The hits kept coming, as York Catholic falls to Upper Dauphin

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It looked like the early-game struggles were gone when York Catholic's Brady Wilking flared a two-run single to right field, bringing the Irish within two runs of Upper Dauphin during Tuesday's District 3 Class AA baseball tournament semifinal.

However, as was the case through the first five innings, the Trojans' bats were ready to respond.

Tanner Miller led off the top of the sixth with a triple to the fence at Northern York High School, starting a six-run inning that put the game out of reach. No. 8 Upper Dauphin eventually took home a 12-5 victory, ending the No. 5 Irish's season.

"Two down, and two more, we are right there. We got the two, unfortunately, they got the six," said York Catholic coach Joe Gurreri after his youthful squad finished its season 12-6.

Upper Dauphin pounded out 17 hits, including 15 off Irish senior ace Jake Krevetski in his final high school start.

"I give it to them. They hit me hard and everything worked out for them," Krevetski said.

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"They were waiting on the curveballs, turning on them just as good as the fastball," Gurreri added. "It's tough when they're hitting the fastballs and hitting the breaking pitches. There's not much you can do. My hat's off the them. They won the game."

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The Trojans improved to 14-9 and will face Camp Hill in the District 3 Class AA championship game on Thursday, at a time and site to be determined. Camp Hill beat Oley Valley, 2-1, in Tuesday's other semifinal.

It is quite a run for the squad that entered the tourney seeded No. 8 in the 10-team bracket, and had to knock off No. 1-seeded Lancaster Catholic.

"We knew that Krevetski was a good pitcher. We haven't seen anybody throwing mid 80s. We cranked up the pitching machine a little bit, (and) did a lot of tee work," Upper Dauphin coach Ryan Lentz said. "I saw some of the nicest swings I've seen them take all year and we did it today.

"For a while we weren't sure we were going to make it in here with the way we were playing. I told the guys when we finally realized we were getting in as the eighth seed that we could be the biggest underdogs in the tournament."

Casey Wise's fourth hit of the day drove in Miller and after the bases were loaded, winning pitcher Aaron Cleveland laced a two-run single. Matt Deitrich followed with a run-scoring single, ending Krevetski's night.

The Trojans got on the board early with a pair of runs in the first inning, although the damage could have been worse if not for a lunging catch by York Catholic center fielder C.J. Burnside, who turned a possible extra-base hit into a sacrifice fly.

Upper Dauphin added a run in the top of the second, but Irish freshman Matt Knauer got that back with a run-scoring double. Travis Deitrich made it 5-1 Trojans with his two-run single in the third.

Afterward Gurreri reflected on his young squad, following the graduation of several seniors from a team that made it to back-to-back District 3 Class A championship games, including winning the title in 2013.

"I couldn't be more proud of the guys. We'd have been probably happy with a .500 season, losing everybody but one senior," he said. "They really dedicated themselves to the game. It was a lot of fun. There were games we had six guys that were freshmen or sophomores and they improved."

Burnside drove in the final Irish runs of the contest with his single in the sixth.

Upper Dauphin 12, York Catholic 1

Upper Dauphin2120061—12173York Catholic0100220—571

UD, Aaron Cleveland, Colin Reigner (6) and Dylan Lesher. YC, Jake Krevetski, Chris DeMarco (6) and Frank Skehan.

SO-BB — Cleveland 10-4, Lesher 1-0, Krevetski 2-1, DeMarco 1-0; W — Cleveland; L — Krevetski; 2B — UD, Casey Wise, YC, Matt Knauer; 3B — UD, Tanner Miller.