BY HERB SMITH
Times-Shamrock Writer

Jake Decker pitched well enough to keep his team in the game. And when Blue Ridge needed a hit, he delivered at the plate.

The sophomore allowed one earned run, struck out nine and cracked a two-run single to push the Raiders ahead in the fifth inning as Blue Ridge defeated Montgomery, 3-2, in the first round of the PIAA Class A baseball playoffs Wednesday at Connell Park in Scranton.

Blue Ridge will play Lancaster County Christian, the champions from District 3, in the quarterfinals today at 4 p.m. at Walter Stump Stadium in Pine Grove.

Montgomery pushed across a run in the first inning. Keanu Sauers reached on an error to lead off the game. Sauers advanced to second on a bad pickoff attempt and then stole third. Ray Farr singled on a groundball to left and Sauers scored to give the Red Raiders a 1-0 lead.

Blue Ridge put runners on base in three of the first four innings but could not get a big hit.

“We just weren’t being aggressive enough,” Blue Ridge coach Billy Marvin said. “That’s all it came down to is we were up there kind of watching. And I just asked them to please be aggressive. If you go down swinging, that’s okay. Go up and be aggressive and we started hitting some early fastballs for base hits and it opened it up for us.”

Montgomery starter Matt Miller kept Blue Ridge scoreless through the first four innings.

“I was getting nervous,” Decker said. “It was around the fourth or fifth inning and we weren’t getting anywhere.”

Evan Aldrich and Nick Folk had back-to-back singles to lead off the fifth for Blue Ridge. Victor Armondi followed with a sacrifice bunt. Miller fielded the ball and threw to third to try to get the lead runner. But Aldrich slid in safely and Blue Ridge had the bases loaded with no outs. After a fly out to shallow center that could not advance the runners, Decker hit a single in front of the center fielder Zach Shadle. Shadle charged the ball but it skipped under his glove and rolled to the wall allowing all three runners to score.

“I was trying to get a base hit; to make contact,” Decker said.

He finished with a pair of singles in three at-bats.

“Jake competes,” Marvin said. “It’s no surprise he had the big hit today. Jake’s here to win baseball games and he’s a great kid. He’s so much fun to coach. I expected him to get a big hit there.”

Montgomery got the first two runners on base in the sixth inning on a single and an error. Decker struck out the next two batters but walked Jacob Umpstead to load the bases with two outs. He rebounded to strike out the next hitter to end the threat.

“I kind of push through it,” Decker said. “When I get guys on base, I think about the mechanics I need to use to get them out. Of course it’s really nervous for our guys when the other team gets on base but I try to work through it.”

He worked through more trouble in the seventh inning. Sauers and Thomas Goetz hit singles to lead off the inning. Then Farr popped up to Kalieb Scheideler at second base. Scheideler caught the ball and quickly fired to first to get Goetz out. Michael Alexander followed with a single to score Sauers but Decker got the next batter to ground out to third base to end the game.

“He gutted it out,” Marvin said. “He believes in his defense and for the most part he let the defense play today. For him to get a state playoff win as a sophomore is great. It’s good for him.”

Decker allowed seven hits, two runs and walked three in the complete-game victory and Evan Aldrich went 2 for 2 with a double and a run scored for the Raiders.

“We’re just having a great time,” Marvin said. “We want to go play a good ballgame tomorrow. We’ll see what we can do pitching-wise tomorrow. We get to play another day. That’s awesome. I wouldn’t want it to be any other way right now.”