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Loyalsock majors suffer first loss of summer in Section 3 final to Milton

By Jon Gerardi 10 min read

BERWICK -- Loyalsock's major baseball team put themselves in position for an exciting finish and comeback. A passed ball drove a run in before a walk and dropped third strike put two runners on with the game-tying run up to bat.

But Milton pitcher Max Shynder never worried. He stuck to his plan as a pitcher and with two outs and two runners on in a high-pressure situation, Shynder delivered a huge strikeout to end the game and give Milton a win.

Milton lived to fight another day with a 10-7 win against Loyalsock on Tuesday in the Section 3 championship game at Berwick's Ber-Vaughn Park. The win means the two teams will battle for a third time at sectionals on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in a winner-take-all final for the sectional title and berth to the state tournament.

"I mean Max was just pounding the zone. I know he doesn't throw 100 miles per hour, it isn't a secret, but he's a locator. He's going to pitch into outs and ground balls. There were two ground balls to third, one we didn’t make play on to start the inning. He's done that all year," Milton manager Garrett Shynder said. "He doesn't walk very many people and when you keep pressure at plate, I challenge anyone to get six, seven hits in a row at the bat. Most teams can't. ... Just pressure, don't give up free passes, and he's just doing his thing. He works every day at it and he works hard, so he deserves it."

Loyalsock didn't win, but it went down fighting and swinging until the end.

"I was happy with how we competed towards the end of the game there. At least made it a little close, little scare into it if we could run into one at the end," Loyalsock manager Jake King said. "I tip my hat to Milton. Milton came out today and they played really good baseball."

Loyalsock trailed 10-4 heading to the bottom of the fifth inning and clawed back and chipped away to make it exciting late.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jaxton Rupert singled toward second to reach before Antonio Valentine doubles to left. A fly to center resulted in a double play on a relay to home to get Rupert out as he tried to score. Valentine scored on a passed ball to cut the deficit to 10-5 and with two outs, Jackson King crushed a home run over the centerfield fence to make it a 10-6 deficit.

"Milton's always good, so we knew whether it was going to be Milton or Ahens, we knew we would be in for a tough ball game. Milton took it to us today," King noted.

The third inning proved to be a huge pivotal moment in the game.

Down 6-2, Loyalsock began that third inning with a leadoff double into right and a single into center to put two runners on base with King and Maverick Garman reaching, respectively, with no outs. But from there, Milton stifled Loyalsock. Two strikeouts in a row put two outs on the scoreboard. Blake Richardson would be walked to load the bases, but a pop up behind home allowed Milton catcher Cullen Reese to catch it and end the inning and prevent a huge rally attempt.

"That hurt because it was a matter of trying to match that energy," King said. "When you come out with two doubles right away, that energy continued to grow. I mean tip to hat for kid on mound to shut that down. Two doubles and three strikeouts or three outs? Well done by him."

Milton scored a run in five of the six innings, with the sixth being the only inning Loyalsock held Milton scoreless. Milton scored three in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth and another two in the fifth

While Milton scored 10 runs and collected 10 hits, Milton did struggle with runner's in scoring position and timely hits as Milton was just 3 for 13 in those situations.

But Milton got runners to score when they had to and took advantage on the base paths and passed balls.

"I think it's just an approach that the entire lineup needs to produce. I don't need just my top four or my five through eight, I need all 12 guys and all 12 guys do contribute in my lineup. Just because you bat tenth, 11th, 12th in my lineup, it doesn't mean I have a different look at it, and I think those guys understand that message," Shynder said. "That gives them confidence to go out and say 'hey coach has got me, he knows I'm here for a reason. I'll produce now and just pass the torch.' I think it's more of the reason we were able to respond is the approach. It was the same, it was consistent, it was basic, we weren't trying to be selfish at the plate.

"We had unselfish swings, doing small ball, bunts. We did a pickle play to score an extra run which at the end obviously made a huge difference," Shynder continued. "Those little things, people will look at me like oh you're giving up free outs. Yeah I am, but I'm always going to give up outs for runs. If we got less than two outs, I'm doing everything for that guy to score home."

Loyalsock took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning. After Reese of Milton scored on a passed ball in the top of the inning after reaching on a single, Loyalsock responded to take a lead. Gusick and King both reached on consecutive at bats by being walked. Garman had an RBI single into shallow right which brought in Gusick before an error allowed King to score to give Loyalsock a 2-1 lead after three fielder's choices ended the inning.

Milton reclaimed the lead in the top of the second, 4-2.

