Devin Sheerin, Exeter, knock out Gov. Mifflin in thrilling district opener (updated)
Gov. Mifflin didn’t get a look at Exeter ace Deven Sheerin during the regular season.
That wasn’t a coincidence.
Eagles coach Justin Freese decided before the season that his team’s best chance to beat the Mustangs in the postseason was if they were seeing Sheerin for the first time. He thought that meeting would happen in the Berks League playoffs.
Four days after the Mustangs won the league championship Freese got the match-up he was waiting for – and Sheerin delivered.
The big right-hander silenced the best lineup in the league, allowing just one hit over 6 1/3 innings as the 15th-seeded Eagles eliminated the second-seeded Mustangs 4-1 Friday in a District 3 Class 5A opener at Rulon Griffith Field.
“We knew if he was going we would have a shot to win,” said Freese.
Sheerin, a senior headed to Mount St. Mary’s, was dominant. He struck out 11, walked three and allowed the Mustangs to make solid contact only a few times.
Mifflin’s only run came in the third when Sheerin walked the first two batters; Ethan Grim scored from third on Alexander Velez’s two-out single to the hole at short. Shortstop Aiden Rhoads gloved it but couldn’t get much on the throw.
Other than that the Mustangs couldn’t touch Sheerin, who improved to 7-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.07. He has 97 strikeouts over 44 innings.
“He was able to face them for the first time this year, and I think that helped us,” said Freese.
Mifflin (18-5) beat Exeter 8-0 and 11-1 in Berks I play. The Eagles (12-9) didn’t make the county playoffs.
Sheerin was hoping to get a crack at the Mustangs earlier this season. He was excited when the brackets were finalized Tuesday and he saw he’d get a shot to knock them out. He was not worried about a lineup that includes University Connecticut recruit Tyler Minick, Bryce Detwiler and some of the league’s other top hitters.
The Mustangs averaged nine runs per game in winning the BCIAA Tournament and 7.9 runs for the entire season.
“I was looking forward to it,” Sheerin said of the challenge. “In college (at Mount St. Mary’s) I’m going to face good hitters and good lineups, so I’ve got to get ready for that.”
Minick, who pitched out of the bullpen in the league playoffs, got the start for Mifflin. He was sharp at the outset retiring the side in order in the first and second innings with three strikeouts.
He lost the plate to start the third, plunking DH Jake Franek. When the next batter, Gavin Marr, squared to bunt Minick hit him, too.
Carter Redding sacrificed to move up the runners but Minick rushed his throw on the play and fired it past first for a two-base error, allowing Frank to score for a 1-0 lead.
Minick pitched around leadoff man Alex Kelsey, walking him to load the bases. He struck out Sheerin and got Chase Cupitt to hit a comebacker for a force at the plate and the second out.
It appeared he would escape the inning with just one run allowed when he fired a 2-2 pitch across the letters against Joel Ummarino. The home plate umpire looked like he was going to call it a strike, but didn’t. Minick walked Ummarino on the next pitch to force home the second run.
Jake Hafer sent a sinking liner to left that Jon Radwanski came up on and attempted to make a diving catch. He was ruled to have trapped the ball, the single bringing home two runs.
Otherwise, Minick was superb. He went six innings, allowed two hits and struck out 10. Three of the four runs charged against him were unearned.
The four-run lead looked humongous the way Sheerin was throwing and proved to be too much for the Mustangs to overcome.
“We knew it was going to be tough because of Sheerin,” said Mifflin coach Chris Hole. “The bracket did us no favor. That’s the reality. If you get in this tournament, you’re gonna go up against a quality No. 1 pitcher and Dev is definitely that.
“We knew it was going to be tough, we knew we had to keep it as a close game, and we just let that one inning get away from us.”
Sheerin reached the PIAA pitch maximum one out into the seventh and had to leave the game. Sophomore Gavin Miller, making his first relief appearance, came on with one on and one out. He induced a groundball, but second baseman Lukas Giering kicked it for an error.
After a strikeout Minick came to bat with runners on first and second and two out. Freese chose to put the tying run on base, a rarity in baseball.
Freese said he couldn’t remember doing that in his 28 seasons as a coach; that he did shows the respect he has for Minick’s lethal bat.
“You don’t face the Player of the Year with the game on the line,” he reasoned. “He’s the best player in Berks County. We said before the game there’s no shot Minick will beat us today.”
Miller got the next batter to ground out to end it, setting off a wild celebration by the Eagles. They go on to face Warwick at Lititz Monday at 4:30 in a quarterfinal.
It’s the second straight year a strong Mifflin team saw its season end earlier than expected. Last year the Mustangs lost in the opening round of the Berks playoffs and won just once in districts.
“I feel for our 12 seniors,” said Hole. “We were able to make the county playoff picture right, but obviously we had much bigger aspirations. You’ve just gotta tip your cap because today we were shut down by a very good pitcher.”
| Exeter | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Eagles | AB | R | H | RBI | Mustangs | AB | R | H | RBI | |
| Kelsey, cf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Minick, p/2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sheerin, p/3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Detwiler, ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cupitt, c | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Velez, 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Ummarino, 1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Jenkins, c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hafer, lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Troche, dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Giering, 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lehman, cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Franke, dh | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Koehler, 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Rhoads, ss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Radwinski, lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Marr, 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tobin, cr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heckler, ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Grim, 2b/p | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Redding, rf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Berg, cr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wunderlich, rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 22 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
E: Giering, Minick. SB: Minick, Velez. CS: Franek. S: Redding. LOB: Exeter 2, Gov. Mifflin 7.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |||
| Sheerin, W (5-2) | 6 1/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | Minick, L (0-2) | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| Miller, S (1) | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Grim | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
PB: Cupitt 2. HBP: Minick (by Sheerin), Koehler (by Sheerin); Franek (by Minick), Marr (by Minick).