Sayre tops NEB, headed to D4 final.
By: The Review | Towanda Daily Review | May 29, 2016
2016 NTL and District 4 News
WILLIAMSPORT — On a scorching hot Saturday afternoon at Bowman Field, the Sayre Redskins were even hotter on the baseball diamond.
Nate Sweet threw an efficient complete game performance for the Redskins, as they cruised to a 9-1 victory over the Northeast Bradford Panthers in the District IV Class A semifinal round.
Despite unbearable temperature conditions on the field, Sweet gave up just one run on four hits, no walks and eight strikeouts. Of the 80 pitches he tossed, 57 of them were for strikes.
Between the end of the first inning and the end of the sixth inning, Sweet retired 16 of the 17 batters he faced. Facing 24 total Panthers in the batter's box, Sweet threw 19 first-pitch strikes.
"(Nate) has definitely progressed throughout the year," said Sayre coach Jon Pack. "Traditionally what we've seen of Nate the past couple years is he gets stronger as the game goes on. About the middle of the game, his curveball starts to bite a little more and hit his spots a little more. He's tough. Nate had a little trouble in the first and second innings but he settled and pitched a great game."
Sayre's offense complemented Sweet's effort on the bump. Sam Wheeler led off the game with a walk. Sweet then ground out to move Wheeler to second base.
Matt Williams delivered for the Redskins smacking a double over NEB left fielder Derrick Newman's head, which brought in Wheeler for a 1-0 Sayre score.
After a Connor Hanafin sacrifice fly to move Williams to third base, John Esposito drove a single to left field on the first pitch to score Williams for a 2-0 Redskins advantage.
Wheeler started the bottom of the third with a bloop single, which dropped in between NEB first basemen Nate Watkins and right fielder Max Cooper. Due to the catch call mixup, Wheeler advanced to second on the throw.
Originally called out after missing the base, Pack argued the play, which resulted in the play getting overturned. With Wheeler now on second, Sweet singled up the middle to put runners on the corners.
Williams came through once again for the Redskins, hitting a deep sac fly to the outfield to score Wheeler and bulk Sayre's lead to 3-0.
The Redskins did the real damage to the Panther's comeback hopes in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs already in the inning, Sweet singled to right field. Sweet then stole second base with ease, which was followed by Williams zipping a base hit to right field. On the hit, Sweet ran home for a four-run Redskins lead.
After Hanafin was hit by a pitch and John walked, Jordan Rockwell connected for a floating single to right-center, scoring Hanafin and Williams to skyrocket Sayre's lead to 6-0.
Gavin McCutcheon — who pinch ran for John — scored on a James Esposito single to right to give the Redskins a commanding 7-0 lead.
With Rockwell and James on second and third, Jake Goodrich poked a fly ball single out of Newman's to score two — and in the process — take Sayre's lead from seven to nine.
"We already saw (Brian) Horton (NEB's starting pitcher) earlier in the season," said Pack. "He held us to a handful of hits in the last game because we were a little impatient with our bats. Patience is something I stressed throughout the week. Last time we faced Horton, out of the 31 batters that came to the plate, 21 of them saw first-pitch strikes.
"In today's game, we were just preaching to be disciplined, yet aggressive. If we're going to be aggressive early in the count, make sure it's something we can drive. I think we did a good job of that today."
Sayre's batters certainly threw off Horton. Of the 24 Redskins Horton faced, nine of them saw first-pitch strikes. He also threw 41 strikes out of his 73 total pitches.
Esposito (3-for-3), Williams (2-for-3) and Sweet (2-for-3) led the way for Sayre.
It is the third time Sayre has defeated the Panthers this season, with the two other match ups ending by a score of 5-3 (Apr. 27) and 12-2 (May 20).
Tyler Emick, Nik Geiser, Garret Smith and Nate Watkins had the four Panther hits.
NEB got their seventh inning run when Smith and Watkins got back to back singles. Then Grant Allis knocked Smith in on a ground-out RBI.
Millville defeated Muncy 3-1 in the other Class A semifinal game at Bowman. The Redskins will face the Quakers in the District IV Class A Championship game on Wednesday on the same field. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m.
"We have to tighten a few things up before Wednesday's game," said Pack. "We also need to work on different facets of the game, but I expect a close ball game against Millville."