Milton used a shallow single, error and walk to put three runners on. A line drive put an out on the board before Blake Folmar had a big sacrifice fly to bring a run in and Reece Armstrong then connected on a two-RBI single in the gap between third and second to give Milton a lead again.

Then Loyalsock responded yet again and tied it in the bottom of the second inning.

Lucas Frey had a big double into center before Brennan Comerford reached on an infield fly to put two runners on. Frey would head to third on a passed ball before Rupert had an RBI grounder to bring Frey in. A batter later, Valentine had an RBI single into center and tied the game at 4-all.

But that would be the last time Loyalsock tied the game or would take a lead. Milton responded with a two-run third inning for a 6-4 lead and never let that lead slip a way from there.

"We didn't play very good defense today and that's been a staple for us is playing good, fundamental, solid baseball and we just didn't today," King said. "We threw the ball around and we didn't look very good on the defensive side."

"That's an emotional rollercoaster as a 12-year-old to go down, up, back down, tie, back up. It's a big thing," Shynder said. "For them to stay steady, stay the course, I gave them a word of the day is fearless and I thought they were just fearless today. Just attack and whatever happens happens."

Reese went 2 for 2 with two runs for Milton, Brody Rhodes was 1 for 3 with a run, Jordan Brown went 1 for 3 with a double and two RBIs, Cohen Knarr was 1 for 2 with a double, walk and run scored, Weston Sumner went 1 for 2 with a walk and run, Zeke White was 1 for 2 with a walk and tow runs, Brody Ficks was 1 f or 3 with a run, Blake Folmar went 1 for 3 with two RBIs, Reece Armstrong went 1 for 2 with three RBIs, Peyton Swineford was 1 for 1 with a walk and run scored and Emmett Salwocki was walked for Milton.

Loyalsock was led by King (2 for 2, double, home run, RBI, two runs, walk), Valentine (2 for 3, double, RBI, run) and Garman (2 for 3, RBI), who all had multiple hits. Rhett Datres was 1 for 2 with a walk, Gusick was walked and scored a run, Silas Smith had a run scored, Richardson was walked twice, Frey went 1 for 3 with a double and run, Brennan Comerford was 1 for 2 with a run scored and Rupert was 1 for 2 with an RBI.

Now the two will meet for a third time for the title.

Loyalsock will look to respond after its first loss this summer after going undefeated in districts.

"Pick your head up. We have plenty of pitching left and we hit (on Tuesday)," King said. "We've been hitting the ball well the last couple of games. We're ready to roll."

For Shynder and Milton, the team knows they can play well and have pitching left as well.

"Just another baseball game. I mean they know what we have, we know what they have. They know who does what. We know what they do. I think tomorrow will be a tighter chess match with a lower-scoring game in my opinion," Shynder said. "I'm going to give Jordan Brown the ball. He's one of our good arms and see what he does with it, and then Cohen (Knarr) is the guy in behind him. So that's our two guy approach tomorrow and I just told them just stay the course. Play baseball. I told them it's also hard to rebound from a loss. Look how bad we played against Elk Lake when we took our first loss (at sectionals). You get that hangover from a loss and I said we need to come out strong fast and do our thing and everything will take care of itself."

Milton 10, Loyalsock 7

Milton 132 220 -- 10 10 2

Loyalsock 220 021 -- 7 10 1

Weston Sumner, Max Shnyder (5) and Cullen Reese. Ben Gusick, Lucas Frey (4) and Blake Richardson. W: Sumnar. L: Gusick. SV: Shnyder.

Top Milton hitters: Cullen Reese 2-2, 2 runs; Brody Rhodes 1-3, run; Jordan Brown 1-3, 2B, 2 RBIs; Cohen Knarr 1-2, 2B, BB, run; Weston Sumner 1-2, BB, run; Zeke White 1-2, BB, 2 runs; Brody Ficks 1-3, run; Blake Folmar 1-3, 2 RBIs; Reece Armstrong 1-2, 3 RBIs; Emmett Salwocki BB; Peyton Swineford 1-1, BB, run. Top Loyalsock hitters: Jackson King 2-2, 2B, HR, RBI, BB, 2 runs; Antonio Valentine 2-3, 2B, RBI, run; Maverick Garman 2-3, RBI; Rhett Datres 1-2, BB; Ben Gusick BB, run; Silas Smith, run; Blake Richardson 2 BB; Lucas Frey 1-3, 2B, run; Brennan Comerford 1-2, run; Jaxton Rupert 1-2, RBI.

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