After the first three innings developed into a pitching duel, Rake Baseball erupted for five runs in the fifth to outlast the Fightin’ Quakers, 7-4, in a rain-shortened, six-inning victory at Munro Park. The win advanced Rake to Thursday’s Philly Select League championship game.
The game began as a duel between Fightin’ Quakers left-hander and Maryland commit Mason Burlingame and Rake’s Nik Costanzo, a Lock Haven commit. The two pitchers combined for eight strikeouts through the first three innings.
Rake remained patient against Burlingame, driving his pitch count to 72 over 3 1/3 innings. An opposite-field RBI double by Patrick Kilgus gave Rake a 2-1 lead and chased Burlingame from the game.
Then came the fifth inning, when the offenses combined to score eight runs.
With the bases loaded, the Fightin’ Quakers scratched across a run on an infield single to tie the game at 2-2. Pete Hoffman followed with a bases-loaded walk, giving the visitors their first lead of the game, 3-2.
Rake Baseball, which had left the bases loaded in the fourth, responded immediately in the bottom half of the fifth. The first three batters reached on two walks and a single.
Kevin Pickard recorded a lineout to center field for the first out before Joe Listfield lifted a sacrifice fly to pull Rake within a run. Connor Dunn followed with a game-tying single to left, making it a 4-4 game.
With runners at the corners, an errant pickoff throw to first allowed the go-ahead run to score. Jacob Madden then provided the decisive blow, crushing a towering two-run homer over the right-field fence with two outs to give Rake a 7-4 lead.
Rake’s Logan Woodward came out of the bullpen for the sixth. With the tying run at the plate, he induced a flyout to close out the rain-shortened game and send Rake Baseball to the championship.
Kilgus led Rake offensively and was the only player in the game with multiple hits, finishing with an RBI double and a single.
The combination of Costanzo, Drew Spence, Jackson Archibald and Woodward allowed only two hits while working around 10 walks.
Next up: Rake Baseball will face Philly Bandits Red in the Philly Select League championship game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Archbishop Wood in Warminster.
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