Kutztown edges Newport, advances in District 3 baseball tournament

Nick Hugo’s two-out, two-run single sparked a three-run fifth inning as fourth-seeded Kutztown defeated fifth-seed Newport 5-4 Saturday in a District 3 Class 2A quarterfinal at Kutztown Park.

The Cougars (15-7) advance to play top-seeded Camp Hill (15-4) in a semifinal Monday at 4:30 at College Park Field in Camp Hill. Kutztown lost to Camp Hill 6-1 in a semifinal last season.

The District 3 Tournament opens in full Monday, with games in all six classifications.

The Berks IV champion Cougars rallied with three runs in the fifth to erase the Buffaloes’ 4-2 lead. Hugo tied the game with a single up the middle. Kole Schuyler’s single gave the Cougars the lead for good.

Dalton Furst (3-0) picked up the win for Kutztown, going five innings, with five strikeouts. He allowed four runs, one earned, thanks to three Cougars errors.

Grant Fitzgerald, who leads the team with six wins, closed with two shutout innings to earn his first save. He threw 26 pitches and will be eligible to throw again Monday.

The Cougars collected eight hits and five walks off Newport ace Brady Kain (5-4), who entered the game with a 1.26 ERA and 59 strikeouts over 44 1/3 innings. He struck out four over 5 1/3 innings.

Andrew Bates hit his team-leading fifth homer and doubled for the Buffaloes. He drove in his team-leading 23rd and 24th runs and scored twice. He has 13 extra-base hits.

The Buffaloes entered with a .293 team batting average and a pair of .400 hitters but managed just five hits.

In the other Class 2A quarterfinal, No. 6 Upper Dauphin beat No. 3 Fairfield 4-1; the Trojans advance to play at No. 2 Delone Catholic Monday at 4:30.

Newport finished third in the Tri-Valley conference, behind Halifax and Juniata.

Only the district champ in Class 2A clinches a berth in the PIAA Tournament. The runner-up will meet the District 9 runner-up in a play-in game.

The District 3 championship game is Thursday, site to be determined. The play-in game will be June 1.