CRESSON — Against a powerful team like Butler, the first six innings went about as well as possible for the Chambersburg baseball team.
Tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the seventh in a PIAA Class 6A quarterfnal game at Mount Aloysius College, the No. 4-ranked team in the state used a leadoff error, then a misjudged fly ball to score a run and defeat the Trojans 3-2 on Thursday afternoon.
“It was tough talking to them after the game,” Trojan coach Scott Folmar said. “But nobody expected this kind of season. When we reflect on it, we’ll be happy.”
Chambersburg used its scrappy offense, excellent defense and quality pitching by starter Lyons and reliever Devon Nalewak to go toe-to-toe with the Golden Tornado.
But in the seventh, the Trojans’ normal stellar defense let down just enough to let Butler slide through. Leadoff batter Boden Lenyk chopped a ball to third base, but Matt Murphy’s throw sailed high and he reached base.
Mavrik Clement, who was 3-for-4, then sent a line drive to right-center. Rightfielder Ryne Mills jumped but could not corral the ball and it rolled to the fence, allowing Lenyk to score easily on the triple.
Folmar said, “We played well on defense for six innings, then we kind of gave it away. We made the error and then Ryne would say he probably should have caught that ball — he took steps in first that cost him.”
Chambersburg opened the scoring in the top of the third inning when Konnor McMullen laced a base hit to right-center, moved up on a sac bunt by Murphy and scored when Mills send a grounder through the box for a two-out RBI.
The Golden Tornado answered in the bottom of the inning off Lyons when Lenyk doubled and scored on a single up the middle by Nolan Stefaniak. Butler loaded the bases after that, but Lyons worked out of it on a strikeout and a deep line drive to left brought down by Aiden Appleby.
Lyons went 4 innings plus a batter, gave up 6 hits, 1 run, 2 walks and had 5 strikeouts.
“They’ve got a pretty solid lineup — they can hit 1 through 9,” Lyons said. “But I think I gave us a chance to win.”
In the second, Butler’s first two batters got hits, but Lyons put them down on 2 strikeouts and a pop-up.
Folmar said, “He got through the third, then put them down 1-2-3 in the fourth, so I sent Hayden back out for the fifth. We were going to throw left-handers at them; we had three ready to go today. Those guys just pounded the strike zone and did a great job.”
Chambersburg catcher Ceagan Truett said, “Our pitcher s did a great job against that lineup.”
Devon Nalewak relieved Lyons and had a stat line of 2 innings plus 2 batters, 2 hits, 1 unearned run, 0 walks and 1 strikeout.
Nalewak entered with a runner on first and Butler was able to score off him. Clement singled, swiped second and third and scored on a hit by Blake Scott for a 2-1 lead.
But Chambersburg came right back in the top of the sixth. Aaron Vasquez was drilled with a pitch by Stefaniak. Mills then hit a slow chopper to third base and was thrown out at first. But Vasquez never stopped running and when first baseman Ryan Rattigan threw wildly to third base, Vasquez was able to score without a throw.
Stefaniak, a tall right-hander who normally hits in the high 90s with his fastball, gave up only 3 hits to the Trojans, with 1 walk and a hit batter, and struck out 8.
But the Trojans hit some shots off him that didn’t end positively. In the first inning, with a runner on first, Truett lasered a line drive right at second baseman Jake Szabalski, who made it a double play when he flipped to first.
In the third with a runner on first, Appleby hit a rocket up the middle. Unfortunately, the ball buried itself in Stefaniak’s glove and he threw to first for another DP.
In the top of the seventh, Bryce Deneen crushed an 0-2 pitch to deep leftfield, but Nash Cuffman was able to snag it in front of the fence.
Truett said, “That’s the quickest pitcher we’ve seen this year. But I felt we were on him; we just couldn’t manufacture enough runs.”
Folmar said, “Off a kid like that, I thought we put some good swings on the ball. I thought we did a nice job against him when we got runners on base.”
Chambersburg picked up a PIAA victory for the first time in 22 years and fell just short of a Mid Penn Commonwealth title (2nd) and District 3 crown (2nd).
Truett said, “It was an awesome year. We fought our tails off and I had a lot of fun with these guys. We brought Chambersburg back to where we should be.”
“I’m so proud of this group and how hard they’ve worked this year,” Folmar said. “We brought Chambersbug back this year to where we need to be all of the time.”
NOTES: Trojan second baseman Brycen Murray made a stunning catch on a low line drive off the bat of Szabalski in the sixth … Appleby covered a lot of ground to make several catches in deep leftfield … Mills made a fine running catch in the first in rightfield.