Walk-off walk completes four-run rally for EHTThey heeded his advice and won Wednesday’s game without having to put a ball in play in the seventh inning. EHT scored four runs on four walks and three hit batters to come back and beat Oakcrest 9-8 in a Cape-Atlantic League inter-division game Wednesday. The Eagles took advantage of the small strike zone established throughout the game in a high-pressure situation. “We made them throw a lot of pitches, and that’s a part of the game,” Carmichael said. Going into the seventh, Carmichael turned to his coaches for a game plan and one suggested they take pitches. “I said, ‘well, we haven’t taken (strikes) all game, and we’ve been squaring balls up,’ so we collectively decided to take until we got a strike,” Carmichael said. “And as you see, we benefited, and it paid off.” Oakcrest walked the first two batters of the seventh before changing pitchers. After a strikeout, Connor Agostino was hit by a pitch to load the bases. On the very next pitch, Robbie Petracci was hit to drive in a run and make it 8-6. Dante DiPalma and Angel Murray were walked and hit by a pitch, respectively, to tie the game. After another strikeout for the second out, leadoff hitter Andrew Fowler walked to bring in Petracci for the winning run. “(Oakcrest) hit a couple guys, walked a couple guys, so I wasn’t going to go up there to be selfish and swing first pitch like I did in my first at-bat,” Fowler, 18, said. “So I knew I was going to take a strike no matter what, and it happened to be four straight balls and happened to win the game.” Exciting sophomore outfielder and Wednesday’s starting pitcher Jordan Sweeney went 2 for 3 with a solo and two-run home run in his first two at-bats. He also drew the walk that led off the seventh inning. “I was definitely going to take a strike,” Sweeney, 16, said of his seventh inning at-bat. “I was being very selective up there. I didn’t get anything to hit, and obviously neither did anyone else. We wanted to go into the inning working counts and got the job done at the end.” But it was the bottom four of EHT’s lineup that came up huge in the sixth and seventh innings and provided big at-bats. Petracci was 2 for 3 with two runs and two RBIs, DiPalma had an RBI and hit the ball hard three times and Cory Smith doubled and drove in a run. Murray also reached base safely four times, drawing two walks and getting hit by two pitches. Relief pitcher Mike Dodd pitched a perfect top of the seventh and earned the win. “I tell these kids all the time that we have 16 kids here that at any given time can be called in to duty to come up with a clutch hit or step up and pitch” Carmichael said. It was a back-and-forth game through the first four innings. Oakcrest led 1-0 and 2-1 on errors in the first and third innings. Donnie Stone hit a three-run homer in a four-run fourth inning that gave the Falcons a 6-4 lead. Jailen Heard scored on an error, and Alec Rodriguez drove in Heard with a double to build an 8-4 lead in the sixth. EHT got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on an error before completing the comeback in the seventh. Oakcrest coach Scott Olson hopes Wednesday’s game is easy to forget. “The good thing for us is we schedule a lot of games to play,” Olson said. “There’s nothing we’re going to do or talk about. We’re just going to move on to tomorrow.” Oakcrest 101 402 0—8 8 2 Egg Harbor Twp 103 001 4—9 6 4 2B—Rodriguez O; Smith, Petracci EHT. HR—Stone O; Sweeney 2 EHT. WP—Dodd (1-0) 1k. LP—Markley 2k. Records—Oakcrest 9-7, EHT 11-3. Contact: 609-272-7210 [email protected] Twitter @ACPress_Russo Contact: 609-272-7210 [email protected] Twitter @ACPress_Russo http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/local/highschool/baseball/walk-off-walk-completes-four-run-rally-for-eht/article_0a8488e0-f523-5970-8873-a26b99de971a.html
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SNJ Today highlights of South Jersey Group IV Power Points Leader EHT battling Millville.....5/3/2017 http://www.snjtoday.com/category/317964/sports?utm_source=SocialMedia&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Sports%20Newscast%2005.03.17
MILLVILLE –
