District 18 champs held to 5 hits in 5-0 loss

ORWIGSBURG -– The crack of the bats wasn’t there.

A reliable defense suddenly became poor.

Tamaqua’s first venture into the Section 6 playoffs for its 11-12-year-old all-star team in 14 years was a bit of a letdown.

District 20 champion Lehigh combined eight hits with six Tamaqua errors to capture a 5-0 victory Sunday night at Blue Mountain Area Baseball’s Memorial Field in Orwigsburg.

Sunday’s contest was the opening game in this three-team, round-robin tournament which resumes Monday with Tamaqua facing host Blue Mountain at 6 p.m. A Blue Mountain victory would eliminate Tamaqua and advance both Blue Mountain and Lehigh to Wednesday’s championship game.

Tamaqua had a scoring chance in the top of the first with two outs when Finnegan Davis slapped a single to left and Bryce Bailey walked.

But Brady Collins, the winning pitcher who went the distance on 89 pitches, avoided further damage thanks to the play of center fielder Marcus Stuart, who ran down a fly ball in the gap. Stuart was an unsung star for Lehigh, chasing down two other fly balls that looked bound for base hits, foiling Tamaqua’s offensive threats.

Lehigh seized a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Jack Cresci reached on a fielder’s choice groundout and eventually scored when Lambros Dontas drilled a two-out single.

“We did our homework on scouting Tamaqua,” Lehigh manager Dave Cresci said. “Their pitcher did a heck of a job. We got some breaks and took advantage.

“Our hitting was a big off, I think mainly because we had nine days off since winning the district (20) championship. But I expect us to do a better job when we get back to play (Tuesday),”

Bailey had his moments on the hump. He dug in when Lehigh put the first two batters on base in the second when Jack Misko singled and Brady Collins was safe on an error. The Tamaqua defense stayed the course and squelched the threat when Bailey reared back an struck out a pair of batters to avoid a potential big inning.

“He did a fantastic job, we just didn’t get him any runs,” Tamaqua skipper Brian Smith said of Bailey. “(Lehigh) has some big guns, they’re kind of intimidating, but our guys just battled for six innings. If we can find our bats I think we can get back.”

Tamaqua missed a chance at plating a runner to start the third. Abram Graves boomed a double to open the frame, but Stuart made two more standout plays to kill off the potential rally.

First, he ran down a blast to center by Grayson Smith. After Davis reached on an error to put runners at second and third, Stuart came out of nowhere to flag down a fly hit by Bailey. Brady Collins then induced a comebacker to the mound to end the rally.

Lehigh found some of its offensive attack with a three-run rally in the home third.

With one out, Zane Balaziuk reached on a fielder’s choice grounder. Cresci then smoked a ball that turned into a three-base error, and Caleb Yoder walked. Dontas drove in two runs on his double to put his team in front 4-1.

Lehigh added its final run after Yoder walked with two outs and Dontas picked up an RBI on a triple hit to right that took a weird bounce allowing Yoder to scoot home for the game’s final run.

Tamaqua loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Brady Collins recorded a strikeout on his final pitch to end the game.

“Yeah we have our work cut out, but you know these kids are very (resilient),” Smith said of his Tamaqua bunch. “Don’t count them out. At least our staff is not.”

NOT BAD … Lehigh had some things go its way, but good teams take advantage of mistakes. Tamaqua was never out of the game.

HITTING … Tamaqua finished with five hits: Graver doubled and singled, while Preston Weschler, Nolan Runk and Jacob Kufro each had singles. Tamaqua’s issue was it couldn’t bunch them together.

SWEET SWINGS … Lehigh’s kids can hit. Dontas was 3-for-3 with a single, double and triple and three RBIs. There’s a reason he was hitting cleanup. Adding one hit each was Anthony Petko, Logan Collins, Misko, Stuart and Balaziuk.

ON THE HUMP … Brady Collins struck out six and issued one walk. Bailey walked four and struck out one.

Score by innings:

Tamaqua 000 000 – 0 5 6

Lehigh 103 01x – 5 8 2

B. Collins and Petko; Bailey and Runk.

W – B. Collins L – Bailey