HEMPFIELD HOLDS OFF FRANKFORD 3-2 IN STATE QUARTERFINALS 

JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com

Another trip to Spring-Ford in Royersford for me on Thursday. Loving that 15-minute drive. And what a great baseball game — Hempfield rallies past (and then holds off) Frankford 3-2 in a PIAA Quad-A quarterfinal. Awesome, awesome game. Here’s my recap from Friday’s New Era:

ROYERSFORD – The beat goes on for the Black Knights.

And what a snazzy beat it’s been.

Three days after an improbable five-run rally in its final at-bat on the way to an extra-inning win over North Penn in the first round of the state playoffs, Hempfield’s baseball team pulled another rabbit out of its hat Thursday afternoon.

District 1 champ Frankford loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but reliever Mike Schusko coolly and calmly got the final two outs, and the Knights edged the pesky Pioneers 3-2 in a PIAA Quad-A quarterfinal game at Spring-Ford High School.

Then Hempfield’s seniors hustled home to Landisville for graduation ceremonies.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” said Hempfield coach Jack Merrifield, whose team scored five runs in the seventh to tie North Penn on Monday, and then win 6-5 in eight innings to advance.

“Today,” the coach said, “we made history.”

This current crop of Knights, who won the L-L League title and finished third in the District 3 playoffs, joined the 2004 team as the only baseball teams in school history to reach the state semifinals.

Hempfield, which has won 10 of its last 11 games and is 22-5 overall, will take on District 1 runner-up Spring-Ford – a 3-2 winner over Red Land on Thursday — in a state semifinal on Monday at a site and time to be announced.

The other state semifinal pits District 6 champ Central Mountain against District 7 third-place finisher Canon-McMillan, also on Monday. The state final is set for a week from today at Blair County Ballpark in Altoona.

Thursday, Hempfield lefty Brandon Hinkle wriggled his way out of countless jams, struck out 11, allowed just five hits and earned the win. In the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings he got a strikeout for the final out, and in the third, fourth and fifth innings, he stranded a pair of runners each time.

Meanwhile, it took the Knights 5 1/3 innings to finally solve Frankford starter Estaban Meletiche, a side-winding righty whose every pitch – all 128 of them in seven innings — broke one way or another.

With one gone in the sixth, Mark Merrifield singled. And on a 2-2 pitch to No. 3 hitter John Moser, the lefty launched a two-run homer over the fence in right-center and Hempfield led 2-1.

Meletiche stole home with one out in the fifth to give Frankford a 1-0 lead, which the Pioneers’ enjoyed until Moser’s blast.

“Probably my biggest homer ever,” Moser said. “I mean, this is the state playoffs. And their pitcher … he was excellent. If he was in our league, he might be the No. 1 pitcher in the whole league. So it was big.”

Make that super size.

Hempfield had just two hits – both doubles by Derek Dornes – before the sixth, when Moser’s clout changed the momentum of the game.

“Without John Moser,” Hempfield coach Jack Merrifield said, “we’re going home with our tails between our legs. For him to come through with a two-run bomb … that’s a clutch hit. You could feel all the energy going our way.”

Until the bottom of the seventh, when Frankford (20-3) made things mighty interesting.

Hempfield went ahead 3-1 in the top of the seventh when pinch-runner Pete Manning scored on a wild pitch by Meletiche, who whiffed seven and allowed six hits.

So when Hinkle took the mound in the bottom of the seventh, he had a two-run lead – and he struck out the first batter in the final inning.

Then Meletiche singled and went to second on a balk, and out of the dugout popped Merrifield, who called upon lefty Mike Schusko to put out the fire.

But Schusko promptly walked Jon Bracero, who stole second after Meletiche moved up to third on a wild pitch.

Edwin Rohena followed with a single to score Meletiche, making it 3-2, and when cleanup hitter Jose Burgos walked, the bases were loaded with one out.

“It got sticky,” Jack Merrifield said. “Absolutely sticky.”

Schusko induced Robinson Rodriguez to hit a grounder to Merrifield at third, and he threw home to force out Bracero.

And when Schusko got Frank Donato to pop out to Andrew Kulp at short, the Knights had survived.

“I don’t know what’s going on; I can’t explain it,” Hinkle said. “We’re getting clutch hits … it’s just been amazing. I can’t even explain it. But we’ll take it. It’s been a roller coaster ride – but a fun roller coaster ride. And we’d like to stay on the ride a little longer.”