Indians eliminate Mounts

RED LION — Landon Robertson was adamant that he made the tag — at least once.

Either way, the Donegal third baseman was ready when Ephrata’s speedy catcher, Coy Schwanger, attempted to swipe third as part of a double steal with two outs in the last inning of Thursday’s PIAA Class 5A baseball quarterfinal.

“He might have gotten there a little early, but he did slide off the bag and I kept the tag on so either way he would have been out,” Robertson said.

Schwanger was called out on the bang-bang play, ending the game as Done-gal advanced to Monday’s state semifinals with a 5-4 victory over the Mountaineers.

Indians freshman catcher Coy Allman, who was stellar behind the plate all game, fired the quick throw to third and knew Robertson would be there.

“We have been working all offseason together,” Allman said. “I trusted him, I trusted myself and I knew I was getting the throw there and giving him a chance to make the tag.”

The fourth-seeded team from District Three, Done-gal (18-8) will next face Beth-el Park (19-3), which topped District Seven foe West Allegheny 7-0 on Thursday. Monday’s semifinal will be played at a site and time to be announced.

“When you get in the tournament you just never know,” Indians coach Jeff Hartman said. “We were fortunate enough to have some positive things happen in our (PIAA) opener against Southern Lehigh and we’ve been riding that. That’s what can happen in this tournament.”

Hartman saw his team take advantage of uncharacteristic Ephrata errors with five unearned runs through the first three innings at Red Lion High School.

Jonathan Holmes drove in what proved to be the winning run when he ripped a two-out double to the fence in left, plating Andrew Small, who reached on an error to open the third inning.

Allman led off the game with a walk and two outs later, went to third on a throwing error before scoring on a passed ball. Winning pitcher Nicholas Eichelberger laced a single and two more runs came around on an error.

Donegal added another run in the second when Jaden Fabian led off with a single. Although Fabian was erased on a fielder’s choice, Landen Baughman ended up scoring on a throwing error for a 4-0 lead.

“Taking advantage of opportunities, that is what you have got to do,” Hartman said. ”They had a couple hiccups and in baseball you have to take advantage when it happens and that’s not typical of them. That is why when it’s a one-game deal you just never know.”

Still, no one was surprised when Ephrata (18-8) rallied with a four-run bottom of the fourth, especially Hartman, who recalled the Mounts beating his squad 11-1 in the district semifinals.

“I want to congratulate coach (Adrian) Shelley and Ephrata. They have a topnotch, first-class operation over there,” he said. “The first time we played them, you saw the score. They have a heck of a team and heck of a program.

“They were coming hard and had us in a back-peddle. It was an exciting game.”

Drew Hurst walked and Dawson Shelly was hit by a pitch to open the home fourth. Hurst scored on an Aaron Hershberger base hit. Ryan Bromirski followed with a bunt single, loading the bases and Shelly came home on a Tanner McCracken fielder’s choice.

Mason Hagan’s single plated Hershberger and Mc-Cracken raced home on a wild pitch, cutting the Indians’ lead to 5-4.

After a visit to the mound, Hartman stayed with Eichelberger, who pitched two more innings.

“He gutted it out,” Hart-man said of his starter. “In that big inning, what they do is maximize. We knew they were going to get hits, knew they were going to steal bases and score runs, we just needed to stay the course and minimize the damage.”

“He threw a heck of a game,” Allman said of his batterymate. “He was throwing cutters that were breaking off the plate, so they got a lot of off the end of their bats action. He was putting the ball where it needed to be.”

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