Deven Sheerin forced to leave early in Exeter’s District 3 playoff loss
Exeter baseball coach Justin Freese always felt that with Deven Sheerin on the mound his team could compete, and beat, any opponent.
Without him?
Well, the Eagles found out the hard way Thursday when Sheerin left the game early and Shippensburg went on to post a 10-1 victory in a District 3 Class 5A playback game that ended Exeter’s season.
Sheerin, a 6-5 right-hander committed to play at Mount St. Mary’s, experienced arm soreness and was removed from the game in the third inning.
“(When) he said he was sore, we pulled him,” said Freese, who went to the mound with two outs in the third after seeing Sheerin struggling. “A high school game’s not worth the career that the kid could have.”
The 15th-seeded Eagles (12-11) were down 2-0 at the time and stayed close until the fifth when the 14th-seeded Greyhounds (13-9) scored four times. Shippensburg scored four more times in the sixth to make it 10-1.
“He had a hard time getting loose,” Freese said of Sheerin. “You could see he was laboring. When he said, ‘I’m sore,’ I said you’re done. We knew once he came out we were in trouble.”
It was Sheerin’s first outing since he knocked out second-seeded Gov. Mifflin in the opening round of districts on May 18. Sheerin went 6 2/3 innings in the 4-1 win over the Mustangs, allowing just one hit and one run. He struck out six.
Sophomore Gavin Miller started and pitched well in a 2-1, eight-inning quarterfinal loss at Warwick. Miller was not available against Shippensburg.
Sheerin, an All-Berks pick, ends his season with a 7-3 record and 2.27 ERA. He allowed just 19 hits and struck out 101 batters over 46 1/3 innings. Opposing hitters batted just .119 against him.
He struck out 10 or more batters six times.
