Jack Gabel-Wilson

Ethan Grim entered the BCIAA Championship with a (5-1) record and a 1.50 ERA. The hard-throwing junior has interest from several DI schools. Jack Gabel said that Wilson’s approach was to attack the fastball. When Gabel got a high heater in the third inning, the sophomore didn’t miss it. His three-run homer off the left field pole propelled the third-seeded Bulldogs to a 10-3 victory over Gov. Mifflin. “I know he’s got good ‘velo’. I looked up and it just kept going. It was a crazy feeling,” explained Gabel. The top-seeded Mustangs had won two of the previous three Berks County titles. They beat Wilson 6-3 in the final at FirstEnergy Stadium a season ago. Grim got the win in that matchup, allowing just three hits and one unearned run over five frames. Monday night was a different story. The righty gave up eight runs, seven earned, on seven hits in 5.1 innings. Gov. Mifflin struck first with two runs on three hits in the opening frame. Travis Jenkins hit a sacrifice fly and Dylan Barrett ripped a RBI single to left field that was nearly caught by freshman Ryan Marmolejos. Matt VanOstenbridge had only allowed 13 hits all season. The Penn State commit settled down after the first inning. VanOstenbridge was charged with three runs, two earned, in 5.1 innings. The southpaw gave up eight hits and three walks while striking out four. He improved to (4-1) with a stellar 1.03 ERA. The (16-6) Bulldogs exploded for five runs on four hits in the 3rd. Tommy Hunsicker laced a RBI single to the opposite field before Gabel’s blast made it 4-2. The promising shortstop didn’t think the ball was going to stay fair. “It just had so much backspin, it stayed straight,” he noted. Gabel finished 2-for-3 with a walk and 5 RBI. Cooper Kennedy knocked in a run with a double to right-center for a 5-2 edge. Wilson added two runs in the 5th on RBI singles to center by Christo Hunsicker and Nick Fiorini. Gabel drove in two more runs with a two-out, two-run single to right field in the top of the sixth. As if that weren’t enough, he threw 1.2 hitless innings with three strikeouts. “I just stayed calm and tried to not be too cocky,” mentioned Gabel. John Bodnar came off the bench and provided a RBI double to left in the 7th for the final margin. Sophomore relief pitchers R.J. Weaver and Evan Glucksnis each allowed one run. Mustangs’ head coach Chris Hole said before the game that the key was being able to command off-speed pitches. However, Gov. Mifflin’s first pitch strike percentage was just 30% which got Wilson’s batters into fastball counts. The Bulldogs piled up ten hits. Fiorini and Tommy Hunsicker had two singles apiece. Fiorini has a team-high .444 batting average with 28 RBI. Hunsicker leads the club with 29 runs. The Millersville football commit scored three times on Monday. Wilson defeated the (17-4) Mustangs for the third time this season. “Even though we were down, we battled back and our energy stayed up. It was a great team win,” stated Gabel. His average increased to .389 as the Bulldogs claimed their 13th Berks League crown.