Kutztown falls to Mount Union

Kutztown’s postseason ride came to an end on Tuesday at Big Spring High School. Perennial power Mount Union beat the Cougars 5-2 in the PIAA-2A semifinals. The (25-2) Trojans entered the game with a lofty team batting average of .371. Eight players in their lineup had at least one hit. Cameron Donaldson and Braylan Knable homered off of Bryce Schafer. Donaldson also doubled and knocked in two runs. Knable launched his seventh homer of the season. He’s hitting .424 with a dozen extra-base hits. Landon Chrisemer was 2-for-3. He scored a run and drove in another. Schafer, who was brilliant in the District 3-2A championship, allowed five runs, four earned, on eleven hits. He struck out seven over 5.1 innings. Mount Union got a pair of runs in the first frame, one in the 5th, and two in the 6th inning. Kutztown was limited to three hits. Both of the runs for the (19-7) Cougars came in the bottom of the 6th. Sophomore Colin Diehl went 1-for-1 with two walks and a RBI. Bryce Danish tossed five shutout innings with seven strikeouts. He walked three and threw 104 pitches. Danish (10-1, 0.92) has 101 punch outs in 60.2 innings this year. The Trojans’ ace has given up just 33 hits. Cainen Atherton replaced Danish and was charged with two runs, one earned, in one inning of work. Mount Union overcame four errors. Sophomore Colten Mathias fired 1.2 hitless innings in relief of Schafer. The Trojans will face District 6 champ Bald Eagle Area on Friday at 10:30am at Penn State. Mount Union is looking for its fifth state championship and first since 2019. Riverside is the only baseball program in Pennsylvania with as many state titles as the Trojans. Meanwhile, seniors Dalton Furst, Matt Remick, Nick Hugo, Dom Pizzelanti, and Schafer played their final game in a Cougars’ uniform. That special group led Kutztown to its sixth District 3 championship.