Looking at the schedule, it was another close loss for the Millville baseball team on Tuesday, a 9-8 defeat at the hands of Cape-Atlantic League-American Division rival Egg Harbor. It is the fourth straight loss for the Thunderbolts, three of which came by a single run with the other by just a two-run margin. Yet this one was different. Egg Harbor (10-3, 4-2 division) built a 9-0 lead through four and a half innings, only to see Millville storm back with eight runs over the final three innings. University of North Carolina commit and projected MLB Draft pick Buddy Kennedy stood at the plate with the tying and winning runs on base. Kennedy already blasted a line drive home run and a RBI-single in the previous innings. An epic comeback victory appeared within grasp. Yet, Eagles reliever Drew Hickman got the blue-chip prospect to fly out to right field on the first pitch and Egg Harbor hung on for the win. However, if it is possible, the defeat Tuesday could have an unseen benefit. "I think it feels different than the previous losses," Millville coach Roy Hallenbecksaid. "We've had a few bad days in a row. This one got real bad, real fast. I was really happy to see how our guys responded to that. When you're playing a close game, you're battling all the way through. You're fighting all the way through. A game like today, it gave our guys a chance to let up and they didn't. I'm proud of that." Cory Kessler earned the win for Egg Harbor by allowing just three runs over five innings of work. Egg Harbor's Jordan Sweeney went 2-for-2 with two doubles and two RBI while reaching base in all four plate appearances. Clean-up hitter Cory Smith had two hits, two RBI and two runs scored as well. "Our hitting is what we expected to be our strength, but we've also been playing really good defense and pitching well," said Sweeney. "Now that the hitting is finally getting there and coming around, we feel like we'll be dangerous in the playoffs." Millville began its rally in the fifth with Kennedy's solo shot and a two-run homer by Nick Grotti. It then loaded the bases with nobody out to begin the bottom of the sixth before a RBI walk by Hunter Sibley and RBI single by Kennedy made it 9-5. But Egg Harbor reliever Mike Dodd induced an inning-ending double play ground ball to minimize the damage. In the seventh, Millville put its first two runners on base. After a sacrifice fly and a RBI double from Tyler Ramos, Sibley reached on an error that scored another Millville run to make it 9-8 and bring Kennedy to the plate. "I was just trying to hit the outside part of the plate, because I know he can drive basically everything else, and make him (fly out to right field)," said Hickman, a senior who has been a starting pitcher the last two seasons, but did pitch in relief during his sophomore year. "This wins means a lot for us. I think the last six years we’ve been 1-12 against (Millville). Coach (Bryan Carmichael) let us know that before the year, so we've been wanting to get some wins back." Egg Harbor scored single runs in each of the first three innings and Kessler managed to work around Thunderbolt base runners in Millville's first three at-bats. Kessler got a key strikeout to end the bottom of the third after Millville loaded the bases with three singles. The Eagles kept the momentum and broke things open with three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings. Smith had a two-run single in the top of the fourth, followed by an RBI single by Connor Agostino. In the fifth inning, Robbie Petracci roped an RBI double, which was followed by Sweeney's two-run double — his second two-bagger of the game. Egg Harbor plays three games in the next three days beginning Wednesday with Oakcrest (9-6). Millville (6-6, 3-4) looks to snap its now four-game losing streak Wednesday against Buena (8-7).0 In St. John's 11-inning, 6-2 win over Butler on Thursday, Troy Dixon (EHT) went 2 for 5 with a double and three RBIs.
Dixon went 2 for 4 with a solo home run and two runs scored in a 5-3 win over Butler on Friday. Dixon hit a two-run homer in a 12-3 win over Butler on Saturday. On Monday, Dixon was named the Big East Conference Player of the Week. Todd Henry (Egg Harbor Township) singled, scored twice and drove in a run in Delaware State’s 13-6 win over Coppin State in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday. In the second game, a 5-3 win, Henry went 2 for 4 with a run scored. Justin Epifanio (EHT) singled, scored and drove in a run in Montclair State’s 8-3 win over Kean on Friday. Brandon Riggs (EHT) pitched two scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits and striking out three, to improve to 4-0 in Penn State Harrisburg’s 2-1 win over Messiah in 10 innings on April 11. In Rowan’s 4-3 win over Moravian last Wednesday, Monny Strickland (EHT) went 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI. In Stevenson’s 7-6 win over Lebanon Valley on Friday, Brady Kessler (EHT) singled and drove in a run. EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – Egg Harbor Township High School baseball coach Bryan Carmichael said he challenged his team Thursday, April 13 on how to respond - not to adversity, but to success. Needless to say, he was happy with the response. One day after beating a tough and highly ranked Millville team , the Eagles pounded out 13 hits in a 15-3, five-inning win over Atlantic County Institute of Technology in a Cape-Atlantic League American Conference game. Senior Nick Milhan, stepping in