Fleetwood dumps top-seeded West Perry, heads to district semifinal

In late April the Fleetwood Tigers were trying to escape from the grips of a six-game losing streak and saddled with a 3-9 record. No one was thinking about the state baseball tournament at that point.

Now, after upending top-seeded West Perry 2-0 Thursday, the Tigers are just one win away from qualifying for the PIAA Class 4A Tournament.

“I told the kids we wanted to be playing meaningful baseball going into the last two weeks of the season and hopefully make districts,” said Tigers coach Rolland Green, “and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. For some reason, we’ve turned it around.”

Fleetwood went through a brutal stretch in mid April, playing (and losing) five straight games against Wilson, Oley Valley, Gov. Mifflin, Muhlenberg and Exeter — all league and district qualifiers. They were in all but one of those games; they lost two of them by one run.

Those games certainly prepared the ninth-seeded Tigers (9-12) for good competition and tight games, and that’s what they faced Thursday in a District 3 quarterfinal at West Perry (14-7).

“We had good defense and pitching all year, we just haven’t hit much,” said Green. “I thought if we could stay afloat, anything’s possible.”

Pitching and defense carried the Tigers Thursday. They didn’t make an error and got outstanding pitching from Jake Karnish and Ryan Moser, who combined on a two-hitter. Karnish went 5 1/3 innings and struck out nine. Moser got the final five outs for the save; he didn’t allow a hit or walk.

Fleetwood went up 1-0 in the third when Mark Piskorski scored on Liam Hilburt’s sacrifice. Jayson Brey scored on an error in the fourth to make it 2-0.

The Tigers had just two hits.

Before Monday’s 3-1 win over Octorara the Tigers hadn’t won a game in district play since 2014. They lost opening-round games in 2014, 2017 and 2018.

Now they’re one win away from their first championship game appearance since 2008. They’ll play Tuesday at fifth-seeded Littlestown, a 6-4 winner Thursday over Hamburg. The loser will play a state-qualifier.

“It’s great to see the kids having fun,” said Green. “Just to see the look on their faces (after that win), that’s awesome.”