Eagles not discouraged by walk-off loss, still have sights sets on state tournament
LITITZ – The good news for the Exeter Eagles: They’re still alive in the District 3 Class 5A Tournament and they’ll have their ace, Deven Sheerin, on the mound next time out.
The bad news?
They couldn’t back plucky sophomore Gavin Miller with any offense Monday as they fell to Warwick 2-1 in eight innings in a taut quarterfinal.
With Sheerin, their All-Berks pitcher, unable to go due to PIAA pitch restrictions the 15th-seeded Eagles (12-10) turned to Miller and he gave them everything they could’ve asked for, and more.
“He was great,” said Sheerin after watching Miller go 6 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and a run. “That was really impressive. He came out here and dominated, did what he needed to do. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get him some run support today, but we’ll be back and better next game.”
Good as Miller was, Warwick’s Chase Martin was that much better. The senior right-hander allowed just one hit through six innings.
The Eagles finally got to him in the seventh, with freshmen Joel Ummarino and Jake Hafer delivering one-out singles and junior Lukas Giering an RBI single to tie it.
“That was clutch,” said Eagles coach Justin Freese, “they came up big for us.”
When Martin ran out of pitches the 10th-seeded Warriors (12-9) were able to summon their top gun, senior Seth Adomnik, one of the pitchers who helped carry them to the PIAA Class 6A title last year.
Adomnik came out of Thursday’s district opener with arm pain and Warriors coach Bill Weismandel was not sure if he’d be able to go Monday, or how effective he’d be if he took the ball.
Adomnik was plenty good, shutting down a second-and-third, two-out Eagles threat in the seventh, then holding them scoreless in the eighth.
That gave his side time to win it, which it did with three eighth-inning singles, Tyler Marley’s two-out gapper into right-center giving the Warriors a walk-off win and spot in the district semifinals.
“We played our butts off,” said Sheerin, who mans third base when not on the mound. “We played (a) clean (game), they just beat us today.”
“I can’t be any prouder of this group of kids,” said Freese, “finishing the (regular) season 11-9 and then coming out and playing the game they played against Mifflin and playing the game they played today against the 6A state champ from last year. Our kids gave it everything they had; we just came up a little short.”
The Eagles nearly took the lead in the first when All-Berks leadoff man Alex Kelsey walked, then stole second and third, all with none out. Exeter had its biggest run-producers up next, Sheerin and all-division catcher Chase Cupitt, but Martin struck each of them out and escaped the early jam.
“That was a tough run not to get home,” Freese said, “especially with the guys we had up. You’ve got to give it to their pitcher, he did a nice job.”
Martin struck out eight, walked two and was practically untouchable until the seventh when he began to tire and Exeter hit some sharp singles off him.
“What more could you want?” said Weismandel said of his starter. “Chase is outstanding. He’s a big-game pitcher. Give (Exeter) a lot of credit, they didn’t back down there at the end. The scrapped a few hits together and did what they needed to do.”
Exeter plays at No. 14 Shippensburg Thursday at 4:30; the third-seeded Greyhounds (12-9) were beaten 8-0 Monday by sixth-seeded Mechanicsburg.
The loser sees its season end; the winner moves on to play for the fifth and final PIAA Class 5A berth.
Sheerin will get the ball for that one. And if the Eagles win he’ll get the ball for the state-qualifier on May 30. And in the state opener, too, if they get that far.
He’s 5-2 with a 2.27 ERA and 88 strikeouts over 40 innings. Despite the Eagles’ near-.500 record and high seed they’re going to be a tough out for anyone that has to face them.
“I feel confident,” Sheerin said. “Our pitching right now is very good. We just need to put some bats together.”
| Exeter | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Warwick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | – | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| Eagles | AB | R | H | RBI | Warriors | AB | R | H | RBI | |
| Kelsey, cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Adomnik, dh/p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sheerin, 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Valudes, 2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cupitt, c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Blazek, cr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ummarino, 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Johnson, ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Feathers, cf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | C. Martin, p/2b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Hafer, lf/p | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | J. Martin, cr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Giering, 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Van Brookhoven, c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Franek, dh | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Loraw, cr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Blew, lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | S. Martin, lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Rhoads, ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lutz, rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Westley, ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Marley, 3b | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Redding, rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gerhart, cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Stuhltrager, cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Shaffer, ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Zipko, 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 28 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 32 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
E: Rhoads. 2B: C. Martin. SB: Kelsey 2, Hafer; Gerhart. CS: Kelsey; Johnson. LOB: Exeter 6, Warwick 9.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |||
| Miller | 6 2/3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | C. Martin | 6 2/3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| Hafer, L | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Adomnik, W | 1 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
WP: Miller 2.
