Macdonald, Oley hold off Wilson, reach Berks title game (updated)

Luke Macdonald rescued Oley Valley again Tuesday, recording the final five outs to preserve an 8-6 win over Wilson in a Berks Baseball League semifinal at FirstEnergy Stadium. He wasn’t thrilled, however.

Yes, the senior right-hander was happy to see the Lynx back in the title game for the first time in nine years but he won’t get to pitch in the game.

He needed 27 pitches to get through the sixth and a messy seventh, when he loaded the bases after striking out the first two batters. Because of his pitch count, he can’t pitch on back-to-back days, due to PIAA rules.

“I knew if (starting pitcher Paul Peterson) got in trouble, I was next,” Macdonald said. “I just hoped it was the last inning.”

Macdonald came on to pitch with two on and one out in the sixth inning and retired the next two batters, on eight pitches. He breezed past the first two batters of the seventh before Wilson’s Evan Galbaldon kept the game alive with a single. When he advanced to second on a wild pitch, Macdonald intentionally walked Rueben Livingston, the Bulldogs’ top hitter and a Kent State recruit.

When Macdonald plunked Ryan Sekulski to load the bases the pressure racheted up a couple notches, but Lynx senior Joey Vaccaro was worried

“Luke’s a dog, man,” said Vaccaro. “I knew we were in the right hands when he came into that game.”

Now the eighth-seeded Lynx (13-7) head to the championship game for the first time since 2013, when they beat Kutztown to win the title. Oley Valley meets the winner of the second game of the double-header, between second-seeded Muhlenberg (17-2) and third-seeded Exeter (15-5).

The Lynx scored four times in the sixth to take an 8-6 lead, with Vaccaro snapping a tie game with an RBI single and Chase Reifsnyder following with a sacrifice fly to give Oley a two-run cushion. They had trailed for most of the game, after the Bulldogs (9-10) erupted for six runs in the second.

The Lynx, battle-tested after winning a district title last season and advancing to the PIAA Class 3A championship game, never wavered.

“We made history last year; we were expecting to make history this year,” said Vaccaro. “All of us walked into the locker room this morning and expected this.”

Oley Valley advanced by pulling off one of the biggest upsets in league playoff history, when it took out top-seeded Gov. Mifflin 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

“At the end of the day, with Mifflin our record was 0-0 going into that game,” said Vaccaro. “We were both 1-0 here. You’ve gotta go out and do a job.

“If you play scared, you’re going to go out, you’re going to boot the ball, you’re not gonna play good. We came out here with nothing to lose. Who expects us to win back-to-back? No one does.”

Oley Valley scored three times in the second to go up 3-0.

The fifth-seeded Bulldogs (9-10) took the lead with six runs in the bottom of the second.

The Bulldogs aren’t done yet. They have a contingency game scheduled against Boyertown Wednesday, a game they need to win in order to get into the District 3 Class 6A Tournament.

Wilson has hard-throwing right-hander Rueben Livingston available to pitch Wednesday; Lehigh recruit Cole Leaman is not available, according to Bulldogs coach Sal Raccuglia.