Well-prepared Muhls make most of second chance against Manheim ace
Manheim Central’s Jared Murray fired five no-hit innings against Muhlenberg in the Muhls’ season opener.
Seven weeks later the Muhls were better prepared to face the Barons’ ace.
They sent 12 batters to plate in the first inning and scored seven times, setting the tone for a 10-0, six-inning win over the ninth-seeded Barons Friday afternoon in a District 3 Class 5A baseball opener at Gochnauer Field.
“We knew what we had to do, we prepared for it, we were excited when we got here today,” said Muhls coach Brian Kopetsky. “Our kids accepted the challenge. Every big pitcher we’ve faced this year, we’ve met the challenge and we’ve battled.”
The eighth-seeded Muhls (14-8) met that challenge immediately as Cam Burr opened with a four-pitch walk and Gio Cavanna followed by drilling a two-strike pitch into left-center for a single.
“When Gio got that hit, I knew from that moment we were going to see the ball well,” said Burr.
The Muhls followed with consecutive bunt singles, the first, by Eli Keller, resulting in a two-base throwing error by Murray.
A couple batters later lefty-swinging Josh Smeltzer went the other way and dropped a two-run double down the left-field line. Burr capped the inning when he powered a ball over the head of the center fielder for a two-run triple.
Murray, who entered with a 7-0 record and 0.82 ERA in seven starts, and the ninth-seeded Barons (14-8) were stunned to be trailing by seven runs against a team they had beaten 5-4 in late March.
The Muhls were a little surprised, too.
“I was the happiest person on the planet,” said Kopetsky. “If you had told me we’d put up a seven-spot in the first inning, I would’ve told you you were crazy. It was pretty cool to see them respond the way they did in the first inning.”
Murray is one of the best pitchers in the tournament. He had 64 strikeouts over 34 innings entering the game but didn’t strike out a single batter in his only inning of work.
“We were more prepared (this time),” said catcher Shane Rosenberry. “And more comfortable in the box. The first game of the year, seeing a pitcher of that caliber . . . It was just tough.”
Having played the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 champion Barons previously was a big help, said Burr. They took batting practice against John Barr, a junior high coach at Muhlenberg and former left-handed pitcher at West Chester University with run on his fastball similar to Murray’s.
The Muhls also knew from the first meeting that they could bunt against the Barons. That played a huge part in the game.
They went up 2-0 when Keller dropped a bunt to the left side of the mound; Murray came off to field it and fired it over the head of his first baseman, allowing two runners to score.
Rosenberry followed with a bunt in front of the plate. Catcher Collin Neiles fielded it and seemed stunned when he saw Keller breaking home from third. Neiles dove at him but Keller made a great slide to the outside of the plate to make it 3-0.
“Knowing Eli, he’s an athlete, so I thought we don’t need to call that for him to get there,” said Rosenberry, who said he bunted on his own. “The bunt game was big; small ball really helped.”
The Muhls had three bunt singles among their 10 hits and stole five bases without getting caught. The game ended with none out in the sixth when Cavanna singled, stole second, then scored on Keller’s infield hit as shortstop Nolan Book threw the ball away for an error.
“We just beat ‘em with our brand of baseball,” said Burr. “Quality AB’s, the bunt game. We just did our game.”
Right-hander Dalton Follweiler made the early lead stand up with five shutout innings. He allowed five hits, walked three and struck out five. Follweiler started an inning-ending double play in the second after had runners on second and third, and he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth.
Follweiler’s defense helped him keep the shutout alive in the fifth when Smeltzer, the first baseman, took a throw from center fielder Aaden Lopez on Cayde Connelly’s single and threw out Cody Hess at the plate.
Muhlenberg entered the tournament last year as the No. 1 seed and was eliminated in the opening round 8-7 by Gettysburg in 10 innings. The Greyhounds scored the deciding run on a throwing error.
“We know the pain that we felt after that,” Rosenberry said. “It really lit a fire for us to come out here.”
The Muhls advance to play at top-seeded Lower Dauphin Monday at 4:30; the Falcons advanced with a 4-3 win over Northern.
| Manheim Central | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Muhlenberg | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | x | – | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Barons | AB | R | H | RBI | Muhls | AB | R | H | RBI | |
| Clugston, rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Burr, 2b/p | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Watson, cf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Cavanna, rf | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Harbach, 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Keller, ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| N. Book, ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rosenberry, c | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Murray, p/1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wilson, 3b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| C. Book, cr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Patton, dh | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| McGallicher, lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Follweiler, p/2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Neiles, c | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Smeltzer, 1b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Hess, cr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hatt, lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Traritz, 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lopez, cf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ca. Conelly, 1b/3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 21 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 |
E: Murray, Book, Neiles. 2B. Smeltzer, Rosenberry. 3B: Burr. SB: Watson; Cavanna 2, Lopez 2, Rosenberry. S: Patton. SF: Hatt. LOB: Manheim Central 6, Muhlenberg 4.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |||
| Murray, L (7-1) | 1 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 0 | Follweiler, W (7-1) | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | |
| C. Connelly | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Burr | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
WP: Murray; Follweiler. PB: HBP: Cavanna (by Murray).