HS BASEBALL: Blue Mountain captures Schuylkill League crown

May 18--PINE GROVE -- The name Nabholz is synonymous with pitching success in the Schuylkill League.

Wednesday, another Nabholz etched his name into the league history books.

Blue Mountain sophomore Nate Nabholz tossed a complete-game three-hitter and struck out 11 as the Eagles defeated Schuylkill Haven 2-1 in the Spotts Insurance Group Schuylkill League Baseball Championship at Pine Grove's Watler Stump Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field.

Jack McKivigan's two-out single in the sixth inning was the game-winning hit as Blue Mountain (17-4) won its first Schuylkill League crown since 2010 and clinched the top seed in the upcoming District 11 Class 5A playoffs.

"He's a horse," Blue Mountain coach Tom Kramer said of Nabholz. "I feel blessed to have a kid like that on my team. To be able to give him the ball in a situation like this is priceless.

"He's refined. The pressure doesn't bother him. When he pitches, our kids respond."

Nabholz is the nephew of former Major League Baseball pitcher Chris Nabholz, who pitched Pottsville to the 1984 league crown, and the cousin of former Pottsville ace and current Millersville University right-hander Eli Nabholz, who pitched the Crimson Tide to the 2015 title. Another Nabholz, Chris' son Noah, is a junior hurler for Pottsville and tossed four scoreless innings in Monday's semifinals.

A 6-foot-4, 230-pounder, Nate Nabholz retired 12 of the final 14 batters he faced and didn't allow a hit after the third inning. Blowing away the Hurricane hitters with a potent and well-spotted fastball, Nabholz finished with exactly 100 pitches.

"I was trying to go at them with every pitch," Nabholz said. "My fastball is my main pitch. I know all of these (Haven) kids, and I know all of their strengths and weaknesses. We've been studying that for the past two days."

Nabholz's one bad inning came in the third, when Schuylkill Haven forged a 1-0 lead. Dawson Evitts began the rally with a one-out single, stole second and moved to third on Kobe Brish's infield single off Nabholz's leg.

Nik Yeastedt followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to put the Division II champion Hurricanes in front.

With ace Brandon Schaeffer ineligible after pitching in Monday's semifinals, Schuylkill Haven went with junior right-hander Dillon Dress, who battled Nabholz toe-to-toe for the first four innings.

Getting superb defense behind him, Dress threw four scoreless innings before Blue Mountain tied the game with an unearned run in the fifth.

"He went out and did what we hoped he would do. He did an outstanding job," Schuylkill Haven coach Scott Buffington said of Dress. "He shut down that lineup for four-plus innings. He really did more than you could ask of him and did it well. We made the plays behind him, and that's what we had to do."

Ben Kramer began the fifth inning by reaching on a throwing error and stole second. Brent Kaunas then singled to put runners at the corners and Eric Freeman followed with a safety squeeze push bunt toward first base that scored Kramer.

"We have that in our package and we work at it," Tom Kramer said. "You can't defend it. Freeman is one of the best bunters on the team. He came up big at a time where we needed production."

Buffington pulled Dress after 4.2 innings with the top of Blue Mountain's order coming to the plate. Reliever Jake Pothering got the final out of the fifth, but then ran into trouble in the sixth.

Vinny Bobbin, who was 2-for-3, started things with a one-out single. After a flyout, courtesy runner Ben Norris stole second. McKivigan then lined a 1-2 pitch into right-center to put the Eagles in front.

"I was just looking for a fastball at first, then Ben Norris stole second," McKivigan said. "I wasn't really seeing the fastball that well. Then he threw me a high curveball, and I just tried to punch it into the outfield."

Haven had one final chance in the seventh when Cole Handling reached on a two-out throwing error. Tom Kramer went to the mound to calm down his squad, and Nabholz induced a groundout to end the game.

"The message was simple ... relax, breathe," Tom Kramer said of the mound visit. "We had two outs, the bottom of the order was up and Nate could face one more hitter. I think he thought I was taking him out.

"When I told him he had one hitter left, his eyes got big. I told him, 'You're in control, let's finish it.' "

Schuylkill Haven (18-4), which had its 10-game win streak stopped, will be the top seed in the District 11 Class AA playoffs and play the winner of the May 24 Minersville-Shenandoah Valley quarterfinal in the semifinals on Memorial Day.

The difference Wednesday, Buffington said, was Nabholz.

"You have to give him all the credit in the world," Buffington said. "He just reached back and blew it by us. He was around the strike zone. He pitched a heck of a game.

"A lot of credit to him, to that team and that coaching staff. They took advantage of an opportunity we gave them, and unfortunately we came out on the short end."

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Game Summary

Schuylkill League Championship

At Stump Stadium, Pine Grove

BLUE MOUNTAIN (2) -- Grace ss 3 0 0 0, Greeanwalt rf 3 0 0 0, Bobbin c 3 0 2 0, Norris cr 0 1 0 0, Nabholz p 3 0 1 0, Gerlott cr 0 0 0 0, McKivigan 3b 3 0 1 1, Kramer lf 3 1 1 0, Calderone cf 0 0 0 0, Kaunas dh 3 0 1 0, Freeman 1b 1 0 0 1, Hammer 2b 2 0 0 0. Totals 24 2 6 2.

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN (1) -- Brish cf 3 0 1 0, Yeastedt rf 2 0 1 1, Clauser c 2 0 0 0, D'Arco cr 0 0 0 0, Schaeffer 1b 3 0 0 0, Luckenbill lf 3 0 0 0, Dress p 0 0 0 0, Pothering p 0 0 0 0, Davis dh 3 0 0 0, Handling ss 2 0 0 0, Kalyan 2b 3 0 0 0, Evitts 3b 2 1 1 0. Totals 23 1 3 1.

Blue Mtn (17-4) 000 011 0 -- 2

Haven (18-4) 001 000 0 -- 1

E -- Blue Mountain 1, Schuylkill Haven 1. DP -- Schuylkill Haven 2. LOB -- Blue Mountain 4, Schuylkill Haven 4. SB -- Norris, Evitts. CS -- Handling. S -- Freeman. SF -- Yeastedt.

Blue Mtn. IP H R ER BB K

Nabholz W,3-0 7 3 1 1 2 11

Sch. Haven IP H R ER BB K

Dress 4.2 4 1 0 1 1

Pothrng L,4-1 2.1 2 1 1 0 5

PB -- Bobbin. T -- 1:42.

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