Liam Hilburt’s gem carries Fleetwood back to Berks baseball semifinals
2024 Berks baseball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Mitchell Jr. — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Fleetwood senior Liam Hilburt knocked Muhlenberg out of the Berks League baseball playoffs with a masterpiece Thursday night, limiting the Muhls to two hits in a 1-0 quarterfinal victory.
His coach, John Chwatek, was the least surprised person at Owls Field.
“I would expect nothing less from him,” the first-year Tigers coach said after Hilburt’s complete-game effort. “He’s been like that all year. He’s a gamer.”
The fifth-seeded Tigers (13-7) used baseball’s time-honored staples – pitching and defense – to return to the semifinals for the second straight year. They’ll get a rematch against Gov. Mifflin, which beat them 9-7 last year, Saturday at Owls Field at 7.
Hilburt struck out four and walked just two. He pounded the strike zone all night and worked ahead in the count. He also recorded two of the Tigers’ six hits.
“My arm felt great tonight,” said Hilburt, who improved to 6-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.77. “My goal was to pound the zone, get ahead, and let the defense make the plays. Kudos to the defense tonight. We had diving catches in the outfield, great plays by our infielders, and a big throw from our catcher in the last inning.”
The Tigers got key contributions from just about everyone wearing a glove.
Third baseman Cane Cromer made a number of nice plays and strong throws. Shortstop Willie Loy took a hit away with a great backhand play and throw from deep short. Right fielder Nate Seidel made a terrific diving catch. First baseman Nick Noll had several athletic stretches to record outs.
Catcher Dalton Young made one of the biggest plays, firing a bullet to second base to throw out speedy Shane Rosenberry, who was attempting to steal after leading off the seventh inning by reaching.
“Our defense has played like that all year,” Chwatek said. “They have been strong all year.”
The game was a true pitcher’s duel. Muhlenberg’s Cam Burr, who entered with an 0.91 ERA, allowed just four hits and one run over six innings. He struck out eight and walked two. Burr fell to 4-2; his only other loss came to Exeter 2-1 in the Muhls’ league opener.
Burr took a shutout into the sixth. Hilburt led off the inning with a single. Nick Noll followed with a sacrifice bunt that moved courtesy runner Gabe Seidel into scoring position. Nate Seidel stepped to the plate and singled to left field to drive in the game’s only run.
“I was looking fastball all the way with a 2-0 count,” Seidel said. “(Burr’s) curveball was really sharp tonight, so I wasn’t swinging at that 2-0. He gave me a fastball and I turned on it.”
“Nate’s been a stud for us all year,” Chwatek said. “Him and Soumas have been a clutch 1-2 punch in the middle of the lineup all year.”
Hilburt made that run stand up as he became the first pitcher to throw a seven-inning shutout against the fourth-seeded Muhls (13-7) this season. Mifflin’s Bryce Detwiler shut them out over five innings in a 10-0 win, also at Owls Field.
Over 39 1/3 innings this season Hilburt has struck out 32 and walked just nine. He’s allowing less than a baserunner per inning.
The Tigers are looking to avenge two straight losses to the Mustangs; they lost 11-10 earlier this season in a crossover game. Mifflin will have both its top pitchers, Ethan Grim and Bryce Detwiler, eligible to go against Fleetwood.
“No matter who they put on the mound on Saturday, we will be ready,” said Chwatek.
| Fleetwood | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Muhlenberg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Tigers | AB | R | H | RBI | Muhls | AB | R | H | RBI | |
| Hilburt, p | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Ca. Burr, p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G. Seidel, cr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Keller, ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Noll, 1b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Moody, cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| N. Seidel, rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Rosenberry, c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Soumas, lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rodriguez, 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Young, c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Lopez, rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Walk, cr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Smeltzer, 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Loy, ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | High, 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brey, cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cipolla, lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cromer, 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Sobjak, 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 26 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
E: Keller. SB: N. Seidel. CS: Rosenberry: S: Smeltzer, Noll. LOB: Fleetwood 7, Muhlenberg 3.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |||
| Hilburt, W (6-1) | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | Ca. Burr, L (4-2) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| Weiler | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
WP: Hilburt.
