Exeter’s lone run came in the bottom of the first. Jake Franek walked and stole second base. The speedy shortstop advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Liam Porter cruised through the first three innings. The senior entered the day with a perfect (5-0) mark and a pristine 0.64 ERA. He piled up six strikeouts through three frames. Porter walked Brandon Bechtel to begin the fourth inning. Ashton Parks followed with a bunt down the first base line. Jake Hafer’s throw to first hit Parks and bounced away which put runners on the corners. Sophomore Luke Husser lofted a sacrifice fly to right field that brought home Bechtel and evened the score at 1-1.

Porter issued one-out walks to Cooper Frey and Evan Allison, the No. 8 and 9 batters, in the fifth inning. Mason Goodhart took over on the mound for the Eagles. His wild pitch moved the runners to second and third base. The go-ahead run came with some confusion when Bechtel hit a fly ball to deep left field. Hafer, who had moved from first base to left, made a great sliding catch on the warning track. Brady Myers scored on the play, but Exeter appealed that he left too soon. “When we appealed at third base, the third base umpire called him out. The home plate umpire told us it was his call and he had him safe. The third base umpire was signaling an out for the catch, not for the appeal,” explained Freese. “It was a close play. One of our assistants did think that he was a little early. I just watched Jake make a hell of a catch. Unfortunately, the call didn’t go our way. That was the game-winning run, but offensively we didn’t do our job,” added Freese.

In the sixth, Hafer was hit by a pitch with one out. Wonder exited after 90 pitches and was replaced by Husser. Hafer, an East Stroudsburg commit, got caught stealing for the second out of the inning. Franek then singled, but he was picked off first base by Husser. Both catchers, Frey and Brandon Weller, threw out two runners.

Husser got a groundout and a pair of strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh. He allowed one hit in 1.2 innings with no walks. Wonder and Myers had the only hits for Spring Grove. The (12-9) Rockets are going to the District 3-5A quarterfinals after starting the season (1-5). They visit #2 seed Lower Dauphin on Monday. Porter took the loss despite racking up eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings. He was charged with two runs on four walks and one hit. Goodhart tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts and no walks. Exeter will need to revamp its pitching staff next spring. Porter, Goodhart, Hafer, and Kamren Martin are all graduating.

In Friday’s other action, #9 seed Twin Valley fell at #8 New Oxford 5-0. In Class 6A, #11 seed Muhlenberg upset #6 Manheim Township 6-3. Cole Moody fired a complete game with six strikeouts and one walk. He improved to (8-0) this season. The (14-8) Muhls scored six times in the third inning. All of those runs were unearned. The (17-7) Blue Streaks committed seven errors. The Lancaster-Lebanon League champions got knocked out in the first round. Marvin Frias went 3-for-4 for Muhlenberg. He drove in two runs and scored another. The Muhls travel to #3 Waynesboro on Monday. #13 seed Northeastern stunned #4 Wilson 3-1 at Owls Field in West Lawn. The Bulldogs finish with a mark of (17-7). They won their 14th Berks County Championship this year.