May 17, 2017 4 min read

FREDERICKTOWN – Senior Tyler Lampus pitched and hit the Bishop Canevin Crusaders to a 5-4 win over No. 6-seeded Carmichaels in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs.

Lampus got the win for the No. 11-seeded Crusaders after throwing five innings of three-run ball. The right-hander scattered seven hits and struck out six with only one walk. Lampus also went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI from the leadoff spot.

“He was able to gut through five for us,” Bishop Canevin head coach Dale Checketts said. “He did a heck of a job, giving us a chance against a good team here to win the game.”

Checketts said Lampus has been a player who has led by example.

“He’s a kid who has been a leader for us,” Checketts said. “He does it with his play; he’s more of a quiet kid. He sets the tempo for us at the top of the order and gets our guys going to score some runs.”

Lampus said being the lower-seeded team helped the Crusaders.

“We came in the game with no pressure on us because they were expected to win, so we just knew we needed to play our game to win,” Lampus said.

After trading runs in the first inning, the Crusaders scored two runs in the top of the second. Sophomore infielder Josh Gmys led off the inning with a double, and sophomore centerfielder Brian DeShon followed with a walk.

Junior infielder Matt Colantonio laid down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown off target by the pitcher then dropped by the second baseman covering first base, allowing Colantonio to reach base, Gmys to score and DeShon to move to third base. With still no one out in the inning, Lampus roped a single to left field to score DeShon and increase the Crusaders’ lead to 3-1.

Carmichaels starting pitcher, sophomore Matthew Barrish, settled down after the tough start to the inning by retiring the next three batters on three groundballs. Barrish took the loss, tossing five innings, allowing five runs, all earned, 10 hits and two walks.

Carmichaels responded in the bottom of the second, as freshman second baseman Dylan singled in junior outfielder Chad Ruse to come within one run at 3-2.

The Crusaders got back on the board in the fourth and fifth innings. Colantonio singled to lead off the fourth, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before being singled in by Lampus to make the score 4-2. In the fifth, sophomore second baseman Michael Aches singled to start the inning, stole second and was singled in by Gmys, increasing the lead to three runs.

Gmys finished 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI, and Aches was 2-for-4.

“(We made) too many mistakes early,” Carmichaels coach Richard Krause said. “We struggled a little bit pitching early. We had a couple of base running mistakes. We didn’t hit, and we left too many guys on base. We fell behind early and couldn’t make it up.”

After being shut out in the third and fourth innings, the Mikes almost broke out in the fifth and sixth innings. Senior first baseman Joel Spishock and junior third baseman Nathan Broadwater hit back-to-back, one-out singles.

A Cody Brown comebacker was thrown off target by Lampus, who was trying to turn an inning-ending double play, allowing Spishock to score to make the score 5-3, and leaving Broadwater and Brown on first and second.

Lampus struck out the next two Carmichaels batters to escape the threat.

In the sixth inning, the Mikes threatened again, this time off Bishop Canevin sophomore reliever Ryan Eisenbeis.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Broadwater singled to the left-centerfield gap. Ruse, who led off the inning with a single and went 3-for-4 on the day, came in to score. Krause sent the following runner home, but he tripped over third base and had to scamper back instead of scoring the game-tying run.

Gmys relieved Eisenbeis and induced a hard-hit fielder’s choice to escape the jam. Gmys stayed in to throw a shutout seventh inning, earning him the save and the Crusaders a trip to the second round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs.

“Josh, who finished the game, has been one of our top starters all year,” Checketts said. “He came in and did a nice job to get us out of the jam and then shut it down here in the seventh.”

Bishop Canevin will take on the No. 3-seeded Our Lady of Sacred Heart Monday.