to help out a young and unproven pitching staff, pitched five strong innings and also contributed three hits and two runs batted in. Junior Cory Smith hit a big two-run double in the second inning to break a tie, while Dante DiPalma, Jordan Sweeney and Connor Agostino also had run-producing hits as the Eagles improved to 3-1 on the season. “I told them, ‘We have to come out and take care of business, do what we have to do and move on. I don’t want a letdown today,’” Carmichael said. “Our whole thing is taking it one game at a time, just trying to accumulate as many (NJSIAA) power points as we can along the way and take care of business. (Milhan) came in the dugout and said, ‘Coach, we did what we needed to do today,’ and that’s exactly what we did. We hit the ball.” Smith, a junior outfielder playing on the varsity level for the first time, had probably the biggest hit of the game. After the teams traded a pair of runs each with some sloppy fielding in the first inning, the Eagles put two runners on base in the second against ACIT starter Ryan Keil before Smith lined a double in the gap to score two runs. Smith went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Fowler. “I thought a big hit would get us going, and it did,” Smith said, who bats at the tail end of a potent EHT batting order. “I get my opportunities, so I just have to make the most of them. We don’t play as one player, we play as a team. Everyone gets their chances and everyone gets the job done.” On Wednesday, the Eagles took advantage of shaky defense by Millville to score seven runs in the fourth inning on only two hits, beating the Thunderbolts for only the second time in 12 meetings over the last five years. “That was a big win yesterday, particularly the way it went down,” Carmichael said. “A win is a win. We’ve been on the other end of it, several times, so we’ll take it. “I don’t really think we’re hitting to our potential right now, and that’s a good thing,” Carmichael said. “We want to peak at the right time. The difference in the game against Vineland (their only loss) is that they hit with runners in scoring position and we didn’t. It’s something we’ve been stressing with the kids. It’ll come around. We’ll start swinging the bats like we’re capable of.” The pitching is more of a question mark, Carmichael said. The Eagles lost starters Brandon Riggs and Luke Elwell to graduation, and Hunter Barbieri is running track this year instead of playing baseball, so Drew Hickman was the only proven quantity coming into the season. But the Eagles have received quality innings from younger pitchers Cory Kessler, Tyler Burger, Mike Dodd and Sweeney. “We have enough arms. We’re just unproven right now,” Carmichael said. (Milhan) is filling a little bit of that void. He came in and did a nice job today.” Milhan, who had never pitched in a regular-season game before this year, settled down after a somewhat shaky first two innings, striking out three. “I’m just stepping up to help out,” Milhan said. “I pitched a little when I was younger. I just tried to work through it today.” Egg Harbor Township split two games at the Rancocas Valley tournament last Saturday, beating Notre Dame but losing to host RV. Afterwards, the Eagles traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the Mingo Bay Baseball Classic, April 18-22. It is the third straight year the Eagles have headed south around spring break. “We’ll be playing some local high schools down there,” Carmichael said. “We’re looking forward to it. It’s a good bonding opportunity.” “It’s going to be fun,” Smith said. “Hopefully we’ll play some good baseball down there and get the job done.” by Phil Anastasia , Staff Writer @PhilAnastasia | [email protected] The preaseason Top 25 for South Jersey baseball, which begins Saturday (weather permitting): 1. Eastern (21-7 last season): The Vikings return most of the lineup from the squad that captured the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic last season, led by first-team All-South Jersey players in junior centerfielder Jack Herman and senior third baseman Davis Schneider. Junior infielder/pitcher Jesse Barbera, who shut down Gloucester Catholic in the Diamond Classic title game, is another player to watch among many others for the heavy-hitting Vikings. 2. Gloucester Catholic (24-4): The Rams should be good in April and even better in May and June, when pitcher/hitter Brendan Bean, a transfer from Wildwood and Penn recruit, becomes eligible after sitting out 30 days. Among the key returners for the perennial state power are seniors such as catcher Sam Punzi, an Iona recruit, first baseman Chris Turco, an Albany recruit and shortshop Evan Giordano, a Stony Brook recruit. Sophomore outfielder Lillo Paxia already has committed to Florida State. 