Apollo’s regional semifinal game against Muhlenberg was a battle of the pitchers, but the Eagles were upset as they were narrowly defeated 2-0. Eagles pitcher Noah Cook racked up 8 strikeouts and allowed just 3 hits while Mustangs pitcher Peyton Cary recorded 9 strikeouts and allowed 1 hit.
Defense was key in this low scoring game, but Muhlenberg were able to break through thanks to a couple errors on Apollo’s side. Muhlenberg put pressure on AHS early on with a run in the first inning. Apollo allowed a lead-off double to open the game, but Cook struck out the next two batters in 8 pitches. The next at-bat saw Cook put up a full count before a ground ball was hit towards second. A crucial error allowed the runner on second to reach home for the Mustang’s first run.
Cook continued to put in work on the mound as it was three up and three down for the next 2 innings. Cary made it difficult for the Eagles on offense as AHS only had 2 runners get on base during those innings. Cook recorded 4 strikeouts in the second and third innings, and Cary had 5 strikeouts. The battle of two pitchers came down to attrition, according to Eagles head coach Brandon Dennis. Any and all hits were going to be crucial coming into the game, but it just so happened to be Muhlenberg who found them.
“We knew what we saw was good,” he said. “He was absolutely electric today. Not too many teams in the state were going to be successful against him today. They had some unbelievable at-bats against our guy. They had three crucial hits that scored 2 runs because they had two-out at-bats where they either put it in play or got what they needed. That was the difference int he game, they were able to string that together and we just never could. We had one opportunity there where things kind of fell apart in the sixth, but that’s the game and we know it.”
The began with two quick outs as Sam Holder caught a fly out and Cook battled for a strikeout. One runner was seated on first after the next batter was HBP, and then Muhlenberg hit a key double out to right field that ran in said runner. Apollo’s defense kept the damage to a minimum by closing out the inning with a fly out.
The rest of the game saw both defenses lock down and keep one another scoreless. The showdown on the mound continued as it was three up and three down for every inning save for the bottom of the fifth. Cook finished the game allowing just 3 hits with 8 total strikeouts, and Cary allowed 1 hit with 9 strikeouts. Dennis praised Cook’s performance on the mound, but he said that the Mustangs just showed a readiness for Cook that most teams haven’t shown this year. It came down to just getting the ball into play throughout their lineup, he said.
“He threw extremely well, but I think they were geared up for him in a way that we haven’t seen a lot of teams do,” he said. “Even the guys that didn’t have tremendous success were able to put it in pay and do what they had to do. He did have a lot of clean at-bats, but there were a lot of them to where even the guys lower in their order were just throwing hands out and touching up. They did a great job battling at the plate, so pair that with that pitching performance and that’s going to be tough to beat.”
The Eagles ended their season with an overall record of 23-9. Although they were stopped short of defending their regional title, Dennis said it’s seasons like this that coaches want to coach. The adversity that the team faced due to injuries at the beginning of the year forced them to adapt, he said. Strode was taken out by an injury, but the way he fought tooth and tail to just get back to swinging at the plate was admirable. Although it wasn’t the outcome they wanted, Dennis enjoyed watching each and every one of his players grow.
“This year was the reason that you have high school athletics,” he said. “I mean, from the beginning you lose one of the top arms in the state in the first 10 games. You also lose an anchor in a guy who’s been playing that corner field position for us and hitting in the middle of the order. We had guys swing around, step in and play a new position, we had pitchers step up and develop into really really good pitchers. That’s why you do it.”
“Yes, you do it in hopes to have a big run in the end, but to just watch the way these guys grew throughout the season because they were forced to,” he continued. “If nothing happened and we rolled out there the same way we did last year, things probably would have looked kind of the same. Especially after that big injury, we were forced to make some big changes and try some guys in some new spots. It was so cool to see those guys develop and be successful.”
