Published: May 20, 2008 12:12 am            

Portage prevails at home

PORTAGE — Top-seeded Portage overcame first-round jitters and four errors Monday to earn a 6-4 victory over visiting Penns Manor in a District 6 Class A quarterfinal baseball game at Haschak Memorial Field.

“We didn’t start very well and didn’t play very well, but we came back and got some timely hits. Overall, we played as a team. That got us the win,” said senior captain Jake McQuillen, whose team will take on Homer-Center on Thursday at home. “It takes us a little while to get going.”

McQuillen pitched the first four innings, then was lifted for Taylor Swires in the fifth.

Swires got the win.

“I didn’t have my usual velocity out there,” McQuillen said. “My breaking ball was a little flat, but other than that, it allowed us to hang in there.”

With the game tied at 4 in the fifth, Portage loaded the bases and Matt Walsh delivered a double to right-center field which scored Nick Drummer and McQuillen, giving the Mustangs the lead for good.

“My hat’s off to Matt Walsh,” Portage coach Larry McCabe said after his team raised its record to 11-6. “The bases-loaded double he hit was big-time. We stranded two runners after that. I think that was very important.”

Strong pitching by Swires in the final two innings kept Penns Manor off the board.

“I thought Taylor Swires came in and did a pretty good job in relief,” McCabe said. “I didn’t think we played very well. We struck out a little bit too much and had four or five errors and one or two other balls that should have been caught. I think as a No. 1 seed you have to feel happy that these kids hung in there and got the ‘W.’ ”

The Comets, the eighth-seed, opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the second on doubles by Robbie Buterbaugh and Frank Long coupled with a pair of Mustangs miscues.

“I don’t think we played defensively that poorly all season,” McCabe said.

Penns Manor added to its lead in the third as Josh Stoehr singled, stole second and came home on an error.

“We got off to a good start, which is great for us because sometimes we get down and it’s tough for us to come back,” Penns Manor coach Dan Antonacci said.

The Mustangs responded with four runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead, keyed by singles from Jade Zatek, Jeff Jones and McQuillen along with two Penns Manor errors.

The Comets evened the game at 4 with a run in the top of the fifth.

Losing pitcher Stoehr was 4-for-4, including a pair of doubles, and scored twice for the Comets, whose first year with a varsity baseball program ended with a 7-8 mark.

“I think the biggest thing was that their pitchers made pitches that got outs when they needed them,” Antonaccii said. “We had a lot of guys on base and failed to get them in.”

        

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