3. Lenape (15-10): The Indians have a top team to break in their refurbiushed field, which should be ready before the middle of this month. Senior shortstop Tommy Gardiner is a Maryland recruit and junior infielder Jake Topolski is Duke recruit. Senior Ben Harris is another top hitter for the Indians, who should field one of South Jersey's top lineups but will need to develop pitching depth. 4. St. Augustine (20-9): The defending Non-Public South A champions have a couple of top hitters in senior infielder Greg Elfreth, who hit .300 last season, and Jake Catalano, who batted .340 and also was 5-4 in the mound with a 2.70 ERA. Senior Mike Myles and juniors Kevin Eaise and Jack Billings lead what should be a deep pitching staff. 5. Williamstown (18-8): The Braves have a senior-heavy squad led by infielder Tommy Gibson, a Penn State recruit, and Devon Jeffreys, a Hofstra recruit. Max Keegan and Justin Rouse, a Rhode Island recruit, lead what should be a deep pitching staff. 6. Seneca (15-7): The Golden Eagles have the look of a gathering storm. A loaded junior class is led by Nick Decker, a Maryland recruit and one of South Jersey's top two-way players. Junior Kevin Gsell is another player to watch and seniors Nick Trendler and Josh Knapp anchor what should be a strong pitching staff. 7. Audubon (17-6): The Green Wave have a top catcher in senior R.J. Concepcion, a first-team All-South Jersey selection, and a pair of aces at the top of the rotation in seniors Dan Wilson and Andrew Fehr. Senior third baseman Coe Nolan is another player to watch. 8. Cherry Hill West (17-8): The Lions will be led by senior pitcher John Stankiewicz, a Fordham recuit, and junior outfielder Nick DiVietro, a LaSalle recruit who stole 26 bases as a sophomore and batted better than .400. Infielders Isaiah Ishmail and Jack Owens and pitcher Liam Anderson are players to watch. 9. Millville (19-9): The Thunderbolts have one of the state's top players in third baseman Budy Kennedy, a North Carolina recruit who hit nine home runs last season. Seniors Nick Grotti and Ryan McIsaac are both pitchers/infielders and four-year starters and junior catcher Luis Vargas could be an emerging star. 10. Bishop Eustace (13-12-1): The Crusaders will be young but experienced and talented, with a loaded sophomore class led by pitcher/infielder Matt Orlando and outfielder Johnny Piacentino. Junior infielder/pitcher Sky Duff is a Pitt recruit and senior right-hander Brian Bernetich is the staff ace. 11. West Deptford (25-6): The defending Group 2 state champions have a true ace in senior left-hander Drew Wilden, a Maryland recruit. Senior catcher Ryan Baglivo batted .325 last season and senior shortstop Kyle Garrison drove in 20 runs. Senior pitcher Chis Leporati is a top No. 2. 12. Washington Township (12-13): The Minutemen have an experienced squad led by senior shortstop Ryan Swift, who batted .338 last season, and senior catcher Alex Gattinelli, who hit .373 with 22 RBIs and three home runs. Senior second baseman Dan Gee is another seasoned veteran for a team that will look develop some pitching depth behind senior right-hander Rich Racobaldo. 13. Cherokee (17-10): The Chiefs have a top senior infielder in Nick Schooley. Senior right-hander Jarrad Delarso, a Richmond recruit, could be an ace upon his return from injury in mid-April. The Chiefs will get another boost from the eligiblity of senior Shayne Clowar, a top hitter and pitcher who will sit the first 30 days after transferring from Bishop Eustace. 14. Shawnee (12-10): The Renegades sustained a blow when junior right-hander Dylan Deveney was lost for the season with an injury. But Shawnee still has top pitchers in juniors Sean Heine, a Maryland recruit, and Brian Hendry along with senior Greg Albert. Senior outfielder Jax Luzinski, an Army recruit, and junior catcher Colin Wettereau, a St. John's recruit, anchor what should be a strong lineup. 15. Highland (17-6): The South Jersey Group 3 finalists have some pitching depth with seniors Anthony Masseli, Jake Rappaport and Nick Yoder. Senior Brian Gallante is a veteran catcher and senior Jon Markulics is a top outfielder. 16. Rancocas Valley (12-8): The Red Devils have one of the state's top hitters in senior first baseman Tyler Dearden, a Penn State recruit who batted .481 with nine doubles, and a pair of top senior infielders in Colin Pollard and JoJo Alvarez. Sophomore outfielder Eli Dickerson is a young player to watch. Senior Trevor Perks and sophomore Bryce Mangene lead the pitching staff. 17. Northern Burlington (17-9): The Greyhounds have pitching depth, a more important commodity than ever in the pitch-count era. Juniors Sam Irvin, Ryan Wainwright and Mike Bell anchor the staff. Senior shortstop Alex Popovich is a Fordham recruit and senior Ben Jones is a top catcher. 