Saints see season end against top-seeded Crusaders

Berks Catholic hung with top-seeded Lancaster Catholic into the eighth inning Thursday before freshman pinch-hitter Drew Walker’s two-out single gave the Crusaders a 2-1 win in a District 3 Class 3A semifinal at Riley Field in Lancaster.

The fourth-seeded Saints (13-9) tied it 1-1 in the sixth when Isaac Pichardo scored on a wild pitch but they couldn’t generate much offense against Noah Zimmerman (7-1), who struck out nine and allowed just two hits over 7 2/3 innings.

“The kids played great,” said Saints coach Brandon Shurr, “That’s a really good Lancaster Catholic baseball team and we were right there with them the whole way. It was a really well-played game.”

The Crusaders (19-3) had outscored their opponents 181-39 and came into the game batting .344. They couldn’t get much going against Berks Catholic sophomore Derek Brynildsen, who allowed just two hits and one run over six innings; he was removed after reaching the PIAA pitch-count limit.

“We couldn’t have asked for anything more out of him,” Shurr said, “he was great today.”

The Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 champs got a one-out double in the eighth from Levi Hackman. He went to third on a passed ball, then scored on Walker’s hit. According to stats on maxpreps.com, it was Walker’s first hit of the season.

Zimmerman, a 6-4 left-hander, lowered his ERA to 1.35; he has struck out 81 over 53 1/3 innings.

“He’s the real deal,” said Shurr. “He has a great arm and great future ahead of him.”

Lancaster Catholic advances to play third-seeded Trinity, a 10-6 winner over Oley Valley Thursday, in the championship game Tuesday, site to be determined. The Crusaders won district championships in 2017 and 2018, beating Oley Valley in the final each year. They lost their opener in last year’s tournament.

The Saints enjoyed a big bounce-back season, improving from five wins to 13. Their 10-0 win over Bermudian Springs in the opening round was their first in the postseason since 2018.

The Saints had just three seniors in the starting lineup Thursday.

“It was definitely a tough loss and emotional loss to have it end when you were just that close,” said Shurr. “This was great to be able to have (a winning record) this year. I’m happy for (seniors) Chris (Avram), RJ (Emrich), Isaac and Austin (Brown). They stuck with us last year going through the growing pains and were great leaders for the team.”