Exeter battles back but can’t get past Upper Dublin

PLYMOUTH MEETING — Justin Freese can’t speak about his Exeter baseball team without using the word “resilient.” He’s used that adjective repeatedly over the last 10 weeks.

He said it after watching them come from six runs down to beat Central Dauphin. From four runs down to hand Gov. Mifflin it’s first loss on the final day of the regular season. The Eagles were down to their last at-bat in their district opener against Twin Valley and scored twice to walk it off.

They were at it again Monday, in the opening round of the PIAA Class 5A Tournament. Down a pair of runs entering the final inning they tied it on Deven Sheerin’s single.

“I would go to battle every day of the week with each and every one of those kids,” Freese said.

He won’t get that chance, at least not with the 11 seniors who graduate Wednesday.

Upper Dublin, also a resilient team, came up with a run in the bottom of the seventh at Villanova Ballpark to beat Exeter 8-7, ending the Eagles’ season.

Exeter (18-8), in its third PIAA Tournament appearance, was looking for the first state playoff win in program history. It looked as though it might get it, leading 3-0 in the third and 5-2 in the fourth. But Sheerin, the staff ace, couldn’t hold the lead as he lost the plate in the three-run fourth, when he twice hit a batter with the bases loaded.

An error in the sixth turned out to be the back-breaker for the Eagles. Lefty reliever Owen Wisner, whose offspeed pitches can induce grounders, came in with two on and one out in a 5-5 tie. He got the grounder he was looking for.

Second baseman Brady Hannahoe, an all-division pick and a steady fielder, was thinking double play and got ahead of himself. The ball went under his glove for an error, allowing the go-ahead run to score and extending the inning. Two batters later Tristan Cairnes’ sacrifice fly gave the District 1 champion Cardinals (18-6) a two-run lead.

“That’s what we brought ‘Wis’ in there for,” Freese said, “to see if we could get a ground ball to turn two, and we had the opportunity, and that didn’t happen. (Errors are) a part of the game.”

The Eagles, who finished fifth in the District 3 Tournament, started well. They got a leadoff double from Nick Sydor in the second inning and an RBI triple from Alex Kelsey — the first of three hits for the electric sophomore. Sheerin followed with a single to make it 2-0.

The Eagles, a team that’s hit just about every pitcher they’ve faced, riddled Cairnes, Upper Dublin’s ace, with seven hits through the first three innings and 10 altogether.

That gave Sheerin, a junior right-hander, plenty of working room, and he looked like he would run with it. He cruised through the first inning and didn’t throw a ball until the fifth batter, one out into the second inning. He lost his control after that, hitting a pair of batters and walking one in the second but escaped the bases-loaded jam without allowing a run.

Upper Dublin closed within 3-2 in the third, on David Sharp’s two-out, two-run single.

The Eagles extended their lead to 5-2 in the top of the fourth on Carter Cordova’s RBI double and a throwing error on Hannahoe’s grounder that allowed Cordova to score.

Sheerin had more control issues in the fourth, his final inning, when he walked two batters and hit two others. He also allowed a pair of infield singles, enough to allow the Cardinals to tie it 5-5. He left after four innings, allowing just three hits but four walks and five hit batsmen.

“With Dev on the mound, I felt we were in a good position,” Freese said of the 5-2 lead, “but he struggled a little bit with his control, and that’s part of the game.”

Reliever Mike Greenawalt hit the leadoff batter in the sixth — the sixth of the day by Exeter pitching — then was replaced by Wisner after a one-out walk.

The Cardinals walked it off in the seventh, getting a single and two walks off Wisner. Kelsey came in from center field to relieve and allowed a game-ending sacrifice fly.

Upper Dublin managed just six hits, all singles — three that never left the infield — but took advantage of seven walks and six hit batters. The Cards also stolen seven bases without being caught.

Sheerin, who had a pair of 12-strikeout games during districts, took the loss especially hard.

“I felt like I could go out there and deal,” he said. ” I just didn’t get the job done today.”

The all-division pick said the artificial turf mound surface gave him trouble. He had never pitched on such a mound.

“I feel I was overthrowing a little bit,” he said. “I couldn’t finish off this mound as well I (should). Everything was high.”

Sheerin has played with many of the seniors since he started playing baseball; that made the sudden end of the season that much more difficult.

“I wanted to play baseball as much as I can with this crew,” he said.

The Eagles were able to extend their season with seven postseason games.

“We all had a helluva season,” said All-Berks shortstop Luke Weller. “We couldn’t have done any better.”