Matt Kramer, Spartans throw the Hawks a curve, jam up Berks III race

Matt Kramer knows he’s fortunate to have his personal pitching coach on call 24/7, and smart enough to listen to him.

“My dad always tells me: ‘Get ahead and stay ahead,’ ” Kramer said of his father Scott, who pitched at Wilson and later in the Cleveland Indians organization. ” ‘Get the first pitch over, then you can mix in curveballs.’ I listen to him and good things happen.”

All kinds of good things happened for Kramer and his Wyomissing teammates Friday night as they beat Berks III-leading Hamburg 6-0 at Owls Field to turn the division race into a four-car pile-up.

The junior right-hander struck out nine over 6 1/3 innings and scored two early runs as the Spartans (6-3, 8-6) pulled within a half game of the first-place Hawks (7-3, 11-4).

Berks Catholic (6-2, 11-5) and Oley Valley (6-3, 8-6) are jammed right in there, too, turning the final week of the Berks League season into a sprint for the playoffs for that foursome.

The win was the fifth straight for the Spartans, who have been rebuilding on the fly after graduating eight key guys from last year’s division championship team. They have outscored their opponents 44-13 during the winning streak.

“We’re finally finding the swing of things,” said catcher Nate Koenig, who had a pair of hits, including a triple to spark the four-run sixth that broke the game open. “It took us a little while, but I think we’re meshing great right now.”

Kramer had a score to settle against the Hawks. Actually, two.

He started against them last season at Owls Field and didn’t make it out of the first inning (the Spartans came back to win, 6-5). Earlier this season he started at Hamburg and took his only loss as the Spartans were pounded 7-0.

Things were completely different Friday. Kramer was in control from the start, firing first-pitch strikes and mixing in a curveball that he confidently throws in any count. He struck out the side in the second and didn’t give up a hit until the third.

“It was a big revenge game for him,” Koenig said. “He was just focused. He knew what he was doing tonight; he had a game plan the whole way.”

Kramer kept the usually hard-hitting Hawks off balanced and out in front all night. He got five outs on fly balls and four on pop-ups. He could’ve had a few more pop outs but some catchable balls fell in foul territory.

“I could tell in the bullpen it was going to be a good day,” Kramer said, “good ‘velo,’ everything was right down the middle. I went down with the curve and they weren’t expecting the high fastball, and they chased it and just popped it up.”

Kramer faced a tough situation in the third when the Hawks loaded the bases with one out. He worked a 3-2 count to Luke Bensinger, one of Hamburg’s best hitters, then surprised him with the curve for a called third strike.

“Nate called a curveball, and I felt I’ve gotta get this over, he’s not gonna expect it,” Kramer said. “And I got it over. I think that was the biggest play of the game. That’s their best hitter; if he would’ve broken one open it could’ve scored two or three runs.”

“Hats off to him, he threw a helluva game,” said Hamburg coach Nick Evangelista. “It’s one of the better pitched games I’ve seen all year. (A) 3-2 curveball with a 1-0 lead? I’m not sure anyone here was expecting that.

“That’s not typical of us to fly out like that. Part of our game is to put pressure on the other team, hit the ball on the line, hit the ball on the ground. But again, give Matt credit: He was good throwing both pitches for strikes, any count. You can’t ask for much more out of a high school pitcher.”

Kramer, batting out of the two-hole, reached on an infield single in the first, moved up on Koenig’s grounder and scored on Ryker Jones’ single up the middle. He reached on an error in the third and came home on Dom Colon’s double down the right-field line to make it 2-0.

The early lead was key.

“Our team, it’s all about confidence,” Kramer said. “When we get that first run over, it’s a big deal. We get a lot of energy after that and we get a lot of confidence that we can score runs and beat the team.”

It remained tight until the sixth, when the Spartans scored four times. They took advantage of a pair of errors that helped knock out stater Austin Miller, then got back-to-back triples from Koenig and Jones and an RBI single from Colon — his third hit of the game.

Kramer left the mound one out into the seventh when he reached the PIAA pitch limit. He allowed just three hits and two walks, dropped his ERA to 1.76 and improved his record to 5-1.

“Matt’s really taken it to a different level,” said Wyomissing coach Dave Voigt. “That’s the best I’ve seen him throw, and he’s thrown well all year. He was getting both pitches in, and when he does that he’s really tough.”