PIAA Tournament openers set for Gov. Mifflin, Wilson, Fleetwood

By Mike Drago Last updated Jun 12, 2024

Gov. Mifflin shortstop Bryce Detwiler tries to turn doubleplay in District 3 championship game. (PhilMarPhoto)

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Gov. Mifflin will open the PIAA baseball tournament at home while Wilson and Fleetwood hit the road when play begins Monday.

The Mustangs (20-5), who reached the District 3 Class 5A championship game, will face District 12 runner-up Frankford at Rulon Griffith Field at 4.

Wilson (19-7), which finished third in Class 6A, plays at North Allegheny at 4:00. The Tigers (17-6) beat Mount Lebanon 1-0 in the District 7 championship game.

Fleetwood (15-10), which finished third in Class 4A, plays at North Catholic in Pittsburgh at 4:30. The Trojans (17-5) beat Indiana 7-5 in the District 7 championship game.

Gov. Mifflin will be looking for its first PIAA Tournament win; it last played in the tournament in 2021, losing to Emmaus 2-1. The Mustangs are coming off a 6-1 loss to Mechanicsburg in the district title game.

The Mustangs face a Pioneers team coming off an 11-0 loss to Bonner-Prendergast in the district final; they got just one hit in that game.

Frankford averaged more than nine runs per game against its Philadelphia Public League competition but will likely face much better pitching when it arrives in Shillington.

Mifflin is led by a pair of junior right-handers, Ethan Grim and Bryce Detwiler.

Grim, an All-Berks pick, is 6-3 overall with a 2.00 ERA and 91 strikeouts over 59 1/3 innings. Detwiler, the Berks Player of the Year, has been tremendous in the postseason. He struck out 19 batters in consecutive 1-0, complete-game victories over Garden Spot and Lampeter-Strasburg in the district playoffs.

Detwiler is 8-2 with a 1.55 ERA and 68 strikeouts over 54 innings. He has an 0.95 ERA in four postseason starts.

Fleetwood’s Liam Hilburt. (PhilMarPhoto)

Frankford scored 10 runs or more nine times this season; it was not shut out until running into Bonner-Prendergast.

The Bulldogs return to state play for the fourth time in the last five tournaments (the 2020 season was suspended). They are looking for their first state win since beating Penn-Trafford 6-5 in 2019.

The Berks champs opened the District 3 Tournament with a 4-1 win over Manheim Township before falling to Ephrata 2-1 in the semifinals. They beat Waynesboro 7-3 in the playback round to secure the third and final state berth out of District 3.

They run into a North Allegheny team coming off a 1-0 win over Mount Lebanon, the two-time defending district champ. The Tigers got an 11-strikeout, no-hitter from David Posey, who improved to 6-0 and lowered his ERA to 2.39. Posey, who is committed to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, pitched a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts in a 3-0 quarterfinal win over Norwin.

The district championship was the second in four seasons for North Allegheny and its ninth overall.

Fleetwood returns to the PIAA Tournament for the second time in three years after beating James Buchanan 5-2 in the District 3 third-place game to secure the final state berth.

The Tigers again got an outstanding effort from senior right-hander Liam Hilburt, who went the distance for the third straight time in the postseason. Hilburt improved to 8-1 overall and is 3-0 in the postseason with an 0.67 ERA.

North Catholic rallied from an early four-run deficit to beat ninth-seeded Indiana 7-5 in the District 7 Class 4A final. Trojans ace Tommy Schafale was tagged for five early runs but settled down and went the distance, improving to 9-0.

North Catholic entered the district tournament as the No. 6 seed but won its first two games by shutout, then knocked off second-seeded Thomas Jefferson 12-4 in the semifinals.

North Catholic is led by St. Joseph’s University recruit Blake Primrose, who is batting .444 and has hit eight homers. The catcher has a 1.000 slugging percentage and a 1.556 OPS.