It was certainly not baseball weather at Rulon Griffith Field at Shillington on Wednesday.
But the cold, rainy weather did not tetter Gov. Mifflin of their undefeated start to the season.
A matchup on the mound between two of Berks County’s best pitchers in Bryce Detwiler and Ben Kulp was a sight to see if you enjoy great pitching.
“It seems like a lot of the games we’ve been playing in unfortunately have been in these conditions,” Gov. Mifflin coach Chris Hole said. “Credit to both pitchers, Bryce (Detwiler) on our end, (Ben) Kulp on their end. They did a great job today controlling the game, keeping it moving along. Glad for us to come out on top.”
The Mustangs defeated the Wilson Bulldogs 1-0 on a walk-off walk in the bottom of the seventh inning in a BCIAA Division 1 matchup.
With only two hits heading into the final inning, the Mustangs (3-0 BCIAA, 8-0) struggled to get base runners against Bulldogs’ pitcher Ben Kulp, who struck out six batters.
Matt Koehler started the inning with a full count and then made excellent contact, driving the ball into right-center for a stand-up double.
Kulp’s day ended as Christo Hunsicker took the mound.
Hunsicker intentionally walked Dylan Barrett to have runners at first and second with no outs.
Reese Hohl then attempted a bunt, but Hunsicker made the force out at third before striking out Nate Radwanski.
With two outs and two runners on, Hunsicker walked Aden Reiter to load the bases, setting the stage for UConn commit Bryce Detwiler to step to the plate.
“Do what you do, he’s the reigning (Berks) Player of the Year for a reason,” Hole said on what he told Detwiler. “If he had a pitch to hit, I’d have a lot of confidence in him coming up big there. But he did his job just being patient.”
As the rain began to fall even harder, Detwiler stood in the batters’ box and got ahead in the count 3-1.
Detwiler fouled off the next pitch to make it a full count.
“I knew he had to come at me because it was bases loaded so I was sitting on the fastball,” Detwiler said of his mindset approaching the plate. “He got a couple fastballs on the outer corner that were good pitches but overall I wanted to stay patient. I wasn’t going to switch anything just for that at-bat.”
The next pitch from Hunsicker was low and outside, allowing Detwiler to walk to first as Barrett crossed the plate to score the winning run.
“Felt good,” Detwiler said of the game-winning walk. “I wish it was a hit but I’ll take a win. Moving on to the next game, one game at a time.”
Detwiler had another great day on the mound, striking out six in a complete game. He added a double and the game-winning walk on offense.
“I felt like my fastball was definitely humming a little bit and my curveball was good throughout the whole game to keep them off balance,” Detwiler said what pitches were working.
As for the Bulldogs (1-1, 3-2), they had four hits, stranding six runners on base.
In innings three, four, and five, Wilson faced three up, three down, struggling against Detwiler, dropping a second consecutive loss.
“Continues the track that we’re on to get better every game,” Hole said of what this win will do for his squad. “This was a great team we played out there, and one of the best pitchers we’ll see all year. Hopefully we can continue this momentum moving forward.”
