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BLOOMSBURG -- Warrior Run head coach Derrick Zechman knew it would be hard to beat a challenging Hughesville squad for a third time this season.
And it was, as the Spartans pounced on early control issues by Defenders’ pitchers, paired it with some timely hits, and took down the top District 4 Class 3A seed in Friday’s semifinal with an energizing 7-2 win.
“The hardest thing to do is to beat a team three times, and we found that out tonight,” said Zechman, whose Defenders entered their playoff opener with just one prior loss amongst their 18 wins. “Little things just killed us all night. Credit to Hughesville, they played good, they put the ball in play and made the plays that they had to. It just wasn’t a good night to not have a good game.”
Hughesville (13-7) scored in each of the first four innings, opening a 4-1 lead into a commanding 6-1 advantage in the top of the fourth when cleanup hitter Jed Abernatha proved he’s the right guy for that role by slugging a two-run triple to deep right field, scoring Trent Wetzel and Connor Anstadt.
“I’m just going out and trying to hit the ball. I got two guys on base there, so I’m trying to score them,” the junior designated hitter shared of his approach in that situation. “If we’re only up by three, that’s a grand slam away from being down, so we’re always fighting for those extra runs. I just wanted to put us in the best position to win.”
Warrior Run gave the nod to junior Landon Polcyn to start on the mound, just a few days after he was named District 4 Small School Division and PHAC Division III Pitcher of the Year.
However, Polcyn struggled through uncharacteristic issues with his command, walking four Spartans and allowing three earned runs, leading to a quick hook after issuing a double to Abernatha to lead off the third.
For perspective, Polcyn entered the night having surrendered just two earned runs all season in 24 innings of work.
“They had momentum early. Polcyn didn’t have his stuff tonight, unfortunately,” Zechman said. “He just didn’t have the pop. He didn’t have the location, and it started from the get-go.”
Relieving Polcyn was fellow all-star James Keifer, who walked six more and allowed two more earned runs over the final five innings, albeit striking out 10 batters in the process.
“Our pitching has been phenomenal all year. Our kids throw well. But when we thought we were coming back in the game, (Hughesville) would put a run up,” Zechman said.
In their first two meetings this season, Polcyn allowed just one earned run in nearly 10 combined innings, striking out 24 between those two starts.
Despite that prior dominance, Abernatha was surprised the opposing side decided to turn to him for a third look.
“It’s hard to beat someone two times, and it’s even harder to beat them three times,” Abernatha said. “I honestly don’t know why they’d throw somebody three times. That’s probably my seventh time seeing him in my high school career. I’ve seen him so many times. We were struggling earlier in the season against him, but he didn’t have is stuff today, so we capitalized off that.”
With the win, the Spartans clinch a spot in the state tournament earn a district championship date with No. 2 Mount Carmel, a 4-0 winner over Troy courtesy of Drew Yagodzinskie’s perfect game, on Tuesday afternoon at Bowman Field.
Friday’s victory came with a side of sweet revenge for Hughesville, who in addition to losing to the Defenders twice this year, lost to them in the same round in last year’s postseason, on the same turf field at Bloomsburg High School, almost exactly a year to the date.
“They’ve been our rival for years. We beat them in 2023, we fell short here on this field 366 days ago. We’ve been waiting for this game,” Abernatha admitted. “We got rained out the other day when it was supposed to be at Central. This is where we wanted to play them, the same place as last year. We knew we were a better team than them. We struck out 17 times to them in each of the previous games, so coming in here, we were just thinking, ‘hit the ball, hit the ball, hit the ball,’ and that’s what we did.”
For Warrior Run, losing one game shy of states for a second straight season stings at least as much as it did in its 2024 runner-up finish.
Griffen Harrington led off the Defenders’ half of the sixth with a solo home run, his district-leading ninth of the season.
He and senior Gavin Getz each had two hits in the contest, while leadoff hitter Cohen Zechman, another one of Warrior Run’s very talented juniors who will be back for one more crack at a district title in 2026, had a game-high three base knocks.
“This one is going to sting for awhile. I thought we had a team to be able to make a run, but obviously I was wrong,” Coach Zechman said. “It’s tough to get out of this district at any level. It makes you appreciate things when you get there, and you just never know. Nothing is ever a given. We lose two starters that contributed. We have a lot of young guys and we’re loaded with juniors, who will be seniors, which is hard to believe. Hopefully, this motivates us and we work harder for next year. This isn’t the finish we wanted.”
DISTRICT 4 CLASS 3A SEMIFINAL
No. 5 Hughesville 7, No. 1 Warrior Run 2
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Warrior Run;001;001;0;--;2-8-1
Nathan Bieber, Graden Dohl (6) and Kyler Soloman. Landon Polcyn, James Keifer (3) and Griffen Harrington.
W -- Bieber (5-1). L -- Polcyn (5-2).
Top hitters: Hughesville -- Jed Abernatha 2-2, triple, double, 2 walks, run, 2 RBI; Dylan McConnell 2-4, walk, run, RBI; Connor Anstadt 1-3, double, 2 walks, run. Warrior Run -- Cohen Zechman 3-4, RBI; Harrington 2-3, home run, walk, run, RBI; Gavin Getz 2-2, triple, walk, run.