Dalton Follweiler complete game lifts Muhlenberg into PIAA Tournament

By Michael Quinn — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Muhlenberg, once again riding the steady pitching of senior Dalton Follweiler, locked up a spot in the PIAA Tournament Tuesday, defeating Shippensburg 5-2 in the District 3 Class 5A fifth-place game at Gochnauer Field.

After falling to Lower Dauphin in the quarterfinals the Muhls’ only chance to make the PIAA Tournament was to win two straight games in the playback bracket. 

They did just that. 

The eighth-seeded Muhls took care of business, beating Lampeter-Strasburg 8-3 behind a complete game from Follweiler before eliminating No. 14 Shippensburg.

Follweiler pitched a two-hitter Tuesday, improving to 8-1 and lowering his ERA to 1.13. He posted six strikeouts and walked just one. Both of Shippensburg’s runs were unearned; Muhlenberg committed three errors.

“He’s just steady,” Muhls coach Brian Kopetsky said of Follweiler, an All-Berks pick. “He does his job, he works quickly, hits his spots and the kids play with incredible confidence behind him.”

After surrendering a hit to Shippensburg’s leadoff batter, Erby Weller, and balking him to second, Follweiler was in an immediate jam. 

“I just tried to stay calm and relaxed,” Follweiler said. “I’ve never been here before but I treated it like it was a regular game.”

The right-hander kept the first-inning damage to the minimum, allowing just one run.

Muhlenberg answered immediately, scoring three times in the first.

Shortstop Eli Keller worked a two-out walk and scored off a double by Derek Wilson. Wilson came home when designated hitter Sean Patton reached on an error. Patton scored on Josh Smeltzer’s single.

“It was a very big momentum change in the game,” Follweiler said of the first-inning runs.

Keller agreed and mentioned the chatter in the dugout before the inning started. 

“We were like ‘Oh, it’s one run, unearned, they didn’t even do anything to really deserve that run,’ ” he said. “We just rallied from there for three with two outs.”

Keller, a sophomore, had a stellar night defensively, backing Follweiler with five assists and a putout at shortstop.

“For the past few days of practice, there’s been some bad hops, and I’ve been trying to see the ball and react to it,” Keller said. “Today, I saw the ball perfectly.” 

Junior Shane Rosenberry put the Muhls up 4-1 in the second with an RBI single.

The Greyhounds (13-10) scored in the fourth on a wild pitch. 

Muhlenberg went up 5-2 in the fourth when Julian Hatt worked a walk, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt by catcher Troy Chamberlin and slid home on a wild pitch.

The Muhls were limited to four hits by Tucker Chamberlin, who struck out 10 over six innings.

Muhlenberg (16-9) advances to play District 7 champion Shaler on June 5 in the PIAA Tournament. 

“We talked all week about ‘Why not?’ ” Kopetsky said. “There’s no reason why we can’t be the team that goes and represents District 3 in that tournament. They’re super excited – it’s big for our program.”