Baseball (Legion) – 12-year drought ends for Emmaus as they pick up first playoff win in 4-3 victory over rival Lower Mac behind Ross Braxmeier

Collin Schaffer (left) and Ross Braxmeier (right) both had key roles last night as Emmaus beat rival Lower Mac 4-3 for first win in LV Legion playoffs in 12 years

7/13/19

Two streaks ended on Friday night at Community Park for the Emmaus Legion baseball team.

One that dated back to just a few years ago in 2017 and one that that went back as far as, believe it or not, 2007.

That’s why there was reason for celebration for first year head coach Ryan Schaffer’s young squad.

Getting a strong outing on the mound from pitcher Ross Braxmeier and some timely hitting, Emmaus jumped on rival Lower Mac early and never relinquished the lead at any point as they held on for a 4-3 win in an elimination game in the Lehigh Valley Legion playoffs last night.

Emmaus, the No. 8 seed which entered with just a 5-11 record, picked up its first win against Lower Mac after being swept in both regular-season meetings (5-4 and 14-4) and ended a five-game losing streak to its rival. More importantly, it was the program’s first playoff win in 12 years.

“It’s pretty big and it’s fun,” said Schaffer after notifying his team of the long drought. “We had rough year, but I’m just glad that these kids can celebrate a win in the playoffs. It’s awesome for them because we are such a young team. As you can see, they’ve progressively gotten better and as a coach, that’s all I can ask for.”

The victory keeps Emmaus’ season alive as they’ll look for their second upset in the tournament travelling to third-seeded Carbon at 6 p.m. tonight. Emmaus already owns one win over the Monarchs this season, that coming back on June 23, 15-6 in Lehighton.

For Lower Mac, the No.4 seed, it’s a disappointing end to the season as they go 0-2 in the tournament and finish 9-9.

“They beat us, that’s all its to it,” said head coach Jeff Smith after addressing his team for the final time this season. ” You have to hit the baseball and we didn’t do that tonight.”

“Just like the other night (a 6-4 loss to Northern Valley), we played a great game against a good team and the team that got the key hit is the team that’s going to win and they did and we didn’t and the same thing happened again tonight. Braxmeier pitched well. We tried to tell our guys how to figure him out but it didn’t work out that way.”

Back on June 27 at Church Lane Park, Lower Mac chased Braxmeier as the tall Emmaus right-hander gave up on five runs on six in only four innings of work.

This time, Braxmeier turned the tables on his friends.

“Ross did a heck’va job,” said Schaffer. “He came out and was efficient. He was hitting his spots and keeping them off balance all night. He executed the game plan.”

Braxmeier, a first-year legion player, gave up just four hits and one walk in six innings to earn his fourth win of the season as he improved to 4-2.

“He’s been our ace, it’s that simple,” said Schaffer of Braxmeier who will be a senior this fall at Emmaus. “He stepped in when we had Dylan (Lehman) and Addison (Holtzhafer) not be able to go and he’s filled the No.1 role.

“It’s not a complete surprise of his success,” he added. “The coaches knew it was there. We tweaked some stuff along the way, but all the credit goes to Ross. He’s doing it.”

Braxmeier wasn’t able to get the complete-game effort as Lower Mac threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning as they trailed 4-3, but Austin McEllroy was able to come on and earn the save.

Ryan Kasye led off the inning with a walk, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball. Keegan Nytz then popped out to third for the first out, then McEllroy got Brandon Robinson to ground out to third baseman David Cobb whose throw home was wide of catcher John Cherhit, but alertly Cherhit tagged Kayse who missed touching home plate. McEllroy then got Vince Viola to popout to second to end the game.

Emmaus outhit Lower Mac in the game 7-5 with second baseman Collin Schaffer going 2-for-2 with an RBI and McEllroy adding a pair of hits. First baseman Stephen Bloodnick and Cobb each added a hit an RBI in the third inning as Emmaus opened up a 3-0 lead. Shortstop Jimmy Braxmeier scored two runs in the game.

For Lower Mac, Robinson had a hit and an RBI, while catcher Shane Martrich went 1-for-3 and drove in his team’s first run of the game with an RBI single in the third.

Lynch, who had defeated Emmaus 5-4 back on June 15 at Limeport Stadium, suffered the loss and dropped to 2-2. The righty went three innings and allowed three runs on four hits before giving way to Viola who pitched the final four innings.

Emmaus – 012 010 0 – 4-7-3

Lower Mac – 001 020 0 – 3-5-1

Ross Braxmeier (6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K), Austin McEllroy (1 IP, 1 H) and John Cherhit.

Brendan Lynch (3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 5 K), Vince Viola (4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K) and Shane Martrich

WP – Braxmeier (4-2), LP – Lynch (2-2)