Lynx don’t have their ace for championship, but they won’t lack for confidence

It would be appropriate if Joey Vaccaro or Luke Macdonald borrows a famous movie line to inspire their Oley Valley teammates before they take the field Wednesday to play for the Berks League baseball championship.

Something along the lines of: “Let’s win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here.”

It worked for the guys at Milan High in Indiana decades ago; it might work for the Lynx. It has so far.

They continued their improbable “Hoosiers”-like run toward history Tuesday, escaping a bases-loaded situation in the final inning to hold off Wilson 8-6 in a Berks semifinal at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Now the Lynx are on the precipice of history, a No. 8 seed in an eight-team tournament trying to knock off a third straight big-school baseball power.

They’ll play Muhlenberg, the hard-hitting No. 2 seed that’s compiled an 18-2 record and will go into the District 3 Class 5A playoffs next week as the No. 1 seed.

The Lynx (13-7) seem undaunted.

“We made history last year (reaching the PIAA Class 3A title game),” said Vaccaro, a senior infielder who had two of the Lynx’s 10 hits. “We were expecting to make history this year.

“All of us walked into the locker room this morning and expected this.”

Five days after pulling off a shocking 6-1 win over top-seeded Gov. Mifflin the Lynx overcame a horrendous second inning that saw Wilson score six runs, three of them unearned.

They hung tough after that. Starter Paul Petersen, a sophomore, bounced back from that mistake-filled inning to retire 10 straight batters, giving his guys a chance to get back in it.

And the Lynx did, banging out four straight hits to start a four-run, go-ahead rally in the top of the sixth inning to take an 8-6 lead.

When the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (9-10) put two runners in scoring position with one out in the sixth, Lynx coach Jeff Pinder went to his ace in the hole. He called in senior right-hander Luke Macdonald, who’s been pretty much unbeatable the last several weeks.

“A bulldog like Luke, I mean, why wouldn’t you want a kid like that in a game in that situation?” Pinder said. “And he wants the ball. He wanted the ball in the fourth inning.”

Macdonald retired the first two batters he faced to escape the inning the sixth, then struck out the first two in the seventh. Things got messy after that: Single, wild pitch, intentional walk to slugger Rueben Livingston, then a hit by pitch that loaded the bases.

Macdonald got a grounder to end it and earn a save but his stint required 27 pitches — two more than the PIAA limit for making back-to-back appearances.

That means he can’t throw in Wednesday’s title game, putting the Lynx at a distinct disadvantage. Macdonald has a 0.36 ERA over a team-leading 38 innings, not to mention worlds of savvy.

Pinder tried to downplay that.

“It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound for us,” he said. “I know Luke won’t be available, and that’s fine. We have enough pitching to get through.”

The Lynx will go into the championship unable to use their two best pitchers while Muhlenberg — a 10-7 winner over Exeter in the other semifinal — will have ace Brad Coley on the mound.

What the Lynx do have is a lineup full of gamers and guys who know how to put the bat on the ball. They’ve also got worlds of confidence after beating programs that have combined to win five of the last six Berks titles.

“Heck, yeah, wouldn’t you (be confident)?” said Muhls coach Brian Kopetsky. “You just knocked off Mifflin and Wilson. You’re going to come in very confident.”

If anything, the Lynx have the Muhls’ attention.

“Definitely not a team to sleep on,” said Coley. “They’ve proved themselves, so we’ve got to come in, do what we do, and win this ballgame. They’re a good team. They had a big win against Mifflin and beat a very good Wilson team. I believe they’re going to be as good as the top competitors in this league.”