Berks Sports Report Paul Roberts
Berks Catholic was six outs away from reaching the state championship game. The Saints led Mount Carmel 3-1 in the bottom of the 6th before falling 4-3 in the PIAA-3A semifinals on Monday. Sophomore Gabe Yuskoski delivered a two-out, walk-off single to left-center in the 7th at Wenger Field in Fredericksburg. “Sometimes it’s easier to lose if you get blown out,” acknowledged Berks Catholic head coach Brandon Shurr. The (20-8) Saints and the (20-4) Red Tornadoes were both making their first appearance in the state semifinals. Each team had its ace on the mound. West Chester commit Trey Stricker entered the day with a (7-1) record and a eye-popping 0.64 ERA. Drew Yagodzinskie had allowed just one hit over his previous 21 innings. The Monmouth commit had piled up 88 strikeouts in 52.2 frames for the District 4 champions. Berks Catholic, however, got to Yagodzinskie early in the contest. Mikey Fidler singled and then scored on Dennys Rodriguez’s double to left-center in the top of the 1st. Mount Carmel tied it up in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out, RBI single to center by Lukas Carpenter. The junior outfielder came into the game with a .438 batting average. Carpenter provided two of his team’s four hits. The 3rd inning began with Brock Shrawder lofting a fly ball to right field that got lost in the sun for a double. After Stricker singled, Fidler hit a pop up to shallow right field. The ball dropped allowing Shrawder to score, but the Red Tornadoes did get a force out at second base. Rodriguez came through again with a RBI single to left to put the Saints in front 3-1. Rodriguez, a catcher who’s committed to Shepherd, accounted for two of Berks Catholic’s five hits. Yagodzinskie (7-1) found his groove after the 3rd and didn’t allow a hit over the final four innings. He retired 14 straight batters. “He got a bunch of our lefties out with changeups. It was a lot more of the secondary stuff. The off-speed stuff was what just kept you off-balance enough,” explained Shurr. Yagodzinskie went the distance with eleven strikeouts and no walks. He’s only given up 27 hits all season. Mount Carmel opened the bottom of the 6th with two walks and an infield single by Carpenter. Stricker struck out Clarke Cartwright with the bases full before reaching the pitch limit of 105. “Trey has been great all year. He’s gonna have a great baseball career at West Chester and hopefully beyond that. He’s been our #1 all year. Unfortunately, he just ran out of gas a little bit in the 6th,” replied Shurr. Fidler took over on the mound and threw a wild pitch that allowed Yagodzinskie to score and make it 3-2. Carpenter attempted to score all the way from second base on the play, but he was tagged out at the plate by Fidler. With two outs, the Saints committed an error on Walker McGinley’s grounder to shortstop which evened the score at 3-3. Fidler struck out Brody Brinkash to end the 6th. Brayden Brinkash was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the 7th. Freshman Jason Klokis then hit a ground ball to third base that looked like a possible double play opportunity. However, Aidan Curley’s throw to second was low and Berks Catholic didn’t get an out. Yagodzinskie walked with one out to load the bases. Carpenter hit a pop up back to Fidler for the second out. Yuskoski, who entered the afternoon hitting .279, ripped a clean single to knock in the game-winning run. Fidler was charged with one unearned run on one hit in 1.1 innings. Stricker gave up three runs, two earned, on three hits over 5.1 innings. He finished with eight strikeouts and four walks. Both Stricker and Fidler hit one batter. The Saints committed three errors, while the Red Tornadoes had one. Berks Catholic had a very memorable season. The Saints reached the BCIAA Championship Game as a #7 seed and won the District 3-3A title this season. Shurr gave credit to his senior class which includes Stricker, Fidler, Rodriguez, and Shrawder. “This senior group really set the tone early. We grew every year. To finish in the final four [in the state playoffs] is a great achievement,” said Shurr.