Tyler Minick-Gov. Mifflin

Tyler Minick thought the Mustangs were a little flat after Muhlenberg jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead at Shillington. Minick got his teammates fired up in a hurry with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning. The UConn commit blasted a fastball from Sean Levan over the fence in left-center. Gov. Mifflin put up three runs on four hits in the first frame and cruised to a 12-4 victory. The (14-0, 7-0) Mustangs handed the (10-1, 6-1) Muhls their first loss. Minick went deep again in his second at-bat. This time he hammered a curveball out to left-center. The junior shortstop wasn’t done doing damage. Minick capped off a 4-run fifth inning with a 2-run double. He showed why he was selected for the Big 26 Classic and the all-county team last year. Minick finished 3-for-4 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. He told me that he loves hitting leadoff because he can set the tone. We discussed the Mustangs’ lineup which is averaging 8.9 runs per game. He said, “All of our hitters are hot.” Gov. Mifflin piled up 13 hits and scored in every inning. Seven different players contributed at least one hit. Junior second baseman Matt Ventura went 3-for-4 including an RBI single in the sixth. Xander Velez and Darien Troche added two hits apiece. They each had a double. Minick stressed how much they have improved from a season ago. Velez and Troche hit .205 and .206 respectively as sophomores in 2021. Minick and I talked about the promising freshmen on this year’s ball club. Bryce Detwiler was 1-for-2 with a walk and 2 RBI. Travis Jenkins ripped a 2-run single in the fifth to make it 9-2. Ethan Grim allowed one run in an inning of relief. The young right-hander threw a complete game one-hitter with ten strikeouts last week versus Fleetwood. Velez entered Monday’s highly anticipated matchup with a 0.86 ERA. The hard-throwing righty limited Muhlenberg to two runs on four hits and six walks over five innings. Velez struck out five while improving to (6-0). The Muhls came into the game with a lofty .347 team batting average. Gio Cavanna pulled them within 3-2 in the second inning with an RBI single to right field. Sam Martinez and Cameron Burr each had two singles and a walk. Martinez knocked in two runs. Levan is (0-1) after giving up six runs on seven hits in three innings. Avery Bohn allowed six runs on six hits over the last three frames. Muhlenberg held its previous ten opponents to 35 runs. The Mustangs visit Wilson on Wednesday afternoon. Minick, who’s hitting .528 with 5 HR, is expecting another tight contest. Gov. Mifflin took the first meeting 3-1 on April 5th. Minick believes there are a lot of talented pitchers in Berks County this year. It will be interesting to see how many hurlers challenge Minick after what he called one of the best games of his career.