Strath Haven rolls past Selinsgrove

Jun. 9—PINE GROVE — Ben Milligan heard the call from Selinsgrove's dugout.

It wasn't anything derisive, and nothing he hadn't heard before.

"Lots of times when I come up I hear the other team yelling, 'Nine-hole! Nine-hole!'" said the youngest player in Strath Haven's lineup.

Milligan heard it again in the third inning of Thursday's PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal game. His team had four runs on the board, three in that inning alone, and the Seals hoped to retire Milligan and stop the bleeding.

Instead, the sophomore infielder lashed a two-out, two-run triple to right field, the first of several clutch hits in the game that helped the District 1 champion Panthers pull away for a 14-3 win at Walter Stump Stadium.

"That was a killer," said Selinsgrove junior Caleb Hicks, "when you have the nine-hole hitting a triple and getting all those runs."

Strath Haven pounded 16 hits to score its most runs of this postseason. The Panthers also stranded nine runners, leaving the bases loaded in two innings.

"It's unusual for us to give up that many runs, but they hit the ball well, too, against all three of our pitchers," said Seals coach Brent Beiler. "Another day, I guess, things might be different, but not today."

Selinsgrove pulled within 7-3 after four innings, but Milligan was in the middle of two more scoring sequences. His sacrifice bunt after a leadoff single in the fifth led to a run for an 8-3 lead. An inning later, he lined a two-out hit that set the stage for Matt Kane's three-run homer.

"Ben's been tremendous. His confidence has gone through the roof," said Strath Haven coach Brian Fili. "In our last state playoff game, he started off two big innings for us. The kids trust him, and they're all playing with a lot of confidence right now."

The Panthers (21-4) play District 3 runner-up Greencastle-Antrim, a 1-0 winner over District 11 champ Pocono Mountain East, in Monday's semifinals.

The Seals, last year's Class 5A runners-up, finished 18-6.

"They outplayed us," said Selinsgrove senior Tyler Swineford. "We didn't make the plays we had to make; I didn't make the pitches I needed to make. They just outplayed us.

"We fought until the end, and that's something to be proud of. It just didn't go our way."

The Seals stung the ball pretty well, too, ripping 10 hits and having another four taken away by Strath Haven's top-shelf defense. They stroked five of the hardest-hit balls of the game in a scoreless home fifth.

Andrew Gephart led off with a hot shot past the third baseman. Tucker Teats followed with a rocket deep to the gap in right-center that Panthers center fielder Sam Milligan ran down maybe 15 feet from the wall. After Gannon Steimling (2-for-4) drilled a single through the middle, Mason Richter (3-for-4) and Bryce Shaffer ripped consecutive lineouts to Milligan in center.

"We're a really good hitting team, and most of the time we can out-hit teams," said Teats. "These guys came to play. Unfortunately, they were the better team. They got us today."

"I think the difference (in the game) was we had a lot of big hits in the big moments," said Ben Milligan.

Swineford started again Thursday after throwing 71 pitches in Monday's first-round win over Warwick. "He was our guy," said Beiler.

Strath Haven scored an unearned run in the second inning, turning a leadoff hit, an error and a groundout into a 1-0 lead before Swineford worked out of a bases-loaded spot.

In the third, a leadoff single and a one-out hit led to two Panthers runs on an infield error. They then filled the bases with another hit and a walk before scoring on a groundout to lead 4-0. That brought up Ben Milligan, who roped a 1-0 fastball to the opposite field that got down and skipped for a two-run triple.

"I was just trying to take it up the middle, and I ended up putting it into right field," he said. "I was happy, but I didn't even process it until like two innings later that it was two RBIs. It made a big difference."

Kane then pulled an 0-2 pitch past first base for an 7-0 lead. The inning ended with two runners on when Seals center fielder Josh Domaracki chased a long fly to center.

"We were right there from getting out of that big inning," said Beiler, "and we may have had a different attitude from that point forward."

Seals junior Ben Gearhart made it 7-1 with a two-out RBI single in the third. Selinsgrove then scored twice on four hits in the home fourth, sparked by Steimling's opposite-field, ground-rule double, and capped by Bryce Shaffer and Domaracki RBIs.

The Seals left the bases loaded in the third and fourth innings, and stranded 13 runners overall, seven in scoring position.

"We always talk about trying to minimize the damage," said Fili. "I went out (to the mound) a couple times, not really to even talk to the pitcher as much, but it's just more about settling them down. 'This is an important spot. Let's keep it where it is.'

"They had bases loaded a couple times and we ended up getting out of the inning, which, you know, could have changed some things."

Strath Haven closed with consecutive three-run innings, including Kane's wind-aided homer in the sixth.

"I definitely think we tip our hat to them. They made every play they could on the field; they hit everything they could," said Hicks. "Hits came in bunches for them, while, for us, it really just wasn't there offensively. I don't think we had an awful day at plate, it's just that they made a lot of plays when they needed to."

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PIAA CLASS 5A BASEBALL

QUARTERFINAL

At Walter Stump Stadium, Pine Grove

STRATH HAVEN 14, SELINSGROVE 3

Strath Haven;016;013;3 — 14-16-0

Selinsgrove;001;200;0 — 3-11-4

Luke D'Ancona, Zane Malarkey (5) and Matt Kane. Tyler Swineford, Josh Domaracki (3), Ben Gearhart (7) and Caleb Hicks.

WP: D'Ancona. LP: Swineford.

Strath Haven: Matt Kane 2-for-5, home run (6th, 2 on), run, 4 RBIs; Alex Pak 3-for-5, run, RBI; Jake McDonough 2-for-5, run; Sam Milligan 3-for-5, 3 runs; Nick Corritore 1-for-5, double, 2 runs, RBI; Malarkey 2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Will Thompson 2 runs; D'Ancona 1-for-4, RBI; Ben Milligan 2-for-2, triple, 2 runs, 2 RBIs.

Selinsgrove: Hicks 1-for-5; Domaracki 1-for-4, RBI; Gearhart 1-for-3; Swineford 1-for-3, RBI; Andrew Gephart 1-for-3; Gannon Steimling 2-for-4, double, run; Mason Richter 3-for-4, run; Bryce Shaffer 1-for-3, run, RBI.