DUBOIS, Pa. – Back like they never left.
Nevin Day allowed just one run in 6 ⅔ innings and Punxsutawney scored four runs in the fourth inning on its way to a 6-1 win over Philipsburg-Osceola in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals.
Rewatch the game:
With the win, the Chucks advanced to the state semifinals for the second consecutive season.
“We’re happy to be going back, but we want to get the job done this year,” said Punxsutawney coach Mike Dickey. “They’re a resilient bunch. We said at the beginning of the year, the motto for the year was last year’s over, it doesn’t mean a thing. It was great, but you have to prove it every day. These guys are motivated, they want it. They don’t want it to be done.”
Day, just a freshman, wasn’t on that team a year ago but has been a major contributor to what has been another special season for the Chucks to this point.
“It feels unreal,” Day said. “We have a really special group of guys and it feels good being able to contribute to get back to the spot they were in last year.”
See Day’s full interview:
Day was efficient, allowing just a Denny Prestash sacrifice fly after Parker Lamb’s one-out double in the fourth. He allowed just four hits and struck out two, and was lifted at 74 pitches after 6 ⅔ innings with Zeke Bennett getting the final out.
“We were airtight defensively,” Dickey said. “That’s a good hitting team, and to hold them to four hits, it’s a gritty, gutty job by a freshman who is mature beyond his years.”
The Chucks’ offense was slow to get going against P-O righty Gavin Emingh, but broke through in the third and had the big fourth inning.
With one out in the fourth, Cooper Hallman hit a sharp ground ball and reached on an error by Lamb.
No. 9 hitter Peyton Hetrick followed with an RBI double for the game’s first run.
See Hetrick’s RBI double:
After Emigh got the first out in the fourth inning, Punxsy teed off. Carter Savage had the first of five consecutive hits with a single, which was followed by back-to-back doubles off the left field wall by Jake Sikora and Justin Miller, the latter of which plated a pair, a single by Zeke Bennett and a 2-run single off the bat of Hallman.
See the back-to-back doubles:
Day and the Chucks had it in cruise control from there, with both pitcher and coach crediting the defense.
After the sacrifice fly, Day retired eight of the final nine batters he faced.
“Our defense, it’s special, man,” Day said. “We never make any errors. I have so much faith in our guys behind me.”
Among the defensive efforts was a Hetrick-Coy Martino-Carter Savage 4-6-3 double play in the third inning, and several running catches by Zach Dinger in right, Bennett in center, and Miller in left.
“I’d put them up against anybody in the state,” Dickey said. “Our arms in the outfield are outstanding, and the range we have in the infield … we just had an outstanding day today.”
The Chucks added one more run for good measure in the seventh when Josh Tyger came home after Sikora got caught in a rundown between first and second, giving Tyger enough time to cross the plate.
Emigh took the loss, allowing five runs in five innings on seven hits, striking out eight.
The Chucks find themselves in a very similar position as a year ago. In 2022, they lost 6-5 to unbeaten Central-Martinsburg, 6-5 in the semifinals. This time around, they get another unbeaten team in Riverside, a 9-3 quarterfinal winner over D10 champion Fairview.
That game will be played on Monday at a site and time to be determined.
“I can’t say enough about the way we played today,” Dickey said. “We knew that was a heck of a team. You’re going to be in a dogfight every game from this point forward.”
