Kutztown Cougars continue postseason roll, win PIAA Tournament opener

The Kutztown Cougars have a first-round win in the PIAA baseball tournament and an ace in the hole.

They got a solid pitching performance from sophomore Colten Mathias in Monday’s 8-4 win over Elk Lake in a Class 2A opener at Springville and will have senior Bryce Schafer available for the second round.

Schafer, who carried a shutout in the final inning in the District 3 championship game, will get the ball Thursday when the Cougars face District 4 runner-up South Williamsport in a state quarterfinal, site and time to be determined. South Williamsport defeated Schuylkill Haven 3-1.

Most teams will send out their No. 1 in the opening round of a single-elimination tournament but Cougars coach Tim Mertz was confident Mathias could handle the assignment.

“He said there were some nerves,” Mertz said, “but you didn’t really notice. His dominance and what he did out there didn’t show that.”

Mathias (6-2) leads the District 3 champs in wins, innings pitched and ERA (1.57) after going six innings and allowing just one earned run against the Warriors (19-5). He allowed nine hits, just one for extra bases.

“(With) what he did in the early season, to get us to the point we were, he earned every right to be there,” Mertz said.

“When we saw them play (last week in the district championship game), we felt he might be a little bit better of a match-up.”

Mertz’s scouting report assured him the Cougars (18-6) would be able to hit Elk Lake ace Elias Owens and run the bases freely once they reached.

They did both.

Third baseman Kole Schuler went 4-for-4 with three RBIs to lead a 14-hit attack, 13 of them off Owens, who entered with an 8-2 record and 1.73 ERA.

He hadn’t faced a team that swings the bat as well as the Cougars, who are hitting over .350 as a team and feature three guys batting over .400.

Second baseman Dominic Pizzelanti pushed his batting average over that mark by going 3-for-4 Monday with a pair of runs scored; Schuler is also batting over .400.

“Offensively, we’re hitting the ball well and things are rolling for us right now,” said Mertz, whose team has won nine of its last 10.

Owens allowed 13 hits and seven runs, all earned. Owens had allowed just 16 earned runs in 13 previous appearances. Opposing batters had been hitting just .187 against him.

Mertz’s scouting report also picked up that the Cougars would be able to take bases at will and they ended up with 10 stolen bases in 10 attempts. Schuler stole four bases and Corey Gilbert stole three.

“They have a freshman catcher,” Mertz said. “We scouted that and we knew that we could run on that. We put the pressure on and took advantage of that.”

Kutztown went up 4-0 in the second as Matt Remick hit a two-run double and Schuler had a two-run single.

The Cougars extended their lead to 7-1 with three sixth-inning runs. Ashton Dunn’s bunt single plated one run, Remick drove in his third run with a sacrifice fly and Schuler had an RBI single.

Elk Lake (19-5), playing on its home field, scored three unearned runs in the sixth to close the gap to 7-4. Kutztown extended its lead with a run in the seventh.