Eagles feeling ‘on top of the world’ after Berks playoff victory

Luke Weller pitched the final inning of Exeter’s 6-3 Berks League quarterfinal over Hamburg Thursday, and earned a save: Not on the mound, but at shortstop.

Four innings earlier, with the bases loaded in a scoreless tie, Weller made a heads-up defensive play, doubling off a baserunner to complete an inning-ending double play that got right-hander Devin Sheerin off the hook and gave the third-seeded Eagles (15-5) a boost.

“It gave us another ‘up,’ ” said Weller. “After making that play we definitely felt better about ourselves.”

The Eagles scored three times in the bottom of the third and led the rest of the way, though the sixth-seeded Hawks (13-6) kept coming at them. Brayden Kamp’s two-run double in the sixth cut Exeter’s lead to 4-2.

Weller came in to pitch the seventh with a 6-2 lead — not a save situation, by the way — and saw the Berks III champion Hawks load the bases on a pair of singles and an error. He gave up a run-scoring groundout to Luke Bensinger before striking out power-hitting Nate Gilbert to end it.

The postseason win was the first for the Eagles in six years and sends them to the semifinals for the first time since 2016, when they reached the championship game before losing to Gov. Mifflin. They’ll play No. 2 Muhlenberg, a 9-4 winner overr No. 7 Kutztown in the second game Thursday at Owls Field.

The Eagles and Muhls will meet in the second game of a doubleheader Monday at FirstEnergy Stadium; the first game begins at 4:15.

Exeter was knocked out of the quarterfinals last year, allowing a pair of runs in the eighth in a 5-4 loss to Oley Valley. Sheerin was on the mound at the end and remembers how difficult that one was.

“We’re a much better team fundamentally now, and we got the job done,” he said.

Sheerin breezed through the first two inning before running into trouble in the third, when he allowed a pair of one-out singles and walked leadoff batter Scottie Dunleavy to load the bases. Connor Licklider hit a shot up the middle but Weller speared it. He looked to double off the runner at third base, then at second base; then he saw Dunleavy hung up between first and second and gunned him down.

“That was huge,” said Exeter coach Justin Freese of Weller’s play, and escaping the inning without falling behind. “They were at 2-3-4 in their lineup, and Licklider’s a very nice hitter for them. The runner just broke; he thought it was through. It worked out perfectly that Luke was able to throw behind him. That gave us some more momentum coming out of that inning.”

Sheerin needed a lift at that point.

“I was a little stressed (with the bases loaded),” he admitted. “I just trusted my stuff. I had to let them hit the ball, put it in play and my defense made a play for me.”

“It definitely gave him more breathing room on the mound,” Weller said.

The Hawks let down on defense in the bottom half of the inning. A pair of errors led the three unearned runs. They also got a little unlucky. With the infield drawn in, with runners at second and third, Alex Kelsey looped a fly ball into shallow left, just past the edge of the infield dirt. It dropped for a hit, bringing home Weller to make it 2-0. Nick Sydor, who advanced to third on the hit, scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.

Sheerin made it 4-0 in the fifth with an RBI double down the right field line.

Sheerin, a junior, improved to 5-1, allowing four hits and two runs over six innings; he struck out eight.

“He did another tremendous job for us today,” said Freese, who believes Sheerin will be able to start Monday’s semifinal after throwing 93 pitches Thursday.

Freese said he was happy to get past a postseason “jinx” that has kept his team from advancing in the Berks playoffs.

Weller wasn’t thinking about that; he said he feels like the Eagles have all the momentum right now. They’ve won five straight and 8-of-9 and are playing with confidence after scoring big regular-season wins over Central Dauphin and Gov. Mifflin.

The Eagles rallied from a six-run deficit to beat Central Dauphin — at that point the top-ranked Class 6A team in District 3 — 11-7. They scored six times in the ninth inning last week to beat Mifflin — at that point still unbeaten — 16-10.

“After that (ninth) inning (against Mifflin), we felt like we were on top of the world,” Weller said. “That followed through today; we still feel great, so we’re ready for Monday.”