Fleetwood ace Jordan Garcia pitched — and batted — his team into the District 3 Triple-A title game Tuesday afternoon at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.
L-S pitcher Chad Babcock delivers against Fleetwood.
Garcia held Lampeter-Strasburg to five hits — three of which didn't leave the infield — in a 7-1 semifinal victory.
The hard-throwing lefty needed just 84 pitches in a complete-game effort, allowing only Jon Carlson's third-inning sacrifice fly.
"They say good pitching quiets hitting," L-S coach Todd Garber observed. "Tonight was the proof of that."
Garcia (6-3) sailed through six of his seven innings, reaching back only in the third, to get the better of a duel with Pioneers' ace Chad Babcock (6-3).
L-S (15-8) trailed 3-0 on No. 8 hitter Andrew Dietrich's three-run home run in the second inning — a blast that landed two-thirds of the way up the left field bleachers.
Count Garber among those surprised by that display of power.
"And the way they (Fleetwood) were reacting, they weren't expecting it either," he said.
Jonny Gainer singled leading off the third, and he took second on Tommy Rath's infield single, as the Pioneers made a run at Garcia.
The two moved up on a pair of stolen bases, but Garcia, who struck out five and walked none, got leadoff hitter Evan King on strikes for the first out of the inning.
Carlson then drove in Gainer on a fly to right field, advancing Rath to third. But Garcia induced Derek Lefever to ground out to end the threat.
"(Garcia) had constant movement on the ball ... kept us of balance" Garber said of the side-arming lefty, whose delivery were reminiscent of Pittsburgh Pirates great John Candelaria.
"It would have been great to come back with two and get a little momentum," Garber lamented.
Instead, the Tigers (14-7), who entered the tournament as the 13th seed, got the momentum back in the next inning.
Garcia, helped by a strong breeze to left, deposited Babcock's 0-1 offering just over the fence in left.
Babcock went 42-e innings, walking two and striking out six. But he was clipped for five runs, all earned, on six hits.
"He had trouble throwing his curveball over for strikes, and usually that's his bread-and-butter," Garber said. "He got the ball up a little bit and that hurt him.
"That's the way baseball is," continued Garber, whose ninth-seeded Pioneers were coming off a 10-run victory over top-seeded Elizabethtown.
"We come out looking like a million bucks on Thursday, and get humbled the next day."
Humbled they may be, but their season is not over.
The Pioneers will play Susquehanna Township — a 5-3 loser to Muhlenberg — Thursday at 4 p.m. in a PIAA Tournament qualifying game at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.
Fleetwood, which won just two District 3 playoff games from 1977-2007, shoots for its fifth district win this season when the Tigers take on Berks County foe Muhlenberg in the Triple-A title game on Thursday.
Tuesday's second game at Ephrata — a Quad-A semifinal between Warwick and Manheim Township — was suspended by inclement weather.
Warwick took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Skylar Gingrich's 2-run homer. Then a line of storms ran through, causing the suspension.
The game will resume tonight at 7 Wenger Field in Fredericksburg, and will follow the other Quad-A semifinal game, featuring Hempfield and Red Land, set for this afternoon at 4:30.
The Black Knights and the Patriots never got started Tuesday before the expected storms rumbled through.
Correspondent Dave Byrne can be reached at
dbyrne@LNPnews.com
(14)
