Baseball

Baseball 4-4-26

Panthers rally past Tigers behind Burchill’s four RBIs

By Alex Topor

SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

RANDOLPHTOWNSHIP – Saegertown overcame an early Maplewood offensive assault and beat their Region 3 and PENNCREST rival 11-5 at Jake Boyle Memorial Field on Friday.

Saegertown scored in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead, but stranded three runners on base. Something that was a thorn in the Panthers’ side for much of the afternoon.

In the bottom of the frame, Maplewood came out swinging. Paul Hirosky was hit by a pitch and Elijah Hochstetler reached on an error. With two runners on, junior Kyle Jordan belted a homer over the left field wall. His three-run shot pushed the Tigers ahead 3-1, though the lead was short-lived.

Saegertown’s Riley Wilkinson had a leadoff double for an early base runner. William Shaffer singled on a hard-hit grounder to left field, which scored Wilkinson and Everett Gardner. But — Saegertown ended the inning with a runner on third.

“Offensively, we left a small village on base early. We had lots of traffic, but just couldn’t get a big hit,” Saegertown head coach Nick Leslie said. “I think playing at this ballpark, our swings were such that we wanted to knock the ball out of the park instead of just doing what we do and what we’ve done all season, which is try to hit line drives around the ballpark.”

Saegertown took the lead with two runs in the third inning. Four singles, an error and a walk gave the Panthers a 5-3 lead with loaded bases and one out. Maplewood head coach Travis Stevenson took starter Chase Koelle out and inserted Kyle Jordan on the bump.

Jordan worked into an infield fly and a fly out in the outfield to escape the inning without any more damage and keep the Tigers’ hopes alive.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Saegertown starter Levi Gardner heated up and didn’t allow Maplewood many base runners in the next several innings.

“I thought Levi did a nice job on the mound once he got settled in,” Leslie said. “It took him probably three to four innings to do that. But once he was kind of fatigued on the mound he threw quality strikes and his breaking pitches were better too.”

Gardner pitched into the sixth inning and finished with eight strikeouts, two walks and three earned runs.

Also in the sixth, Saegertown’s Blake Burchill went yard for a two-run blast. It extended the Panthers’lead to four and gave his team some breathing room down the stretch.

In the seventh, Saegertown expanded its lead to 11-4. A Blake Leslie double to the left field wall scored Wilkinson and Everett Gardner. Levi Gardner and Leslie came home in the next at-bat when Blake Burchill singled to right field.

Maplewood added a run in the sixth and seventh innings, but it was’t enough to mount a rally.

“We need to play a full seven innings of baseball. We knew coming into playing this team, it was going to be a dog fight the whole way. We already knew that,” Stevenson said. “We were preaching that to them all week long.”

Stevenson isn’t in the business of moral victories, but he was satisfied to see his Tigers stick around with Saegertown, the defending region champions.

“That was part of our meeting at second base after the game. We stayed with a team of that caliber. They’re a great team, you can’t take that away from them,” Stevenson said. “It says something for our club that we could stick around with them. I think the potential’s there, it’s just getting over that hill.”

Jordan was 2-for-3 with three RBIs for the Tigers. He struck out four on the mound in three and a half innings.

Maplewood dropped to 1-1 in Region 3 play and 1-3 overall. The Tigers are scheduled to host Franklin on Monday in a non-region game.

For Saegertown, Leslie hopes the first inning was a wake-up call.

“Maplewood has come a long way in not a lot of time.They have two kids that can pitch it really well on the mound and they have some kids that can swing it too,” Leslie said. “We knew they would be tough and we warned our guys they were going to be ready to play. We told them if we come in here and just kind of go through the motions, that they’re gonna beat us.”

Freshman Quinton Burchill ended the game on the mound for Saegertown. He allowed one earned run and four hits in an inning and a half.

“He did a nice job on our spring trip. He’s a freshman and has to work on his velocity and his secondary pitches, but for it being a tight game and a big situation, I thought he did a nice job,” Leslie said. “We preach to our pitchers that they can’t give up freebies. No hit by pitches or walks. Make teams hit themselves on base, and he did that.”

Levi Gardner was 3-for-4. Blake Leslie, Blake Burchill, Tyler Cherpak and Wilkinson each had two hits. Blake Burchill led with four RBIs and Blake Leslie added three.

Saegertown moved to 2-0 in region action and 4-1 overall. They are scheduled to host North East for a non-region contest onTuesday.

Baseball 4-1-26

Panthers get region win

COCHRANTON — The Saegertown baseball team won 14-1 over Cochranton in a Region 3 game Monday.

Luke Young had three runs, three RBIs and a triple for the Panthers. Tyler Cherpak had three RBIs and Riley Wilkinson drove in two.

On the mound, Blake Burchill had seven strikeouts in five innings while Cherpak closed the game allowing no runs.

For Cochranton, Walker Carroll recorded the lone run on a homer.

The Panthers (3-1 overall, 1-0 Region 3) host Maplewood today at 4 p.m. in a region contest.

The Cardinals (0-4, 0-1) travel to Rocky Grove today at 4 p.m. for a region game.

The Panthers are 2-1 and travel to Cochranton for a Region 3 game at 4 p.m. today.

Baseball 3-30-26

Panthers win in five innings

DAVISON, N.C. — The Saegertown baseball team wrapped up its spring trip with a five-inning, 13-1 win over the Community School of Davison on Saturday.

Levi Gardner, Blake Leslie, Blake Burchill, William Shaffer and Quinton Burchill each had two runs scored for the Panthers. Luke Young had three RBIs for Saegertown, while Blake Burchill and Shaffer each had two RBIs.

Baseball 3-27-26

Panthers edged on spring trip

The Saegertown baseball team fell 7-6 to Hickory Grove Christian in a non-region game on Thursday.

Blake Burchill led the team with two hits. Levi Garnder, Blake Leslie, Luke Young and Kayden McClintock added runs.

Tyler Cherpak and Quinton Burchill saw most of the action on the mound. Cherpak recorded the only strikeout.

The Panthers fell to 1-1 and continue their spring trip Saturday against the Community School of Davidson.

Baseball 3-26-26

Saegertown baseball gets win

The Saegertown baseball team won 12-4 over Lincoln Charter in a non-region game on its spring trip Wednesday.

Blake Leslie and Tyler Cherpak recorded home runs. Leslie added another score and an RBI. Blake Burchill and William Shaffer scored three. Cherpak and Luke Young had four RBIs.

Burchill earned the win and had five strikeouts. Levi Gardner had six strikeouts in relief.

Saegertown is 1-0 and will play Hickory Grove Christian today as the team continues its spring trip.