RECAP >> Playing in one-run games late in the season has become the norm for the Emmaus baseball team.
Winners’ of its last three games – all by one run – and five out of seven on the season, it didn’t appear that the Hornets had to worry much about that on Saturday morning in their Eastern Pennsylvania Conference quarterfinal round playoff match-up at Church Lane Park against Bethlehem Catholic.
Cruising thru the first five innings with a 3-0 lead and having given up just a single hit, pitcher Luke Deschenes and his teammates seemingly looked well on their way to advancing to the next round.
The Golden Hawks, however, had other ideas.
Bethlehem Catholic, the No. 6 seed, scored a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, added one more in the seventh and had runners on base with an opportunity to tie the game, but fortunately the Hornets – and their fans – held their collective breaths as they held on for their fourth straight one run win, 4-3.
Junior Colin Foley drove in what proved to be the game-winning run as he blasted his third home run of the season over the left field fence in the bottom of the sixth for the insurance run Emmaus needed as the third-seeded Hornets gained revenge for an earlier-season 2-1 loss to Bethlehem Catholic on April 28.
More importantly, the victory advances coach Jeremy Haas’ team (16-5 overall) to the semifinal round at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday at Parkland High School. The Trojans, the No.2 seed, advanced by blanking the No.7 seed Pocono Mountain East 4-0. Emmaus will be hoping the third time is the charm against their arch-rival as Parkland has pitched a pair of shutouts in the two regular-season meetings – 4-0 and 10-0. The game will be carried LIVE on The Eastern Pa Sports Network beginning with the pregame show at 4:30 p.m.
Deschenes, who had started and thrown four innings in a 2-1 victory over Nazareth on Wednesday, went six strong innings for the Hornets to earn his sixth victory of the season. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up just six hits while striking out eight and walking three. Foley and juniors Alex Pion and Jaden Gallagher all pitched in the bottom of the seventh with Gallagher earning the save as he got Bethlehem Catholic’s No.3 hitter in the lineup, catcher Matt Martinez (1-3, two RBI), to pop up to second to end the game with two runners on base.
Emmaus managed just two hits in the game off Golden Hawks starter Aidan Albus. Besides Foley’s home run, freshman right fielder Noah Hogan also delivered a big RBI single in the fourth to push Emmaus’ lead to 3-0.
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Becahi – 000 002 1 – 3-6-2
Emmaus – 200 101 x – 4-2-2
Aidan Albus and Matt Martinez; Luke Deschenes, Colin Foley (7), Alex Pion (7), Jaden Gallagher (7) and Dom Chiego. WP – Deschenes (6-2), S – Gallagher
BC – Wert cf 1-3, Albus p 1-4, M. Martinez c 1-3, Hershman 1b 0-3, Clements ss 0-3, P. Martinez 2b 0-2, A. Martinez 3b 2-3, Kaczor dh 0-2, Kirsch lf 0-2
EM – Schantz cf 0-3, Gallagher lf/p 0-2, O’Brien 2b/1b 0-1, LePage 3b 0-3, Waller dh 0-2, Foley 1b/p 1-2, Chiego c 0-1, Hogan rf 1-2, Viola ss 0-3