UNIVERSITY PARK — We’re searching for words to describe the PIAA Class 5A baseball championship game.
Unreal.
Crazy.
Wild.
Dramatic.
Nolan Sullivan
We could go on and on, but suffice to say that the Greencastle-Antrim team is wearing gold medals now after outlasting DuBois 6-5 in a marathon 14 innings at Penn State’s Medlar Field on Thursday afternoon, evening and night.
The game, which lasted more than 5 hours, was the longest PIAA championship game in history. It finally ended in the bottom of the 14th when Nolan Sullivan, who had gone 0-for-7 prior to that, laced a single into left field to score Collin Flynn with the game-winning run.
It was the first PIAA baseball title for the Blue Devils, who finished with a 24-3 record.
“It was a wild game,” Greencastle coach Eric Shaner. “Thankfully, we were able to do what we do.”
The Blue Devils arrived to the high school around 2 a.m. Saturday morning and found over 200 people waiting for them to celebrate.
Shaner said, “I was speechless … and that doesn’t happen very often.”
Greencastle never held the lead until that final run scored. G-A trailed 1-0, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2 and 5-4, but kept scoring when it absolutely had to. The Blue Devils also came to bat six consecutive innings with a chance to win the crown with a run, but couldn’t pull it off. That included a bases-loaded, one-out situation and also a bases-loaded, no-out threat.
In the 14th inning, the Beavers pulled ahead 5-4 on an unearned run greatly helped by two Greencastle errors. But the next out proved to be very concerning.
Landon Bishop
G-A first baseman Landon Bishop ran over toward the stands and somehow caught a foul pop-up, but then tumbled over a railing and into a photographer’s well. He was treated by both team’s trainers and was eventually taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Bishop was released later Friday night and came home on the Greencastle bus.
Shaner said Saturday morning, “He’s 100%. He said his neck was bent sideways when he hit, but they found no head trauma. When the ambulance was getting ready to leave, his parents came over to me and said, ‘Now just go and win the freakin’ game.’
“He was definitely in our hearts and minds.”
After about a 25-minute delay, the game resumed and Blue Devil pitcher Avery Horst got the final out of the inning on a strikeout.
With one out in the bottom of the 14th inning, Mason Mellott belted a double to centerfield. Rarely used sub Collin Flynn, who took Bishop’s place in the lineup, hit a 3-2 pitch to rightfield that was misplayed and Mellott raced home to tie the game.
“That was the epitome of what our team has been,” Shaner said. “Mellott dropped a pop-up the inning before, but comes right back and delivered a massive hit.
“THere is so much mental toughness on this team — they just move on to the next play. It’s rare to have a couple guys like that on a team, but we have a full team of them.”
An out later, Andrew Weaver worked a walk after going to an 0-2 count. After 3 balls to Cam Rakaczewski, DuBois elected to intentionally walk him — the third straight time they did that.
That loaded the bases and put Sullivan on the spot. And he came through with a ground-ball single through the left side that scored Flynn to finally end the game.
Mason Dinkfelt drove in all five runs for the Beavers, who finished 21-5. He hit a run-scoring single following a triple by Trey Wingart in the first inning and made it 3-1 in the third on a 2-run single after a double by Wingart.
Andrew Weaver
A sacrifice fly in the seventh gave the Beavers an insurance run and a 4-2 lead. And in the 14th, his single put G-A behind again.
But the Blue Devils continually fought back. In the first, Weaver was hit by a pitch, moved to second base on a fielder’s choice, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.
Shaner said, “Weaver is our engine; he sets the table for the guys nehind him. It’s really tough to keep us from scoring when he leads off and gets on base.”
But that was all Greencastle could manage against DuBois starter Noah Farrell, who was spectacular. He held the Blue Devils hitless until Rakaczewski’s double in the fifth. Of the 22 batters Farrell faced, 13 struck out, 3 walked, 1 was hit by a pitch and only 4 put a ball in play — 2 routine grounders to first base, a sacrifice bunt and Rakaczewski’s double.
“He was just dominant,” Shaner said. “The radar showed on the scoreboard and he was consistently in the 92-94 (mph) range. His command was better than we tought it’d be, too. After around 80 pitches, his velo went down a little and we were able to grind out more at-bats and make him throw more pitches.”
Farrell reached his pitch count limit after he recorded the first out of the sixth inning. Manny Brookens promply singled off reliever Brody Knouse, moved up on a fielder’s choice and scored on a hit grounded to left field by Mellott.
Avery Horst
After DuBois got its insurance run in the top of the seventh, the Blue Devils needed two runs to tie the game. Weaver — who reached base 7 of the 8 times he batted (5 walks, 1 hit by pitch and an error on a sacrifice bunt) — drew a walk to open the inning.
Rakaczewski then doubled down the leftfield line to score Weaver, and he moved to third on the throw home. He was still there with two outs when Beaver reliever Samson Deeb committed a balk to bring in the tying run and make it 4-4.
For the Blue Devils, Jaxson Bostick started on the mound and went 3 innings, allowing 5 hits (4 by Wingart and Dinkfeld) and 3 runs.
“Those two guys are left-handed batters and we thought it’d help having Bostick (a lefty) pitch to them,” Shaner said. “He threw some good pitches, but anything out over the plate they hit hard.”
Rakaczewski followed with 6 innings of 4-hit ball, giving up 1 run, while Horst finished and got the win with 5 innings, 5 hits and 1 unearned run. The trio combined for 11 strikeouts and only 3 walks.
Shaner said, “Starting with Rak, we started busting those guys in on the hands with sliders, and it worked. We made an adjustment and our pitchers executed it well.”
NOTES: Greencastle’s only other trip to the PIAA final ended in a 9-7 loss to Huntingdon in 2000 … DuBois’ only other final appearance was a 4-1 loss to Montoursville in 1992 … Farrell entered the game averaging nearly 2 strikeouts per inning (98 in 52.1 innings) and had 13 in 6.1 innings Friday … The Beavers’ Bryson Kail hit a leadoff double in the ninth, but was called out for missing the bag at first.