18. Holy Cross (24-7-1): The defending Non-Public B state champions have a top catcher in senior Nate Zito, who joins with classmates Casey Fitzsimmon and Logan Napoli to create some pitching depth. Juniors to watch include pitcher Jeff Undercuffler and outfielder Tim Petrucelli. 19. Haddonfield (24-5): Senior shortstop Joe Loperfido leads the way for the Bulldawgs. He's a Duke recruit who batted .431 with 11 extra-base hits and 28 RBIs last season. Seniors Dan Brown and Jonah Perna are top infielders and junior Jacob Small, who was 7-2 last season, leads the pitching staff. 20. Kingsway (14-10): Senior outfielder Rob Scanlan is a top defensive player who also batted .386 with 10 steals. Other top returners include seniors such as outfielder Sam Craig, catcher Josh Ritchie and infielder Joe Dellaquilla. Senior shortstop/pitcher Mike Biasiello and junior Alex Crothers are top pitchers. 21. Egg Harbor Twp. (15-11): The Eagles will look to build on momentum created by strong finish last season. Senior Nick Milhan batted .315 with 25 RBIs and senior Drew Hickman was 6-2 on the mound. Sophomore Jordan Sweeney, who batted .453 with three homers, is a young player to watch. 22. Holy Spirit (13-12): The Spartans suffered a blow with the loss of ace Billy Kral to injury. Senior Bobby Spicer is a top pitcher and the squads have seasoned hitters in seniors such as shortstop Nolan Charlton, third baseman Tyler Knox and outfielder Dom Boselli. 23. Delran (20-6): Juniors Luke Smith, Matt Fey and Luke Heisler lead the Bears in coach Rich Bender's 42d season. Smith batted .350 with four home runs and had a 1.45 ERA on the mound with 55 strikeouts in 48.1 innings. Fey was 5-1 with a 2.84 ERA and Heisler batted .358. 24. Pennsville (23-7): The defending Group 1 state champions have one of the state's top juniors in shortstop Max Dineen, who batted .442 with three home runs and eight doubles. Senior second baseman Jeremy McCoy is another returning starter and junior Dustin Garrison leads the pitching staff. 25. Mainland (15-9): The Mustangs have a top pitcher/catcher in senior Anthony Capasso and one of the Cape-Atlantic League's top juniors in Nick Atohi. Under consideration: Buena (16-6), Clearview (22-6-1), Delsea (13-7), Moorestown (10-10), ocean City (21-6), Pitman (15-11), Paul VI (7-16-2), St. Joseph (21-8), Timber Creek (11-12). -- Contact Phil Anastasia at panastasia@phillynews.com -- Follow @PhilAnastasia on Twitter BILL LECONEY, The Current Newspapers The Press of Atlantic City MULLICA HILL — The magic ran out for the Egg Harbor Township High School baseball team Tuesday, as the Eagles’ season ended in a 2-0 loss to top-seed Clearview Regional in a South Jersey Group IV semifinal. But it wasn’t a magic formula that allowed the 12th-seeded Eagles to stay alive in the Group IV playoff chase well past their presumed expiration date. “Our whole motto was, we were playing with house money, and we had nothing to lose,” said Bryan Carmichael. “We had opportunities today, we just didn’t capitalize.” Clearview will play for the South Jersey title Friday against seventh-seeded Millville. EHT senior Brandon Riggs allowed only one hit through the first four innings in a battle with Clearview right-hander Ryan Lauk. Riggs walked the first batter he faced in the fifth and, after an infield throwing error and stolen base put two runners in scoring position, Clearview’s Steve Schanne broke the scoreless tie with a bloop single. The Pioneers scored a second run on another EHT error. “You can’t do anything about it, it’s just baseball,” Riggs said. “A hit’s a hit, it doesn’t matter where it goes. They just hit it in the right spot at the right time.” Meanwhile, the Eagles managed only two hits and struck out eight times against Lauk. Their best chance came in the sixth inning, as Andrew Fowler led off with a single and Ryan Baruffi walked. But pinch-runner Brady Kessler was forced out at third on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt, and Baruffi was thrown out trying to steal third. In the seventh, Antonio Carballo led off with a single, but Lauk stranded him there with a strikeout, flyout and groundout. “It was a tough one. We ran into a good arm today,” Carmichael said. “I told (Lauk) afterwards, ‘That’s a good baseball team you just shut down today.’ To hold us to two hits, the way we’ve been doing things the last month, that’s impressive. That’s baseball. They were just a little better than us. “We were aggressive on the base paths, and some people might question me about that. But we were trying to win a baseball game, we were trying to make things happen. Kudos to (Clearview), they made the plays. They were one play better than us today.” The Eagles had reached the semifinal round with back-to-back wins on the road against higher seeds Williamstown and Cherokee, the latter coming with extra-inning drama on a two-run home run by freshman Ryan Sweeney. After a tough 3-6 start, the Eagles got a much-needed “attitude adjustment,” according to senior Nick Pera, and turned their season around with a late seven-game winning streak. They reached the sectional semifinal round for the first time in 16 years competing as a Group IV school. “Everybody changed the way they looked at things, and we started playing and pulling for one another,” Pera said. Pera will continue his academic and baseball career at Rutgers-Camden. “It went by pretty fast,” he said of his high school career. “I wish there was more to go. I wish I had more time here. I had a lot of fun for four years.” “I love this team,” said Riggs, who will attend Penn State-Harrisburg in the fall. “We always fight, it doesn’t matter what the score is. We had a tough start, we could have packed it up and had a ‘wash’ season, but we didn’t do that. We just kept on fighting all the way through.” Carmichael said the team will lose 11 seniors to graduation, including Riggs, Pera, Baruffi, Andrew Holmes and Luke Elwell. “Every one of them contributed in some way this year, and every one of them will be missed,” Carmichael said. “I’m proud of every one of our kids, especially the senior class for buying in to what my coaching staff and I have asked them to do. They believe in what we’re doing. We’ve come a long way from where we first started, six years ago. To be battling the No. 1 seed in a 2-0 game on their home field ... That’s impressive. “I couldn’t be prouder of them,” Carmichael said. “By no means is there a sour taste in my mouth. No one expected us to be here, but we made the best of it. We went down swinging, and that’s high school baseball.” Egg Harbor Township 000 000 0—0 2 1 Clearview Regional 000 020 0—2 6 1 2B—McCaffrey CR. WP—Lauk 8k. LP—Riggs 4k.
BILL LECONEY, The Current Newspapers The Press of Atlantic City
MARLTON — Leave it to an unflappable freshman to strike one of the most dramatic blows in Egg Harbor Township High School baseball history. The 12th-seeded Eagles pulled off their second straight playoff upset to advance to the sectional semifinals for the first time in school history. They will face top seed Clearview Regional on Tuesday in Mullica Hill. Clearview beat Toms River North 2-0 in another quarterfinal Thursday. “I was just looking for a fastball and just trying to hit it hard somewhere, and it just went out,” Sweeney said. “We never give up. Anything’s possible with our team.” The Eagles had to rally twice in this game. They scratched across a go-ahead run in the eighth inning on Nick Pera’s RBI single against Cherokee’s big left-handed ace, Chris Snyder, a pro prospect. The Eagles thought they had won the game in the bottom of the eighth on a bang-bang play at the plate, but instead of that being the final out, it allowed Cherokee to tie the game and send it to another inning. EHT’s Dante DiPalma hit a solo home run and a game-tying single in the fifth. He also led off the eighth inning with an infield single to ignite that rally. Andrew Holmes had three hits for the Eagles, and starting pitcher Drew Hickman battled into the fifth. “We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, and that’s the way we play,” said Holmes, a senior. “There were polls on Twitter that had (Cherokee) 87 percent winning over us. We’ve played so many good teams this year and battled with all of them. We started out the season really poor, but we went on a seven-game winning streak with our backs against the wall. We might not have made the playoffs without that, but we just find a way to win, always.” After beating No. 5 Williamstown in a first-round game this week, EHT (15-8) had another big hill to climb against No. 4 Cherokee. It was a back-and-forth game with plenty of clutch hits and big defensive plays. EHT rallied from an early four-run deficit, then scored six in the second, capped by Holmes’ two-run single. DiPalma’s solo home run gave the Eagles a three-run lead, but the Chiefs rallied with four runs in the fourth inning to take the lead. DiPalma’s single scored Holmes with the tying run in the EHT fourth, setting the stage for the final dramatics. “That big lefty they threw (Snyder), he’s their dude, and we battled with him. Our kids weren’t intimated by him,” EHT coach Bryan Carmichael said. “Our kids were just so resilient today. We could have easily packed it in when it was 4-0 and said, ‘We don’t belong with these guys, and that’s what some (EHT) teams in the past may have done. These guys turn around and put a six-spot on the board, and they battle and battle. “We’re scrappy, that’s the best way I can describe it,” he added. “I appreciate these kids so much because they’ve bought in to what the coaching staff is trying to teach, and it’s a pleasure to watch. When the wheels are in motion, it’s fun to watch.” |