Mifflin pitching to be put to the test against stacked Selinsgrove lineup in state semifinal
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Gov. Mifflin baseball coach Chris Hole is confident taking a seat at the table knowing he has a pair of aces in his hand.
He may need to play both in order to slow down hot-hitting Selinsgrove when the Mustangs play in a PIAA Class 5A semifinal Monday at 4 at Hershey’s Memorial Field.
The District 4 champion Seals (21-2) are coming off a 10-2 win over Shippensburg in which they stroked 14 hits and raised their team batting average seven points to a whopping .346.
The Seals have won 21 of their last 22 games and feature a stacked lineup that includes four .400 hitters.
The Mustangs (22-5) will try to blunt that with one of their outstanding right-handers, either Bryce Detwiler or Ethan Grim.
Grim was dominant in Mifflin’s 10-0, five-inning win over Whitehall Thursday in the quarterfinals. Detwiler opened the state tournament by throwing his third straight complete game, a 7-2 victory over Frankford which saw him allow just four hits and strike out eight; he hasn’t allowed an earned run since the district tournament started.
Both will be eligible to throw Monday. Hole has kept the pitchers in turn throughout the postseason and likely will hand the ball to Detwiler to start.
“We are so blessed to have those two guys,” Hole said. “They’ve been starting for us since their freshman year, and that has only benefited their confidence.
“Their strength, from last year to this year, is just tenfold better: (They each have) better endurance, better stamina. When they take the ball, they can go out there and they can shove for an entire game, and that makes all the difference in the world.”
Detwiler is 9-2 with a 1.67 ERA and 79 strikeouts over 63 innings. Grim is 7-3 with a 1.85 ERA and a Berks-leading 101 strikeouts over 64 1/3 innings.
“They’ve just been fantastic,” Hole said. “I mean, you run those two horses out there and let them do their thing. When we play clean defense behind them like we did today . . . I’m satisfied.”
Whoever gets the ball will need to be at his best against the Seals, who have blasted 19 home runs, average 8.5 runs per game and have an incredible team OPS of .986.
Mason Richter is batting a team-high .455 with 35 RBIs and four homers. Tucker Teats, a Lock Haven football recruit and a District 4 wrestling champ, is batting .448 with 33 RBIs and five homers. Ben Gearhart, a Mansfield recruit who homered Thursday, is batting .433. Josh Domaracki, a Frostburg State recruit, is batting .403 with 27 runs scored.
Gearhart, who leads the team with a 7-1 record and has a 2.37 ERA, started Friday against Shippensburg and allowed eight hits and two runs over five innings.
Domaracki, who is 6-1 with a 1.22 ERA and 83 strikeouts over 63 1/3 innings, pitching the final two innings.
They, too, will be tested against Mifflin’s lineup. Detwiler, the Berks Player of the Year, is batting .456 with eight homers and a .975 slugging average. Grim is batting .421. Catcher Travis Jenkins has a .633 slugging percentage and 1.113 OPS.
Selinsgrove is in the state semifinals for third time in five years. It won the Class 4A championship in 2019 and reached the Class 5A title game in 2022, losing to Bethel Park. Last year it was eliminated in the second round by Strath Haven.
The Seals have won eight straight games since an 8-3 loss to Williamsport on May 3.
Mifflin had never won a state tournament game before last week.
The winner advances to the PIAA championship game Friday at 4:30 at Penn State’s Medlar Field.
