It’s mission accomplished for Berks champion Mustangs
(Note: Boxscore updated with changes to reflect official scoring.)
Tyler Minick fired a pitch past Rafael Fernandez for the final out of the BCIAA baseball championship game, then casually strode off the mound and flipped his glove over his shoulder.
Mission Accomplished
“It’s amazing,” said Minick after his Gov. Mifflin team beat Wilson 6-3 Monday night at FirstEnergy Stadium to claim their second league championship three years and record 15th.
| Berks champs | |
| 2022 | Muhlenberg |
| 2021 | Gov. Mifflin |
| 2020 | |
| 2019 | Wilson |
| 2018 | Muhlenberg |
| 2017 | Wilson |
| 2016 | Gov. Mifflin |
| 2015 | Gov. Mifflin |
| 2014 | Reading High |
| 2013 | Oley Valley |
| 2012 | Fleetwood |
Minick and the top-seeded Mustangs were positioned for back-to-back titles a year ago but were stunned in the opening round of the BCIAA Tournament by eighth-seeded Oley Valley. That loss lingered for months; Minick, one of the Mustangs’ senior captains, was burning to make amends.
On a mission, in fact.
“Last year just completely left a sour tasted in our mouth,” said senior captain Darien Troche. “We wanted to work (in the offseason), we wanted to have that one-game mentality, and we wanted to keep pushing.”
The Mustangs (18-4) won the Berks I title, entered the tournament as the top seed and played consistently over the three-game, five-day tournament. They scored eight runs in their first at-bat and never trailed throughout the tournament.
Minick homered three times in the first two games, sophomore Ethan Grim started and won the first and final games and the Mustangs played near-flawlessly in the field; they committed one error over 21 innings and didn’t allow an unearned run.
Then they celebrated on the field, just as they did two years ago after beating Wilson 5-4 and as they hoped to last year, when they entered the postseason with an impressive 19-1 record.
“This was the memory our seniors wanted,” said Mifflin coach Chris Hole as his players celebrated around him, “not the way we went out last year.”
The Mustangs were the overwhelming favorite before the season but entered the championship game still needing to prove something after losing twice to Wilson during the regular season. Monday presented a challenge because Wilson had its ace, junior Matt VanOstenbridge, on the mound; 10 days earlier he threw a two-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory over Mifflin.
The Mustangs, facing VanOstenbridge for the third time, didn’t hit him hard — or much at all — but they got runners on base and took advantage of fielding lapses by the Bulldogs to take early command. They scored in each of the first three innings to build a 5-1 lead despite getting just two hits in their first three turns.
“Their defense had some miscues and we capitalized on it,” said Minick. “They’re a great team, but we came out and played a better team game.”
The turning point may have come in the second inning when the Mustangs scored two runs on back-to-back two-out strikeout/wild pitches to make it 3-0.
VanOstenbridge was nearly out of the inning unscathed but allowed Bryce Detwiler to reach on a strikeout/wild pitch, loading the bases. He had Alexander Velez struck out as well but skipped a pitch past catcher Jordan Shutter. Courtesy runner Joey Berg scored from third and Minick from second on the same play.
“Tacking those two extra ones on, (was) just huge,” Hole said. “It just made all the difference in the world and I’m sure it helped Ethan on the mound as well.”
The second-seeded Bulldogs (15-7) got a run back in the third but gave up two in the bottom half without allowing a hit.
“Matt went out and pitched his butt off,” said Wilson coach Bill Underwood. “We just didn’t make the plays behind him to keep it close.”
VanOstenbridge (4-3) left after five innings and allowing five hits and six runs, three earned. He walked three and struck out seven. It was his first loss in over a month.
The Mustangs were motivated to even the score against one of the top candidates for Berks Pitcher of the Year. He started each of Wilson’s wins against them.
“He embarrassed us last time,” said Hole.
“He’s a great pitcher,” said Minick, “so we did what we could against him. We tried roll more balls, strike out less.”
The Mustangs didn’t get any extra-base hits but had some timely singles. Travis Jenkins lined a two-out single to right in the first to score Detwiler. Grim dropped a two-out single down the right-field line for an RBI and 6-1 lead in the fifth.
Grim (6-2) had an even better pitching line than VanOstenbridge, going five-plus innings, allowing three hits and one run. He turned the ball over to Minick in the sixth after hitting the first two batters.
“It’s crazy to say this about a sophomore, but he’s battle-tested,” Hole said of Grim. “He wanted the ball; he wanted to be on this stage. And he proved himself quite worthy and navigating a very tough offense. Over the last couple weeks their offense has been as good as anybody in the league and he did a fantastic job.”
Minick gave up a pair of runs in the seventh on Nick Fiorini’s two-run triple but ended up where he wanted to be: In the middle of a dog pile following the championship game.
“It feels good to come back out this year and do things the right way,” said Hole, “and get back on top where we feel we belong.”
| Wilson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | – | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | – | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Bulldogs | AB | R | H | RBI | Mustangs | AB | R | H | RBI | |
| T. Hunsicker, 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Minick, ss/p | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Gabaldon, 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Detwiler, 2b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Frantz, ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| C. Hunsicker, 1b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Velez, 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wentzel, ph | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Jenkins, c | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Sekulski, rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Troche, dh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Fiorini, lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Lehman, cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Fernandez, df | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Koehler, 3b | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Shutter, c | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Radwanski, lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tobin, cr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Sensenig, dh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Grim, p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ruiz, ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Berg, cr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bildeau, ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wunderlich, rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Crocona, ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Sanchez, cr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gabel, ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Unger, ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 25 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
E: Gabaldon, Bilodeau; Detwiler. 3B:Fiorini. SB: Detwiler, Berg. CS: Ruiz; Jenkins. S: Koehler. SF: Sekulski. LOB: Wilson 9, Gov. Mifflin 6.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |||
| VanOstenbridge, L (4-3) | 5 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 7 | Grim, W (6-2) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| Kulp | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Minick | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
WP: VanOstenbridge 2. PB: Jenkins. HBP: Fernandez 2 (by Grim), Fiorini (by Grim), Shutter (by Grim).
