Muhls’ baseball championship even better than imagined
Brad Coley saw the moment in his mind: Final out. He and his Muhlenberg teammates rushing to the mound. Huge dog pile celebration.
It’s what every baseball player dreams of.
When it happened Wednesday night, after the Muhls’ 11-3 win over Oley Valley in the Berks League championship game, it was even better than Coley could have imagined.
“You can prepare for it all you want, but it’s a surreal moment,” said the senior and winning pitcher. “There’s nothing better. It almost feels unreal.”
It was, in fact, very real and not all that hard to imagine. Not after the way the Muhls (19-2) hit during the regular season and the way they have continued the onslaught during the postseason.
They had 13 hits and scored nine runs in a first-round win over Kutztown. Sprayed around another 13 hits in a 10-7 semifinal against Exeter. They got eight hits over the first three innings of the championship game, turning FirstEnergy Stadium into a giant pinball machine.
| Past championships | ||||
| 2021 | Gov. Mifflin | 5 | Wilson | 4 |
| 2019 | Wilson | 4 | Hamburg | 3 |
| 2018 | Muhlenberg | 3 | Fleetwood | 0 |
| 2017 | Wilson | 13 | Twin Valley | 4 |
| 2016 | Gov. Mifflin | 9 | Exeter | 0 |
| 2015 | Gov. Mifflin | 3 | Daniel Boone | 1 |
| 2014 | Reading High | 2 | Berks Catholic | 1 |
| 2013 | Oley Valley | 5 | Kutztown | 0 |
| 2012 | Fleetwood | 12 | Gov. Mifflin | 6 |
| 2011 | Gov. Mifflin | 3 | Twin Valley | 2 |
| 2010 | Conrad Weiser | 5 | Twin Valley | 4 |
| 2009 | Gov. Mifflin | 7 | Oley Valley | 2 |
| 2008 | Gov. Mifflin | 5 | Schuylkill Valley | 4 |
They faced nine different pitchers over the three-round tournament, had hits against each of them and scored on seven of them.
In all, they scored 30 runs in three playoff games.
The second-seeded Muhls scored in each of the first four innings Wednesday, building leads of 7-0, 9-2 and 11-2 to drain the drama from this championship evening.
“Every single time I’m up there’s always a guy on base for me,” said senior cleanup hitter Sam Martinez, who added to his team-leading RBI total with a second-inning single. “That’s what I love about this team: We just don’t quit.”
They don’t quit hitting, that’s for sure. They came into the game with a lineup that included four .400 hitters and an impressive .330 team average. They tacked a few points onto that fat average.
Third baseman Cameron Burr had two hits, two steals and scored three runs in the first three innings. Center fielder Luis Beato had three RBIs, with a first-inning sacrifice fly and a two-run single in the five-run second. Second baseman Jacob Rodriguez singled, walked and drove in two runs. Catcher Shane Rosenberry went 2-for-2 with a walk; his courtesy runner, Jermickey Gumby, scored twice.
The Muhls have been held below four runs in a game just twice all season; they scored 10 or more for the seventh time Wednesday.
There was intrigue before the game when it was learned that Lynx ace Luke Macdonald would be able to start the game; both he and head coach Scott Pinder were under the impression following Tuesday’s semifinal win over Wilson that Macdonald would be ineligible to come back after throwing 27 pitches in relief to close out that game.
Macdonald has been phenomenal this season and gave the eighth-seeded Lynx (13-8) a legitimate chance to pull of a third straight upset over a bigger school.
Pinder, after the 8-6 comeback win over the Bulldogs, said it didn’t matter who he pitched in the final; turns out he was right. The Muhls are hitting everyone these days.
Macdonald, who had allowed just two earned runs over 38 innings, was not his usual sharp self against the Muhls. Pinder said he was tight and had trouble getting loose before the game. Macdonald needed 20 pitches to get through his only inning and allowed two hits and two runs. When he hit the second batter, Sean Levan, with a 3-1 pitch it was a bad sign for the Lynx.
Oley’s No. 2 pitcher, Paul Petersen, was also unavailable after throwing against Wilson the day before.
“We just ran out of arms,” said Pinder. “Give all the credit to (Muhlenberg) for coming out and doing what they did. They’re a good team.”
The Muhls wasted little time getting after Macdonald, as Burr led off the first with a single and Sean Levan was hit by a pitch. After a double steal, Burr scored on Beato’s sacrifice fly. One out later Jacob Rodriguez poked an RBI single to left for a 2-0 lead.
With Macdonald gone, the Muhls scored five times in the second against Ty Yerger, then turned it over to Coley. The left-hander took it from there, striking out six and allowing three hits and two runs over five innings.
The championship was the second for Muhlenberg in four years; it also won the 2018 title, beating Fleetwood 3-0. It was the third county title for Brian Kopetsky — two as a coach, one as a player. In 1981 he was the winning pitcher when the Muhls beat Oley Valley in the championship game at what was then called Municipal Memorial Stadium.
Kopetsky and the Muhls could feel this championship coming. The momentum started a year ago, on the same field, when they lost a league semifinal in a walkoff to eventual champion Gov. Mifflin.
“That put a chip on our shoulder,” said Burr. “We had to come back and be even stronger, show them what we are.”
Kopetsky said he saw things falling into place last year in the district tournament when the Muhls, then seeded No. 8, knocked off top-seeded Manheim Central on its own field, 13-3. That clinched a PIAA Tournament berth.
“After that playoff (run), I knew this year we’d be coming in hard, strong,” said Martinez. “All the pain, all the tears we went through, all that hard work we did just to get to this moment, it’s just crazy.”
“Last year we made a deep run, fell just short, and the seniors didn’t let that go,” said Coley. “Even the sophomores and the freshmen. Everybody worked so hard all offseason. It was bound (to happen). We knew we were going to make a run, whether we won it all or whether we came in second or third. We knew we were going to put everything out here every single day.”
Coley and his teammates lingered on the field after the game, posing for photos with the BCIAA championship trophy and soaking in the field’s rich baseball atmosphere and history they’re now a part of.
“Great field. Great environment. Great team,” said Coley. “Just to see it all come together in the end was awesome. Wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else; wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”
