Boyertown rallies to beat Nazareth 8-3 in Region 2 American Legion baseball

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Karl Keglovits was one pitch away from a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

Instead, Matt Purnell singled and the floodgates opened. Boyertown scored four runs in the inning with one hit, two walks, two hit batters and an error and the Bears rallied to beat Nazareth 8-3 in the third round of the Region 2 American Legion tournament at Hostelley Field.

"I was just getting tired in the later innings and wasn't hitting my spots," Keglovits said. "That's pretty much it. I wasn't hitting my spots."

Nazareth (21-8) plays Pennridge at 4 p.m. today in the semifinals. Boyertown (36-9), which remained unbeaten in the tournament, faces Bath at 7:30.

Keglovits struck out the first two batters in the inning looking at breaking pitches and seemed poised to make it three in a row. But Purnell reached first on an infield single to the left side. Josh Schnell drew a full-count walk, then Keglovits plunked Travis Kreitz and Werner on back-to-back fastballs as Boyertown took a 4-3 lead.

In the next at-bat, Andrew Gehringer ripped a grounder to Mike Garzillo at shortstop, but the ball took a wicked hop and went into left-center field as the Bears plated two more runs. A wild pitch with Paul Mills at-bat next made it 7-3.

"Before the game we told Karl he had to get all three pitches working," Nazareth manager Jason Brown said. "Boyertown excels because they make adjustments during the game, so you can't show the same thing inning after inning because the third time through the lineup, they'll key in on you.

"He (Keglovits) lost his legs a little bit, started missing some spots and they took advantage of it. He lost his legs, bottom line."

Nazareth built a 3-0 lead in the first inning, getting to starter Dan Woodley with three consecutive hits. Shane Siebler and Ben Schmitt hit back-to-back singles before Garzillo ripped a two-run double down the left-field line.

Kyle Dauscher hit a ball deep to left field, but Alex Jazlovietcki dropped it and Nazareth led 3-0.

Woodley settled down after that, allowing just two hits in 6.2 innings for the victory. He struck out six and walked four.

"Their pitcher made good adjustments on our hitters," Brown said. "He was getting behind counts and we had fastball counts and we were ripping them hard. Later in the game, he was able to throw for strikes early in the count, and he got to a situation where he could throw a six- or seven-pitch at-bat and not throw a single fastball."

Boyertown added a run in the eighth on an RBI groundout by Purnell.

Brock Hallman came on in relief in the seventh inning for the Bears, surrendering just one hit. Nazareth seemed poised for a rally in the top of the ninth when Will Godiska drew a leadoff walk.After Jake Criscuolo struck out, Anthony Gaetaniello singled but was later picked off first base on a snap-throw from catcher Schnell. Siebler struck out to end the game.

"We put all our eggs in one basket; it just didn't work out," Brown said. "We knew our best chance to beat Boyertown was with Karl Keglovits being strong and giving us seven or eight innings.

"We still have arms to get us through two more days."

BATH 9, NOR-GWYN 0 -- Second baseman Evan Allman went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs as Bath continued to advance through the losers bracket and avoiding elimination.

Ryan Brong and Robert Bertolotti had three hits apiece. Starter Patrick Donnelly allowed just four hits in eight shutout innings for the win.

Bath plays unbeaten Boyertown today in the semifinals at 4 p.m.

BATH (ab-r-h-bi) -- Longernecker ss 4-0-0-1, Haller cf 5-0-2-1, Daland 3b 4-0-1-0, Ryan 3b 0-0-0-0, J. Bertolotti 4-2-1-0, Brong dh/rf 5-2-3-0, R. Bertolotti rf/p 5-1-3-1, Mitch 1b 5-2-2-1, Allman 2b 5-1-3-4, Bender lf 3-1-1-0, Donnelly p 0-0-0-0. Totals 40-9-16-8.

NOR-GWYN (ab-r-h-bi) - Martinez cf 3-0-1-0, Davey rf 4-0-1-0, Costa c 4-0-1-0, Shuttle dh 2-0-0-0, Heller dh 2-0-0-0, Minnemeyer 2b 2-0-1-0, Mauger 1b 3-0-0-0, Cameron ph 1-0-0-0, Marukos ss 3-0-0-0, Kenniff ph 1-0-0-0, Schlupp 3b 3-0-0-0, Barr lf 2-0-0-0, Campbell p 0-0-0-0, Maher p 0-0-0-0. Totals 30-0-4-0.

Bath 030 220 011 - 9 16 1

Nor-Gwyn 000 000 000 - 0 4 2

E - Daland; Martinez, Barr. DP - Nor-Gwyn. LOB - Bath 9; Nor-Gwyn 7. 2B - Mitch 2, Allman 2. CS - Davey. S - Martinez. SF - Longernecker.

Donnelly, R. Bertolotti (9) and J. Bertolotti; Campbell, Maher (5) and Costa. W - Donnelly. L - Campbell. WP - Campbell; Maher 2. HBP - by Maher (J. Bertolotti). SO-BB - Donnelly 5-2, R. Bertolotti 1-1; Campbell 3-2, Maher 0-1. T - 2:30.

NAZARETH (ab-r-h-bi) -- Siebler rf 5-1-1-0, Schmitt lf 3-1-1-0, Martinsky ph 0-0-0-0, Charlie c 0-0-0-0, Garzillo ss 4-1-2-2, Keglovits p 2-0-0-0, Heiserman p 1-0-0-0, Dauscher c/lf 3-0-1-1, Smith 1b 3-0-0-0, Godiska 2b 3-0-0-0, Criscuolo cf 4-0-0-0, Gaetaniello 3b 3-0-1-0. Totals 31-3-6-3.

BOYERTOWN (ab-r-h-bi) - Schwager cf 5-1-1-0, Purnell 2b 5-2-2-1, Schnell c 3-2-1-0, Kreitz rf 4-1-0-0, Werner ss 4-1-2-2, Gehringer 3-1-0-0, Mills 3b 2-0-1-1, Hartman dh 4-0-1-0, Jazlovietcki lf 4-0-1-0, Woodley p 0-0-0-0, Hallman p 0-0-0-0. Totals 34-8-9-4.

Nazareth 300 000 000 - 3 6 4

Boyertown 000 003 41x - 8 9 2

E - Garzillo 2, Schmitt, Godiska; Schwager, Jazlovietcki. DP - Boyertown. LOB - Nazareth 7; Boyertown 9. 2B - Garzillo. SF - Dauscher. SB - Schwager 2, Schnell 2, Purnell, Kreitz, Werner, Jazlovietcki. CS - Garzillo; Werner.

Keglovits, Heiserman (7) and Dauscher, Charlie (7); Woodley, Hallman (7) and Schnell. W - Woodley. L - Keglovits. SO-BB - Keglovits 6-3, Heiserman 1-1; Woodley 6-4, Hallman 4-1. WP - Keglovits 4, Heiserman; Woodley. HBP - Gehringer, Kreitz, Werner (by Keglovits).


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