Sayre takes down Millville in D-IV playoffs, 7-3.
By: Chris Manning | Towanda Daily Review | May 24, 2017 | Photo courtesy The Review
2017 NTL and District 4 News
SAYRE — Sayre had one thing on their mind Tuesday. Revenge. In an error-plagued game, Millville beat the Redskins to claim the District IV, Class A baseball title last May.
This time, it was Sayre coming out on top, 7-3, thanks to a big day from Nate Sweet.
Sweet was 3-for-4 with a double, home run and 4-RBI at the plate then came in to get the save. He went the final two innings, striking out three while allowing one hit.
"This is really the biggest game of the season," remarked Sweet. "It felt good."
Sweet's fourth inning 2-run home run took the wind out of Millville's sails. With their ace Zane Robbins on the mound Sweet put it over the left field fence and into the trees.
"That felt great," Sweet said about seeing Robbins' fastball end up over the fence.
However, he didn't want to dwell too much on himself.
"You have one of those days I guess," a modest Sweet said afterwards. "It was a team effort. We all had timely hits — that's all you can ask for."
And hit Sayre did, pounding out 13 of them as Jordan Rockwell (3-for-4), Connor Hanafin (2-for-3) and Sam Wheeler (2-for-4) all had multiple hits on the day as well as Sweet.
Matt Williams, Quinn Hanafin and James Esposito also had hits.
Rockwell and Connor Hanafin both scored twice with Williams, Isaiah Firestine and Sweet also reaching home.
Rockwell started and got the win, going five innings to strikeout three while allowing eight hits, three walks and three earned runs on 90 pitches.
The Quakers had a strong day at the plate as well.
Gavin Barton (2-for-4) and Kenny Cowperthwait (2-for-4) each had multiple hits on the day with Barton knocking in two runs.
Kelly Holdren started and went the first three innings to strikeout three while allowing seven hits, three walks and three earned runs on 66 pitches to take the loss.
Robbins finished out, striking out one while allowing two walks, six hits and four earned runs on 48 pitches.
Millville led 2-0 after the first inning, but Sayre scored twice in the bottom of the first to knot the game up. They added a third on a field single with two outs and bases loaded to take a 3-2 lead.
Sweet had his home run in the fourth to make it 5-2.
The Quakers got one back in the fifth. They had bases loaded with two outs when a single right field brought in a run. However, the second runner, Cowperthwait, got caught up at third base and was thrown out at home to end the inning.
Sayre scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away.
The Redskins will now face the winner of Cowanesque Valley-Montgomery at 4 p.m. next Wednesday down at Penn State's Medlar Field in the District IV, Class A final.
"We're going to work on trying to keep the errors down," Sweet said about their preparation. "Keeping the fundamentals."
The errors did them in last year against Millville and they had two on Tuesday as well.
"That's the main problem of why we lost," Sweet remarked about last year's final.
Regardless, though, the players are thrilled to be playing down at Penn State.
"That feels great," said Sweet. "That's a beautiful field. Hopefully we play well."
Danville 8, NP-Mansfield 3
NP-Mansfield fell to Danville 8-3 in the first round of AAA, District IV baseball playoffs on Tuesday.
For NPM, Carl Dinger started the game and pitched four innings, allowing two runs. Kipp Hillson pitched the fifth innings, allowing three runs; J.P. Shaw threw the sixth, allowing two runs; and Logan Adams pitched the last inning, allowing one run.
Hillson had two hits on the day and Shaw also had two hits and a stolen base.
NPM finishes their season at 15-5.
NEW YORK
Waverly 2, Union Springs 0
Bradey Roney threw a complete game shutout, allowing only three hits and striking out seven to lead Waverly to their 2-0 win over Union Springs in Class B, Section IV playoffs on Tuesday.
On offense, Brendyn Stillman had one run and two doubles, Nate Bennett had one double and two RBI, Zach VanHouten scored a run, and Hunter Bodine had a hit.
Waverly will now face Seton Catholic in the semi-finals of the Class B, Section IV baseball playoffs.
