Cougars back in title game; Bulldogs, Mustangs, Tigers each one win away
2024 Berks baseball coverage presented by
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Kutztown graduated five starters, including four all-division picks, from its District 3 Class 2A championship team but one year later the Cougars are right back in the title game.
They’ll meet Delone Catholic Thursday at 6:30 at Wenger Field as part of a busy district schedule that will see three other Berks teams playing for a chance to reach a championship game.
Wilson, in Class 6A, Gov. Mifflin, in 5A, and Fleetwood, in 4A, can each reach a title game with wins Thursday. Each is assured of at least one more game after Thursday.
Muhlenberg, in the Class 5A playback round, faces an elimination game.
The fourth-seeded Cougars (13-10) aren’t as dominant as they were a year ago but they were good enough to win the Berks League Division IV title, then knock off top-seeded Halifax 7-3 on the road in Monday’s semifinal.
Now they face the second-seeded Squires (13-7), a team they knocked off 9-3 early in the season in a tournament at Delone.
The Cougars will have their No. 1 pitcher, Colten Mathias, available for the championship game. Sophomore Chris Bergstrom took the ball in Kutztown’s district opener and went the distance, allowing four hits over seven innings.
That means Mathias, a junior who is 3-3 with a 3.38 ERA over a team-leading 39 1/3 innings, will be on full rest. Junior Colin Diehl, who has a team-best 2.01 ERA over 24 1/3 innings, is also available.
Delone’s top pitcher, Aidan Wittmer, is eligible to pitch under the PIAA pitch restriction guidelines. He threw 75 pitches over six innings in the Squires’ 5-1 opening-round win over Newport Monday. He is 6-1 with a 1.11 ERA over 38 innings this season, with 35 strikeouts. He didn’t pitch in the earlier meeting with Kutztown.
The Cougars are looking for their seventh district championship after beating Halifax 5-1 last year at Wenger Field. Kutztown is 6-4 in championship games; one of those losses came to Delone, 4-0 in 2013.
Fourth-seeded Wilson (17-6) got an outstanding effort from Matt VanOstenbridge in its Class 6A opener. The senior struck out 10 over seven innings and allowed just three hits in a 4-1 win over No. 5 Manheim Township.
With ninth-seeded Ephrata (15-6) taking out top-seeded Cedar Cliff in nine innings Monday the Bulldogs get to play at home against the Mounts, Thursday at 4:30.
The Berks champion Bulldogs have a deep pitching staff and can turn to either sophomore Ben Kulp (5-1, 2.48) or junior Christo Hunsicker (3-1, 2.62), who started in a pair of wins over Mifflin this season.
The Mounts, who won Section 2 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League, are in short supply of pitching after playing 21 innings in their first two district games. Trent Wolf (7-0, 2.33) and Nathan Savage (3-1, 2.37) aren’t eligible to pitch after throwing 101 and 76 pitches, respectively, in the 11-inning win over Cedar Cliff. Camryn Simes (7-2, 1.58) is eligible but he threw 105 pitches and all 10 innings against Cedar Cliff.
Wilson is looking for a return to the title game; it lost to Cedar Cliff 7-1 last year. The winner clinches a berth in the PIAA Tournament; the loser plays a state-qualifier against either second-seeded Hempfield or seventh-seeded Waynesboro for the district’s third and final state berth.
Top-seeded Gov. Mifflin (19-4) can return to the championship for the first time since 2021 with a win over 12th-seeded Lampeter-Strasburg (16-8) Thursday at 4:30 at Rulon Griffith Field.
The Mustangs haven’t allowed a run in the tournament, with Bryce Detwiler throwing a four-hit shutout over Garden Spot in the opening round and Ethan Grim following with a 12-strikeout, five-hitter against Palmyra on Monday. Detwiler, a junior committed to play at the University of Connecticut, is 7-2 with a 1.78 ERA and 56 strikeouts over 47 innings.
The Pioneers took out No. 5 Donegal 5-1 in the opening round and No. 4 South Western 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Lampeter finished second to Ephrata in L-L 2.
This is the Pioneers’ first semifinals appearance since 2019; it has not played for a championship since 2012 when it beat Twin Valley for the Class 3A title.
Sixth-seeded Fleetwood (14-8) got a brilliant outing from senior Liam Hilburt in the quarterfinals. The right-hander struck out nine in throwing a four-hitter in a 3-0 win over Northern Lebanon. He’s now 7-1 with a 1.51 ERA.
The Tigers play at second-seeded East Pennsboro Thursday at 4:30. They will likely turn to sophomore Wylie Loy, who is 3-2 with a 1.73 ERA and 35 strikeouts over 40 1/3 innings.
Senior catcher Dalton Young, the Tigers’ top hitter at .369, delivered a two-run double in Monday’s win.
East Pennsboro advanced with a 5-4 win over Bishop McDevitt.
A win sends Fleetwood to the championship game for the first time since 2008, and just the second time. With a loss the Tigers will head to a state-qualifier, against either Elco or James Buchanan, for the district’s third and final state berth.
Muhlenberg (14-8) needs two straight wins to return to the state tournament for the second straight year. The seventh-seeded Muhls play at home Thursday at 7 against 14th-seeded Lower Dauphin (15-9).
The Muhls beat Manheim Central 6-5 in the opening round before falling to second-seeded Mechanicsburg 9-6. They’ll have No. 1 pitcher Cam Burr (4-2, 1.48) back on the mound.
The Falcons opened with an 8-7 win at Twin Valley before an 11-8 loss at Shippensburg.
The winner advances to play either No. 4 South Western or No. 9 Palmyra; the loser’s season is over.
