D2 BASEBALL: Dunmore outlasts Lake-Lehman in 19-inning 3A semifinal

LEHMAN TWP. - Dunmore's Evan Mizenko caught the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning and threw the final pitch that clinched Dunmore's berth in Tuesday's District 2 Class 3A championship game.

In between, Dunmore and Lake-Lehman played an emotionally and physically draining 19-inning marathon, won by Dunmore, 6-5, when Nate Grochowski's infield single scored Anthony Yerka with two outs in the top of the 19th.

Mizenko started the game behind the plate and came on to pitch the bottom of the 13th to pick up the win after tossing seven innings of two-hit ball with three strikeouts.

"I wasn't really expecting it," Mizenko said of being called on to pitch. "I'm always ready to pitch. Catching is always great. "(Dunmore coach Sid Hallinan) let me know if it goes long I might pitch. I was preparing the entire day. It was a great overall team win. I had as much as I could. I was ready to go all the way to 105."

Nobody at Lake-Lehman's baseball field knew just how long the game was going to go. The 19-inning affair set the record for longest postseason game in PIAA playoff history. The previous longest was last year's Indiana vs. East Pennsboro game in the Class 4A state semifinals last season. Indiana won that game, 6-5.

Dunmore (15-7), the No. 3 seed, will play top-seeded Riverside for the district championship in a rematch of last year's title game. Lake-Lehman, the No. 2 seed, ends the season 15-7.

"Just heartbreaking," Lake-Lehman coach Mike Sholtis said. "I told the seniors how proud of them I am. They fought 19 innings, they played three games in their last game of the season. I'm proud of them all. It was too good of a game to actually have someone lose on either end."

Each team used three pitchers who combined to throw 535 pitches. There were a combined 16 walks and 26 strikeouts. Lake-Lehman took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on RBI singles by Von Voelker and Devon Albee. The game lasted long enough for Albee to make nine plate appearances where he was hit by a pitch four times.

Dunmore scored its first run in the fourth when Luis Arias tripled and scored on Jackson Cady's single to left that took a hop off the turf in the infield and reached the outfield. Lake-Lehman took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Chase Aten's sac-bunt brought two runs in on a throwing error. The Bucks answered back to get within 4-3 in the fifth when Mizenko hit a two-run homer.

The Black Knights scored their fifth run in the fifth when Voelker singled home a run. But the defending district champion Bucks had enough in the tank at the time to tie the game in the seventh when Mizenko had an RBI sac-fly and Cady sent the tying run home on an infield ground out to second.

"For us to get back in the game in the seventh shows who we are," Hallinan said. "We have been here before. I wasn't surprised by that. I was surprised by the way we swung the bats in extra innings. We were tiring out. Our pitching wasn't tiring out. The arms won the game."

Once the game reached extra innings, Dunmore did not get a hit until the 13th. Lake-Lehman had one hit in the ninth and two hits in the 11th and 12th innings. The Black Knights left 11 runners on base in extra innings while Dunmore stranded 12, three of them coming in the 11th inning when Will Jenkins ended the threat with back-to-back strikeouts.

"Just the plays made in the field," Sholtis said. "The pitching. There really wasn't much hitting after the seventh inning. You really couldn't try and manufacture anything."

That's not to say both sides didn't try.

When a runner did get on, each coach tried anything possible to get him in scoring position. Failed bunt attempts led to hitters having to swing away when they fell behind in the count.

"We were bunting with one out just to get somebody to second," Hallinan said. "When we had first and second, we were striking out. It was almost as the game went on we became more patient. We were taking more pitches just to try and get a walk."

Cady began the top of the 19th with a single to center, but was erased on a fielder's choice by Yerka. Jimmy Clark singled to left to give Dunmore runners on first and second. They each moved up a base on a wild pitch. With the infield up, Jaedyn Kura lined out to short before Grochowski came through with the game-winning single.

Mizenko retired the side in order in the bottom of the 19th to end the game.

"He busted his head behind the plate on a play at home, it was something from earlier in the season," Hallinan said of Mizenko. "He is a dog. He had the game-winning hit last year in the district final. He is a baseball kid to the core."

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