Justin Freese-Exeter

Gov. Mifflin was three outs away from an undefeated regular season, but Exeter wasn’t going to go down without a fight. The Eagles tied the game at 10-10 with three runs in the seventh and went on to win 16-10 in nine innings on Thursday. Head coach Justin Freese said, “It’s been a hell of a week.” Exeter held off Wilson 3-2 on Monday in a great pitchers’ duel between Deven Sheerin and Rueben Livingston. The Eagles shutout their rival Daniel Boone 3-0 on Wednesday before stunning the Mustangs in Shillington. Freese, who’s in his 27th year as Exeter’s manager, called Gov. Mifflin a fantastic team. The (19-1, 11-1) Mustangs led 6-2 after the first inning and 9-5 after the third. Freese emphasized that his ball club is very resilient. They proved it in the seventh when Brady Hannahoe scorched a 2-run triple and Luke Weller provided a sacrifice fly to even the score. Hannahoe had a tremendous at-bat in the ninth. His RBI single to center gave the Eagles their first lead of the evening. Weller followed with a single to right field that made it 12-10. Freese stressed that his senior captains have carried the squad all season. Weller is hitting .500 with a .785 slugging percentage. His 26 RBI are the most on the team. The all-county golfer has eleven extra base hits including seven doubles and three triples. Weller also has a 2.23 ERA over a team-high 31.1 innings. He had three hits and knocked in a pair of runs against Gov. Mifflin. Hannahoe went 3-for-6 with 3 RBI. The second baseman is batting .400 with an OPS of 1.105 and 22 runs. Freese moved Hannahoe from No. 3 in the lineup to the leadoff spot. The (13-5, 8-4) Eagles are averaging 8.2 runs. They piled up 16 hits versus the Mustangs with eight coming against hard-throwing junior Xander Velez. He allowed six runs, one earned, in four frames. Gov. Mifflin made six errors resulting in seven unearned runs. Freese said Owen Wisner was a “bulldog” on the mound. The left-hander threw 6.2 innings of relief. He gave up four runs, two earned, with five strikeouts and one walk. Wisner is one of eleven seniors on Exeter’s roster. He’s also an all-county golfer. Exeter features one of the top sophomores in the Berks League. Outfielder Alex Kelsey is hitting .364 with a team-high 24 runs. He had three hits on Thursday and tossed 1.1 innings of hitless relief to seal the deal. Freese believes the BCIAA playoffs will be wide open. He told me that just getting out of the first round will be tough. The quarterfinals begin next Thursday. The Eagles will be a team to keep an eye on. They’ve won six of their last seven contests and have a lot of momentum.