Mustangs hold off Eagles in Semifinals

Gov. Mifflin outscored Exeter 16-2 in their two regular season meetings. The fifth-seeded Eagles put up a much tougher fight on Monday night at FirstEnergy Stadium. The top-seeded Mustangs took advantage of four errors to beat Exeter 2-1 in the BCIAA semifinals. Ethan Grim allowed one run on just four hits over six innings. The Virginia Tech commit struck out nine and walked three. “Just a gutsy performance for him. He probably would be the first to tell you that he didn’t have his best stuff. He went out real hard in the first inning and I think that affected his stamina…Can’t say enough about Ethan,” said head coach Chris Hole. Grim hit 95 mph in the opening frame. The 6’1, 195-pound righty struck out three of the first six batters that he faced. Exeter’s Kamren Martin, a 6’3 junior, was equally impressive on the mound. Both of the runs that he gave up were unearned. Martin limited Gov. Mifflin to five hits. He finished with seven strikeouts and two walks in 5.2 innings. Bryce Detwiler reached on an error in the bottom of the 1st. The UConn commit scored on a single up the middle by Branson Adams. Detwiler ripped a ball that hit Martin in the leg in the 2nd. Martin’s throw to first base was off target which allowed Detwiler to reach second. Travis Jenkins then singled through the left side and kept running towards second base. The throw to second base got away and Detwiler raced home for an early 2-0 edge. However, the (21-1) Mustangs wouldn’t score again. Detwiler went 1-for-3 and Billy Angstadt added a pair of singles. Jenkins was 1-for-1 with a couple of walks. The (15-7) Eagles were hitless until the top of the 5th. Chase Youse and Aiden Rhoades provided back-to-back singles. Jake Hafer singled to left field to pull Exeter within 2-1. Grim got a groundout to second to minimize the damage. The Eagles threatened in the top of the 6th. They had a runner on second base with one out. Grim struck out the next two batters to keep Gov. Mifflin in front. Detwiler picked up the save with two strikeouts in the 7th. Gavin Barker, the designated hitter, started the 7th with a bloop single to right field. He was stranded on second base as Rhoades flew out to right and Hafer struck out to end a tense matchup. “We knew that they were gonna be on their game tonight and give us their absolute best. Credit to them, that’s exactly what they did,” noted Hole. Each team left six runners on base. The Mustangs committed one error. They will meet Berks Catholic for the Berks League championship. That game is scheduled for 7pm on Tuesday at Owls Field.