Ethan Grim-Gov. Mifflin

If the barking from the Whitehall dugout was designed to rattle Ethan Grim, it didn’t work. “I just get in my zone. I don’t really listen to what anyone says. I just focus on Travis’ mitt,” said Grim. The hard-throwing junior held the Zephyrs to two hits in a 10-0 victory at Kutztown Park. The (22-5) Mustangs only needed five innings to end the PIAA-5A quarterfinal against the District 11 champion. Grim (7-3) felt good as soon as he took the mound. “In the [bullpen], I felt amazing, probably the best of the year,” he noted. The righty threw his slider away and mixed in a curveball to go along with a low-90s fastball. Grim had ten strikeouts and two walks. Gov. Mifflin supported him early with four runs on five hits in the bottom of the 1st inning. “Then you can pitch different and relax. You don’t have to overthrow,” replied Grim. The Mustangs finished with eleven hits including four straight to begin the game. Travis Jenkins, a junior catcher, ripped a two-run double to right-center. Grim followed with a RBI single to center to make it 3-0. Joey Berg’s infield single to shortstop gave Gov. Mifflin a 4-0 edge. Branson Adams and Jenkins provided opposite field RBI singles with two outs in the 2nd inning. Whitehall trailed 6-0 when East Stroudsburg commit Evan Kovalcik was replaced by Matt Hansen on the mound. Kovalcik had only thrown 3.2 innings this season after recovering from Tommy John surgery. He was charged with six runs on eight hits in 1.2 innings. Grim helped himself again in the 4th with a sacrifice fly to center. The Mustangs wrapped it up with three runs in the 5th off Hansen. UConn commit Bryce Detwiler walked with the bases loaded. Adams hit a two-run single through the middle with one out to seal the deal. Jenkins and Adams each went 3-for-3 with 3RBI. Grim was 1-for-1 and knocked in a pair of runs. Dante Casantini added two hits from the No. 8 spot in the batting order. Gov. Mifflin advanced to the state semifinals for the first time. “We wanted it real bad. Our coach was saying let’s go make history,” said Grim. Shippensburg and District 4 champ Selinsgrove meet Friday at 6pm at Hershey. The Mustangs will square off against the winner on Monday.