BASEBALL: Lancaster Catholic upset by Upper Dauphin in district quarters

LANCASTER- A long layoff and a first round bye didn't help no. 1 seed Lancaster Catholic Thursday afternoon as they fell 4-0 to no. 8 Upper Dauphin in the quarterfinals of the District 3 Class AA playoffs.

"Ten days from the L-L playoffs and having a bye just kind of makes things difficult," Catholic coach Ty Book said. "You get a lot of practice time and a lot of recovery time but baseball is a game you play 3-5 times a week and I think we just got a little flat."

The Crusaders had no answer to Trojans pitcher Kyle Glouner, who allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out six in seven innings.

"Pretty much everything was working today," Glouner said. "I was hitting all my spots and my pitches were all working."

Upper Dauphin manufactured their initial run in the top of the first when Casey Wise laid down a sacrifice bunt with runners on second on and third that brought in Tanner Miller.

Dylan Lesher hit an RBI single in the fourth to give the Trojans some breathing room and a miscommunication and a throwing error during a stolen base play in the sixth led to Upper Dauphin's third run.

"The team, with all their energy, had my back and I felt better as we got more runs," Glouner said.

An RBI double to right field from Glouner in the top of the seventh put the nail in the coffin.

"We were underdogs so we didn't really have anything to lose," Glouner said. "We just came out and played hard."

Despite striking out seven batters, Lancaster Catholic starter Dillon Marsh also allowed eight hits and walked two before being pulled in the sixth.

"He struggled to throw his breaking stuff for strikes today and that kind of limited us to what we could call," Book said. "Dillon has done a phenomenal job this year and he is an outstanding freshman pitcher that we are excited to have for the next three years. Today is a good growing experience for him."

In Book's inaugural head coaching campaign, Lancaster Catholic finished with a 16-6 record along with an unblemished section record and Section Four championship.

"Our first year as a coaching staff here, we got a lot of things installed. We played really well in our section did a really nice job in our crossovers," Book said. "We need to work on our non-league games when we step it up in competition and start proving we can play with the big boys."

With wins under Annville-Cleona and Lancaster Catholic under their belt, Upper Dauphin will now face no. 4 seed York Catholic in the district semifinals next Tuesday. York Catholic defeated Delone Catholic 2-1 in their quarterfinal matchup.

"We want to win it all,"Glouner said. "We didn't play that great in the regular season but that game (A-C) was definitely a springboard for this game."