UNIVERSITY PARK — The wait for an Eden Christian state baseball title will continue.
Dock Mennonite starter Riley Kling was in control with his changeup and curveball Friday in a championship-worthy performance as the Pioneers hung on to defeat the Warriors, 5-3, taking the PIAA Class A title for a fourth time in program history at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Eden Christian (19-5), playing for its third straight state title, had the moment in front of them in the top of the seventh, but even with Kling maxed out on pitches, and the dangerous portion of the Warriors order up, Eden couldn’t find the base hit needed to tie the game.
With Kling approaching the pitch limit, Levi Parrott led off the inning with a walk, then Kling came back to get Luke Burford to ground out to third and Kyle Fowler to fly out to center.
That set the table for the top of the order and for Dock freshman reliever Mason Bicht to try to close it out. Jackson Bremmer drew a walk, setting the stage for Brady Hull. But on a 3-2 pitch, Hull grounded out to second to end the game.
Given the frustration Eden endured throughout the contest, it was the moment they needed.
“If you would’ve told me that was where it was going to happen, I would’ve signed up for it for sure,” Warriors coach Mark Feldman said. “Again, hats off to them. Kid made a great 3-2 pitch, and Brady put a swing on it, and it’s baseball, that’s all.”
Kling mixed his velocity all game long and handcuffed the Warriors until they finally managed a hit in the fourth.
“I wasn’t actually 100 percent today,” Kling said. “I threw 105 pitches Monday, so I knew I was going to be using my off-speed a lot because fastball wasn’t going to be as fast. It really worked out today.”
Kling, a transfer from North Penn who sat out a season ago due to PIAA transfer rules, credited his freshman catcher Hezekiah Guengerich for calling a great game and knew he was going to be on his game early.
“As soon as I got one strikeout or they were making the groundballs, I knew it was going to be a good game or at least close,” Kling said.
Dock Mennonite (21-4) jumped on Eden ace Noah Emswiler early in the first. After a leadoff walk by Jackson Korne, Ethan Kratz, son of Dock coach and former Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Eric Kratz, tripled to make it 1-0. Emswiler then issued two more walks to Bicht and Drew Bradica before Ian McGrady’s two-run single made it 4-0 after one.
To Emswiler’s credit, the Lipscomb commit bounced back nicely. He allowed only one hit from the third inning on and finished with 11 strikeouts.
“I thought he got squeezed a little bit in the first inning, but that’s baseball,” Feldman said. “The umpire is part of the game. The field is part of the game. Everything is part of the game. There’s no excuses, but then he settled in really nicely.”
Despite the early struggle, Feldman and his staff didn’t need a mound visit to calm their ace either.
“That’s a senior going to pitch Division I baseball. He doesn’t need to hear from any of us,” Feldman said. “He knows exactly what he is doing. He works extremely hard at his craft. He’s an extremely talented young man. To show the guts he did coming back from that first inning, shows the character too, who he is.”
Hull finished 2 for 4 and started the fourth with a single and later scored to finally get Eden on the board thanks to Josh Tilden’s RBI single. Eden had a chance to get two runs on the play, but Levi DiFazio was thrown out at home on a rope by Kratz from center field.
Eden cut into the lead again in the sixth with Hull and Emswiler each scoring thanks to two Dock Mennonite throwing errors to make it 5-3.
Kling scattered three hits, struck out eight and walked just one before giving way to Bicht and the tense moments in the top of the seventh.
“Ever since the beginning of the school year, I wanted to close out the state championship game,” Kling said. “Mason has been coming in after me in the clutch and I trust him even though he’s a freshman.”
“Hats off to their pitcher. He was great,” Feldman said. “He threw three pitches for strikes. He pounded the outside of the zone. I don’t know that’s necessarily us. You’ve got to tip your cap to him.”