Pitching dooms Mikes in loss to Rams
Zach Hillsman scores Carmichaels’ first run during the third inning of Monday’s PIAA Class AA first-round playoff game against Johnsonburg at Rich Kuntz Field in Punxsutawney. Hillsman singled, went to second on Dylan Rohrer’s single and scored on Drake Long’s double to tie the score at 1-1.
(Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Carmichaels’ Drake Long belts an RBI double against Johnsonburg during the second inning of Monday’s PIAA Class AA first-round playoff game at Rich Kuntz Field in Punxsutawney. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Carmichaels coach Dickie Krause has a discussion with the home plate umpire during a PIAA Class AA first-round playoff game against Johnsonburg at Rich Kuntz Field in Punxsutawney on June 7. Krause is the Herald-Standard All-Area Baseball Team Small School Coach of the Year. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Control problems plagued Carmichaels during the WPIAL baseball playoffs and pitching was the Mikes’ downfall in the first round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs on Monday.
Carmichaels walked seven batters in a season-ending 8-3 loss to unbeaten Johnsonburg at Rich Kuntz Field.
The District 9 champion Rams (22-0), who are ranked second in the state, advance to the quarterfinals while the Mikes’ season comes to a close at 18-4 with three of those losses coming in the postseason.
Camron Marciniak led the way for Johnsonburg with two hits, two RBIs, three runs and two stolen bases.
“We give teams too many opportunities,” Carmichaels coach Dickie Krause said. “We just played three really good baseball teams — Shenango, Serra Catholic and this team — and we hit a wall at some point. We didn’t hit the ball well today, we certainly didn’t pitch well enough to win the game and there you go. You’re out. The season’s over.”
The Rams took a 1-0 lead in the first off Carmichaels starting pitchger Gavin Prattt but good hustle by the Mikes on defense prevented more damage.
Aiden Zimmerman drew a lead-off walk but was caught stealing by Mikes catcher Stush Ferek. Dom Allegretto reached on an infield hit and Marciniak got on base when his infield grounder resulted in a throwing error. Ferek backed up first base on the play and threw a strike to Pratt, who was covering home, to nail Allegretto trying to score. Marciniak stole second and came home on Ethan Wells’ single.
Carmichaels played error-free baseball the rest of the way.
“Minus a couple mistakes we’ve been pretty good defensively,” Krause said. “Our third baseman (Dylan Rohrer) has been incredible on all these different fields, grass, turf, dirt. Our whole infield has been pretty good. I wasn’t worried defensively coming in except for their running game.”
Johnsonburg entered the game averaging eight stolen bases a game and was successful on five of six attempts Monday.
“They didn’t run us off the field like I feared,” Krause said. “You can tell we worked pretty hard on picks all week. We knew that was their ballgame. We did everything we could to stop it. They hurt us in a couple places. But generally speaking we were OK in that area.”
The Mikes took the lead in the top of the third. Zach Hillsman and Rohrer both singled to right to start the inning. After a strikeout, Drake Long blasted an RBI double to left-center and Pratt followed with a run-scoring ground out to put Carmichaels up 2-1.
The lead was short lived as Pratt walked the first three batters in the bottom of the inning, prompting Krause to call on Rohrer. Marciniak followed with a two-run single to put the Rams ahead to stay and Kaden Dennis also stroked a two-run single later in the inning to make it 5-2.
“We just take the lead 2-1 and walk the first three batters the next inning. We just can’t do that,” said Krause who pointed out his pitchers have walked twice as many batters this year than they did in 2019.
“We knew we had to tighten up what’s going on with our pitching and we walked seven. What you saw today was a repeat of what happened against Serra and Shenango.”
Rams coach Michael Porter was pleased at the way his team responded after it fell behind.
“When a team shifts momentum like that the only way to try to kill that is come back and respond and this group seems to be good at that,” Porter said.
Johnsonburg added two runs in the fifth against Long, Carmichaels’ third pitcher of the game. Dennis walked, went to second on Jefferson Freeburg’s single and scored on Luke Zimmerman’s double. Freeburg came home on a wild pitch to put the Rams up 7-2.
The Mikes made it 7-3 in the sixth against starting and winning pitcher Gabe Watts. Nick Ricco ripped a two-out single to center and pinch-runner Dom Colarusso went to second when Ferek was hit by a pitch, took third on a Liam Lohr walk and scampered home on a wild pitch.
The Rams plated their final run off Lohr, the Mikes’ fourth pitcher, in the sixth when Marciniak singled, stole second, took third on a ground out and scored on Dennis’s double.
Watts allowed three runs on four hits with two walks, one hit batter and nine strikeouts in six innings.
Aiden Zimmerman pitched the seventh, allowing a two-out single to pinch-hitter Jason McAfee.
Pratt took the loss. He surrendered four runs on one hit and four walks with two strikeouts in two-plus innings.
“The first guy they had on the mound was throwing hard,” Porter said. “That’s as close to as hard as we’ve seen this season, but he looked like he had control issues.”
Rohrer gave up one run on three hits with one walk in one-plus inning, Long allowed two runs on three hits with two walks in 1.2 innings and Lohr, a freshman, gave up one run on two hits with no walks and one strikeout in 1.1 innings.
Despite ending the season on a sour note, the Mikes reached the WPIAL final four and qualified for the state playoffs for the first time since 2014.
“It was a very good year but I think everyone in that dugout will tell you we’re going to think the rest of our lives about ‘what if’ this year,” Krause said.
“Shenango, which won the WPIAL title, beat us 7-6 in a game where we walked six, hit three, had two major defensive breakdowns and had four base-running errors. So where are you if you play a clean game? You’re probably playing in the WPIAL final.
“And then you’re not seeing this team, which is ranked second in the state, in the first round of the state playoffs.”
Porter doesn’t think his players have let their lofty ranking and perfect record go to their heads.
“I don’t think they think about it as much as probably the crowd or the coaches,” Porter said. “They’re one of those groups that have made some deep runs over the years and we’re definitely in a position now to make a run at this thing this year.”