Upper Dublin earned a win over West Chester Rustin in Wednesday’s District 1 5A quarterfinal.
District 1 5A quarterfinal
#4 UPPER DUBLIN 3, #5 WEST CHESTER RUSTIN
Austin Dahl has been money all season for the Cardinals. Nothing changed in Wednesday’s district quarterfinal.
No, UD’s senior ace didn’t get the win – two unearned runs in the third inning prevented that, and Dahl was forced to leave after six innings since he reached his pitch count, but it was Dahl who kept his team in the game with some clutch work on the mound.
“He had some really amazing innings,” UD coach Ed Wall said. “In the top of the fourth inning, they went double, single, walk to load the bases with their first three betters. Nobody out, bases loaded, and he goes strikeout, strikeout, strikeout to end the inning.
“Top of the fifth, he goes 1-2-3 – popout, popout, strikeout. Top of the sixth – fly out, strikeout, strikeout. That was the end pitch count-wise, but way to finish the game. That’s fantastic.”
While it all started on the mound, it certainly didn’t end there for Dahl, who hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the second that spotted the Cards to an early 1-0 lead. It was his bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh that gave the Cardinals the walk-off win.
“When he locks in right there, he gets better as the game goes on,” Wall said. “It was once again another fantastic outing by Austin.”
Luke Caron threw a scoreless seventh to earn the win.
“It was tied, and he came in the top of the seventh and he got strikeout, strikeout, popout, so 13 pitches from Luke,” said Wall. “That’s what it took today to get a win against a pretty good Rustin team.”
By the numbers: Upper Dublin: Eric Berman (2-for-3, 1R), Austin Dahl (1-for-3, HR, 2RBI, 1R) (6.0 IP, 3H, 2R, 0ER, 3BB 10K), Luke Caron (W) (1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K).
Key innings: Bottom of seventh: With two outs – both by strikeouts, Berman singled, Eddie Stoffel walked, and Oliver Gill walked, loading the bases and setting the stage for Dahl’s RBI walk that forced in a run for the walk-off win.
Bottom of fifth: Trailing 2-1, UD evened the score. With one out, Ben Wilkins was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a groundout and moved up to third when Berman singled. He stole home on the back end of a double steal, knotting the score 2-2.
Upper Dublin coach Ed Wall on the game: “Austin had the home run that got us on the board early in the game. They answered back with two runs, but our guys hung in there. It was a fantastic job only having three hits in the whole game. (Eric) Berman had two of those.
“We threatened twice – we were in a situation, having runners on first and second, and we came up later in the game in that same situation. Fortunately for us, we were able to work the winning walk-off walk. Two RBIs by Austin to get us the win.
“Our patience at the plate and our ability to work good at-bats and be patient – we hit some balls hard that were right at them. They made some really good plays defensively, but we hung in there and kept battling. That’s what I love about this team.”
Up next: Upper Dublin (15-6, 11-4) will travel to #1 Chichester in a second round game on Friday.
West Chester Rustin 002 000 0. 2-3-0
Upper Dublin 010 010 1 3-3-1
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