Nazareth is eliminated by Pennridge in Region 2 American Legion Baseball Tournament

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

What began as a dream start for Nazareth quickly turned into a nightmare.

Nazareth had a seven-run lead evaporate in a 19-8 mercy-rule shortened loss to Pennridge in a Region 2 American Legion Baseball Tournament elimination game Tuesday at Hostelley Field.

Pennridge will play Boyertown at 1 p.m. today. If Pennridge wins, it forces a second game for the Region 2 title. If Boyertown wins the first contest, it wins the championship.

Boyertown eliminated Bath 4-1 on Tuesday night behind Ryan Pinter's complete game.

"We came ready to play," Nazareth manager Jason Brown said. "We played well the first two or three innings. We were scoring some runs, we had guys on base and things were going well."

Brown's team jumped out to a 7-0 advantage after two innings thanks to a scoring barrage that was capped by a booming three-run homer by Mike Garzillo and an opposite-field blast by Karl Keglovits.

After Nazareth's Ben Schmitt pitched out of bases-loaded jams in the third and fourth innings, Pennridge finally caught up with the starter in the fifth.

Schmitt left the game after Jon Unangst and Rocky Ferrier ripped RBI singles to make the score 7-5. With Ryan Heiserman taking over on the mound, Dylan Tice plated another run with an infield hit and Ferrier scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.

Next, Jared Schaffer crushed an RBI double to right-center field to give Pennridge an 8-7 lead.

"We didn't really play poor defense," Brown said. "They just hit the ball all over the field."

"They put up some runs and we kind of deflated," Garzillo said.

The game broke open in the seventh as Pennridge laced 11 hits and tallied 11 runs to make the score 19-7.

In the bottom half of the inning, Nazareth (21-9) managed one run, which Jordan Smith scored on a fielder's choice, and fell victim to the mercy rule.

"We were playing a little timidly early and that's not our game," Pennridge manager Rocky Wright said. "When you get down 7-0 a lot of times you can't play your game, but we started chipping away."

Pennridge (16-11) was paced by leadoff hitter Mike Kessler, who went 6-for-6 and scored three runs.

"He's the stick that stirs the pot," Wright said of Kessler.

Tice finished with four hits, four runs and five RBIs, while Drew Decew hit two doubles and drove in four runs. Every member of the Pennridge lineup notched at least two hits.

According to Garzillo, Nazareth won't let an unsightly tournament loss tarnish its successful season.

"The first goal is always the NorCo championship and to win it three years in a row really says something about our team," said Garzillo, who was 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs. "Pennridge just played a better game than us and unfortunately, our season ends here but we're definitely staying positive about it. Hopefully, we can come out and win a fourth (NorCo) championship next year."

PENNRIDGE (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Kessler 2b 6-3-6-1, Ferrier lf 5-4-3-2, Tice ss 6-4-4-5, Myers p/Decew dh 4-1-2-4, Schaffer 1b 4-0-2-2, Stear 3b 5-1-2-1, Leatherman lf 4-2-3-1, Mikols c 5-2-2-1, Unangst cf 5-2-2-1. Totals: 44-19-26-18.

NAZARETH (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Siebler rf-cf-p 3-2-1-0, Schmitt p-rf 3-2-1-0, Garzillo ss 4-2-2-4, Keglovits 1b 3-1-2-1, Dauscher lf 3-0-0-1, Smith 3b 3-1-2-1, Godiska 2b 4-0-2-0, Charlie c 2-0-0-0, Criscuolo cf 2-0-0-0, Heiserman p 1-0-1-0, Gaetaniello cf 1-0-0-1. Totals: 29-8-11-8.

Pennridge 003 050 11-19 26 1
Nazareth 340 000 1- 8 11 1

E -- Stear; Smith. LOB -- Pennridge 12; Nazareth 8. DP -- Pennridge; Nazareth. 2B -- Decew 2, Tice, Schaffer, Leatherman, Mikols. 3B -- Kessler, Leatherman. HR -- Garzillo, Keglovits. SB -- Kessler 2. SAC -- Ferrier, DeCew, Schaffer; Keglovits, Dauscher, Charlie.
Myers and Mikols. Schmitt, Heiserman (5), Siebler (7) and Charlie. L -- Heiserman. SO-BB -- Myers 4-4; Schmitt 3-4, Heiserman 0-0, Siebler 0-0. HBP -- By Myers (Siebler).

Records: Pennridge 16-11; Nazareth 21-9.


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