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Schnader, Mounts grind out win over Hempfield

 In the most recent string of overused sports cliches, "blue collar" and "worker's mentality" are at the top of the list, especially when the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers are in the conversation.

It isn't a cliche when it comes to Ephrata pitcher Zac Schnader, though.

Hard hat and all.

"It all started with that helmet,'' Schnader said Tuesday night. "The trainer wanted me to wear it, so I decided to try it out and threw with it in the bullpen. It was OK, but I didn't have it. Then I took it off and I got back to what I do."

In Schnader's second start since returning from a concussion, he donned a hard hat, even though cleared of any restrictions, for the first four innings before shedding it and throwing three game-ending shutout innings.

Tuesday night, Schnader worked his way through a 128-pitch complete game, scattering 10 hits and four runs, while his teammates did the rest. Center fielder Steve Tretter's two-run single highlighted a four-run second inning as the Mounts knocked off Hempfield, 6-4, in the L-L League semifinals at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.

Section Two champion Ephrata advances to the L-L League championship game to face Manheim Township at 7 p.m. Thursday at Ephrata.

Schnader was the winner in the Mounts' section title game against Conestoga Valley, but was advised to wear a hard helmet for Tuesday's start by a concussion specialist.

He was hit in the head by a ball while pitching batting practice to his brother's junior-midget team just over three weeks ago, causing him to miss two scheduled starts.

In his second start since returning, Schnader struggled early, but was matched in his struggles by Hempfield starter Ryan Walters, who allowed three hits and four walks in just 1a-c innings.

Black Knights third baseman Matt Metcalf, who was 4-for-4, had an RBI single in the top of the first.

Ephrata also got on Walters in its half of the first, loading the bases with no outs, only to watch an inning-ending double play kill the threat.

Not that Mounts' coach Adrian Shelley was overly concerned.

"For whatever reason, this team has been able to scratch runs across the plate. We've been in so many tight games, as a coach you hope that it won't come back to haunt us," he said.

"On the flip side, from my perspective, you look at the team you're coaching and you know that a one-run game won't faze them. They won't dwell on it."

Even as Schnader's struggles continued, giving up an RBI double to Knights designated hitter Josh Lantz, so did Walters in the second.

He walked four of the first five batters he faced before leaving the game, while reliever Josh Houseal gave up RBI singles to Ryan Crowther and Tretter. Tretter knocked in Derrick Shenk, who scored two runs, and Derek Sipe, Ephrata's other ace pitcher, who was 2-for-2 with two walks.

Both teams scored one run in the third and fourth innings, as Keith Unton's solo home run in the fourth got the game within one run at 5-4.

The Mounts answered with a manufactured run in the fourth after Reed Martin walked, stole a base, was sacrificed by Dan Hagey and scored on Alex Weaver's groundout.

 

Ephrata's Dan Hagey scores on a sacrifice fly by Alan Kliewer in the second inning of the Mounts' 6-4 victory over Hempfield. Knights catcher Shane Dougherty waits for the throw.
© Deb Grove — Intelligencer Journal

"Zac really didn't have his stuff for four and a half innings," Shelley said. "So when he took the helmet off and opened up the fifth, I thought he looked much more comfortable with his mechanics."

"After that, he locked in. That fifth, sixth and seventh frames, that's how he's pitched all season."

Schnader allowed just three baserunners in the final three innings after discarding the hard helmet.

"I didn't think it affected me,'' he said, "but apparently it did because I put up the zeros in the last three innings after I took it off."

"I'm never wearing it again. It's banished," Schnader laughed.