clevelnd W,5-3 7 5 2 2 2 5
Richland IP H R ER BB K
Buchanan L 6 8 5 3 0 4
Kutchman 1 1 1 1 0 0
HBP — by Cleveland (Frear, Buchanan). PB — Onderko 2. T — 1:51.