Mikes upend No. 2 Eden Christian to reach final
Carmichaelsā baseball team isnāt one to be intimidated.
Last year the eighth-seeded Mikes scored three runs in the first inning and held on from there to knock off top-seeded Union, 3-1, to reach the WPIAL Class A final four.
Carmichaels used a similar formula in Fridayās game against second-seeded Eden Christian at Gateway High School.
The sixth-seeded Mikes rang up four runs in the first inning and that was just enough to defeat the Warriors, 4-3, and advance to the WPIAL championship game for the first time since 2014.
Colin Andrew pitched into the seventh inning to earn the win and scored what proved to be the deciding run on a hustle play and Robbie Wilson-Jones tripled and recorded the final two outs as Carmichaels improved to 15-4.
The Mikes were scheduled to play top-seeded Serra Catholic in the final at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Washington Wild Thingsā EQT Park.
āI told our guys before the game you belong here,ā Carmichaels coach Dickie Krause said. āAfterwards, I just looked at them and said, āYouāre going to the WPIAL championship,ā and there was a big roar, and I made sure they understood they belong in the final, too. I pointed out to them, GCC is 17-3 and one of their losses is to you. Eden Christian is 15-5 and one of their losses is to you. Leechburg is 15-4 and one of their losses is to you.
āI told them they earned this. They deserve it.ā
Carmichaels was seeking its fourth WPIAL championship.
The Mikes struck for four runs on just one hit in the first inning against Warriors starting and losing pitcher Brady Hull who failed to retire a batter.
Wilson-Jones drilled a triple off the right-field fence leading off the game and Hull walked Dayton Reynolds and Jordan Davis to load the bases. Colin Andrews and Brayden Andrews followed with consecutive run-scoring walks to make it 2-0.
Jacob Janicki relieved Hull and after a strikeout seemed like he might escape the jam without any further damage when Cooper Richards hit a grounder that Eden Christian attempted to turn into an inning-ending double play. The throw to first was low, however, and first baseman Noah Emswiler couldnāt come up with it cleanly as the Mikes not only scored one run on the play but Colin Andrews raced home from second as well to make it 4-0.
āThey rushed the throw from second and it short-hopped the first baseman,ā Krause explained. āI just kept him moving all the way around third. When they bobbled the ball at first base it kind of trickled away, not more than two or three feet but that was enough where they needed a perfect throw to get the out at home. It wasnāt and we scored standing up.ā
Richards was credited with two RBIs on the play and those runs proved to be the difference in the game.
The Warriors got a run-scoring single from Emswiler in the bottom of the first to make it 4-1 and cut the gap to one with a two-run third on an RBI single by Hull and a run-scoring grounder by Levi DeFazio.
Andrews kept the Warriors at bay after that but on his 105th and final pitch Brett Feldman reached on an error by shortstop Wilson-Jones. Unfazed by his miscue, Wilson-Jones took the mound when called on by Krause and earned the save with three pitches. Feldman advanced to second when Janicki grounded out to third baseman Davis, and Hull, who was 3 for 3 at that point, swung at the first pitch and grounded out to shortstop Krieg to end the game and the Mikes celebrated.
Janicki pitched seven scoreless innings in relief of Hull, allowing four hits and one walk with six strikeouts.
Andrews surrendered three runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
āColin has been just an absolute workhorse,ā Krause said. āI think the only game he hasnāt pitched into the seventh inning was at GCC. He has just battled all year. He and Robbie have been tremendous senior leaders for this baseball team.
āRobbie has also had a great season. He had a solid junior year but he just jumped up leaps and bounds his senior year, catching, shortstop and pitching. Heās been our closer. I canāt say enough about him and what heās done for the team, his attitude and the leadership heās demonstrated. He was so calm and poised the whole night. He didnāt let that error bother him.ā
Both teams had five hits. Richards had two hits, including a double, and Brody Pratt also doubled for the Mikes.
āThese kids have worked really hard to get to this point,ā Krause said. āNo one was expecting this from us. But thereās nobody that practices more than us. Weāre a six-day-a-week team. We put in the time. We put in a lot of hours. We do all kinds of optional things. So Iām really happy for them that weāve gotten this far.
āWe have one more big step to go.ā