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Bases-loaded walk gives Biglerville walk-off win


Before Tuesday, Biglerville hadn't won a District 3 tournament game since 2003.

But when Brandon Miller drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, that pushed the winning run across in the Canners' 7-6 win over Delone Catholic in District 3 Class AA opening round baseball action at Yost Field in Biglerville.

Miller earned the walk following an eight-pitch at-bat and it scored Conner Griest with the winning tally.

"I took a few deep breaths and told myself to relax," the sophomore said of his approach. "I wanted to put the ball in play, but recognized that it was a ball right away."

Delone (9-12) trailed 6-4 in the top of the seventh and the Squires were down to their final strike with no one on base when Wes DePorter doubled to keep the game going.

A pair of singles loaded the bases, then Evan Haymaker blooped a 2-2 pitch into right-center field to plate the tying runs.

"I'm very proud of our guys," Delone coach Doug Arnold said. "We couldn't hold a 4-1 lead, but our guys battled back and tied the game. That showed me a lot about the heart and character of our team."

Biglerville (13-7) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Noah Ayers' ground out and the score stayed that way until the top of the fourth.

Canners righty Chase Long carried a no-hitter into the fourth, but then hit three consecutive batters to load the bases. An error allowed the Squires to plate a pair of runs and take the lead.

Delone added two more runs in the top of the fifth on Austin Kuntz's triple to score Haymaker and Chase Kint then executed a perfect suicide squeeze to score Kuntz.

"Chase couldn't find his curveball today. It kept slipping out of his hand," Biglerville coach Jeff Taylor said. "He did okay, but we had to get him out after five innings."

The Canners tied the game in the fifth with Hunter Kime doubling home two runs and Tyler Weikert singling home another.

Then in the sixth, the hosts took the lead on Brock Chronister's two-run double.

"We had some blunders today, but we didn't fold," Taylor said. "We chipped away, got back in the game and were able to win it at the end."

Biglerville compiled 14 hits on the day with Weikert and Chris Runk each ringing up three knocks and Griest, Chronister and Long each supplying two.

For Delone, Kuntz and Collin Rzpkowski had two hits apiece.

The win for Biglerville earns the Canners a meeting with Lancaster Catholic on the road, on Thursday at 1 p.m. in Lancaster in the quarterfinals.