Dalton Follweiler in complete control, helps ease Muhlenberg’s rough start
Shane Rosenberry has been catching Dalton Follweiler since they were 9 and 10 years old, respectively, and teammates in the MTAA program.
The Muhlenberg right-hander hasn’t changed much since those Little League days, his catcher says. He hit the catcher’s target back then and he does the same now.
Follweiler did it Wednesday night when he walked just one over six strong innings in a 9-2 Berks League Division I win over Wilson at Gochnauer Field.
“That’s (always) been Dalton’s thing,” Rosenberry said. “He just throws strikes. He really hits his spot, nine times out of 10 times. That’s the biggest part of his success.”
Follweiler was the closer last season when All-Berks lefty Brad Coley handled the big starts on the Muhls’ way to a county championship.
Follweiler’s a senior now and has assumed the role as the Muhls’ No. 1. He doesn’t throw nearly as hard as Coley or possess the same kind of sweeping curve. He sticks mostly to his fastball, mixes in a slider and throws both over the plate.
“It’s all about location, hitting your spots,” he said simply, which is how he approaches things on the mound – simply.
Follweiler works mostly from the stretch, doesn’t give out free passes and controls the running game when batters do reach. Easier said than done, of course, but Follweiler’s done it this season. He stopped the bleeding after the Muhls (2-1, 4-2) lost their first two games by throwing a two-hit shutout against Exeter.
It was more of the same Wednesday as he controlled the Bulldogs (1-2, 5-3), allowing just two hits through the first six innings before tiring. He opened the seventh by allowing his first walk and a single, then handed the ball to Muhls coach Brian Kopetsky after throwing 81 pitches, 58 of them strikes.
“I wanted it,” he said of a second complete game, “but I knew I was out of gas and so did coach.”
No matter. He left with a 9-1 lead and more than did his job. He was touched for an unearned run in the third and was charged with a second run in the seventh after reliever Aiden Lopez walked two straight batters, the second with the bases loaded.
That run gave Follweiler an ERA; he didn’t have one before that, unless you count 0.00. He opened the season by pitching 15 innings without an earned run.
“We just knew he was gonna come out here (tonight) and do his thing,” Rosenberry said.
“Dalton comes in and commands the zone,” said Kopetsky. “He commands both sides of the plate. Has the ability to change speed. Changes eye levels. That’s tough for high school hitters.”
Follweiler retired nine straight batters before that leadoff walk in the seventh. He found his rhythm and threw easily after his teammates built a 5-1 lead by scoring three times in the third.
“I was just going out and doing my thing,” he said. “I had no worries in the world. I knew my defense was behind me, knew what was going on, we were just cruising.”
It helped to have an early 2-0 lead, something he couldn’t have expected considering Wilson brough its ace, Matt VanOstenbridge. You want to talk about control, the Bulldogs’ junior has had it: He struck out 26 batters without a walk in his first four appearances.
The hard-throwing lefty didn’t bring that same pinpoint control with him to Laureldale. He walked leadoff batter Cam Burr on four pitches, then balked him to second.
Rosenberry picked up on VanOstenbridge’s early command issues and pounced. He ripped a fastball down the left-field line for an RBI double, then scored from third on a passed ball for a 2-0 first-inning lead.
“I was hunting the fastball,” said Rosenberry. “He struggled with his curveball command early. I saw he missed with two curveballs early in (my) at-bat, so I just (geared) up for the fastball and I got what I wanted. It was a little up but I was able to hang on and put it down the line. The mental side of the game is what won me that at-bat.”
The Muhls have been better in all facets all the game since a 15-3 loss to Gov. Mifflin at Gochnauer Field early last week dropped them to 0-2.
They’ve responded with four straight wins, each of them lopsided. They started with a 7-0 win over Exeter – the Eagles’ first loss after a 3-0 start – and have outscored their last four opponents 37-3.
“That was motivation,” Rosenberry said of being 10-runned by Mifflin. “As you can see, we’ve really capitalized on the games we’ve had since.”
“After that game, we knew what we had to do, and we did it,” said Follweiler, “we got it all worked out.”
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| Wilson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | – | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Muhlenberg | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | x | – | 9 | 7 | 4 |
| Bulldogs (5-3) | AB | R | H | RBI | Muhls (4-2) | AB | R | H | RBI | |
| Fernandez, cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Burr, 2b | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| T. Hunsicker, 3b/p | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Cavanna, rf | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Kulp, p/3b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rosenberry, c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Geng, p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Keller, ss | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| C. Hunsicker, 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Hatt, lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Fiorini, dh/3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gumby, lf/cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| VanOstenbridge, p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wilson, 3b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Gabaldon, 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lopez, cf/p | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Crocona, lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cipolla, dh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wentzel, lf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Kolodziejski, pr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Shutter, c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Follweiler, p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gable, ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Sensenig, rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Ruiz, ss | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 25 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 9 | 7 | 8 |
E:Ruiz; Follweiler 2, Keller, Rodriguez 2B: Cavanna, Rosenberry. SB: Ruiz, T. Hunsicker; Burr 2, Cavanna, Lopez. LOB: Wilson 7, Muhlenberg 4. DP: Wilson 1.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |||
| VanOstenbridge, L | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | Follweiler, W | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Kulp | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Lopez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| T. Hunsicker | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||
| Geng | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
WP:Keller. B: VanOstenbridge. PB: Shutter. HBP: Gabaldon (by Follweiler); Cavanna (by VanOstenbridge).
