North Collins hammers Pine Valley, 13-0, in semifinal game
NORTH COLLINS — The bats were in unison and the pitching got the needed outs for the No. 1 North Collins Eagles as the rain poured on Thursday. The Eagles scored 13 runs while the No. 4 Pine Valley Panthers were shut out in the Section VI Class D semifinal game.
The Eagles got on the board first with Dylon Mercado scoring on an error and an RBI single from Nathan Turnbull to go up 2-0. North Collins added to its lead with a two-run home run by Brandon Zielinski in the third inning.
“He hit that ball hard,” North Collins coach Paul Kellner said. “That’s his power. He can pull a curve and he has a ton of power. That’s his third or fourth home run in the season. That’s why he is in the three-hole. He can give us a 1-0 lead if our one and two (batters) get out.”
The Pine Valley Panthers struggled in the first three innings. The batters went down in order with one single in the second, however, it was turned into a double play.
The Eagles blew open the game in the bottom of the fourth with a nine-run inning, highlighted by an RBI single by Tanner Loretto, a two-run double by Harley Mehnert and a two-run single by Mercado.
The rain stopped after the fourth and so did the offenses. No runs were scored on either side from the fifth inning on, which ended the game at 13-0.
Mercado went the distance for North Collins as he struck out seven batters, walked three and gave up one hit.
“Dylon did a great job for us as he did at their place — he shut them out in their place,” Kellner said. “He works fast. He keeps our defense involved. He throws the ball over the plate and as you see, we made plays. The boys love playing behind him because he doesn’t strike everybody out, they get a chance to play, too.”
Mercado understood his role in the semifinal game. With the new pitch count rule, whoever started this game wouldn’t be allowed to pitch on Saturday. Most teams want their aces to pitch the championship game and Mercado stepped up to bridge that gap in the semifinal matchup.
“It feels great that I can go out there and just pitch well and help the team win so we got our two best pitchers for the championship,” Mercado said. “… (The 13 runs) helped me tremendously. Just having the guys go out there and hitting the ball the way they did and scoring the runs took a load off me and let me do my thing.”
Pine Valley’s Corey Ellis was given the loss on the mound as he went four innings and struck out two batters.
For the Panthers, the bats could not put together consecutive hits and the defense had troublesome moments on North Collins’ turf.
“I think we were prepared to come in today,” Pine Valley coach Chris Buczek said. “I think that maybe the fact that it was the semifinal game was a little too much for us. Not being able to play on this field more than once a year is an advantage to the other team. As much as we can practice ground balls at certain places in our facility, it’s not the same.”
With the win, North Collins plays Brocton on Saturday at Russell Diethrick Park in Jamestown.
The No. 3 Brocton Bulldogs defeated the No. 2 Franklinville Panthers, 2-1, on Thursday.
North Collins made it to the Class D championship game the last three years. The Eagles won in 2014, although, they lost the last two years to Westfield, which moved up to Class C this season.
Despite Westfield’s departure, Kellner knows that there are still seven innings to be played on Saturday.
“We know that Brocton is solid and Franklinville beat us twice this year,” Kellner said prior to finding out Brocton won. “So, we certainly can’t look past anybody. If anything, depending on who won their game today, we may be the underdogs so our motto now is ‘Don’t beat ourselves.’ Put the ball over the plate, get some timely hits, play defense like we did today then we can beat anybody.”
The start time for the Class D Championship game is currently set at noon, with the possibility of weather pushing it back.
With the loss, Pine Valley’s season comes to an end and so does the high school athletic careers of its two seniors, Austin Butcher and Mathew Hunt, who were also the two co-captains for the 2017 campaign.
“Both three-year starters. Losing them hurts the team’s maturity,” Buczek said. “Their voice in the locker room and in the dugout. It’s easy to coach Austin and Matt because they are really, really great people and they will be sorely missed.”
Email: Akuczkowski@observertoday.com
Twitter: @Kuczkowski95