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KINGSTON – In a seven-year span, the Wyoming Seminary baseball team has piled up more than three dozen victories. But none of those wins came in the District 2 Tournament.

Until now.

On Monday, the Blue Knights ended a seven-year drought by defeating Holy Redeemer 4-0 in the District Class 3A quarterfinals for their first postseason win since beating MMI Prep in 2012.

With the win, the third-seeded Blue Knights (14-5) will play the winner of today’s game between the No. 7 seed Hanover Area (11-9) and No. 2 seed Mid Valley (11-4) in Thursday’s semifinals.

Right-hander Aiden Murphy was stellar on the mound at Nesbitt Stadium tossing a complete-game six-hitter and only needing 87 pitches to do so. The sophomore, who lost to the Royals earlier in the season, struck out seven and allowed just two walks.

“This game, I sorta wanted revenge because they beat us the first time so I didn’t want a repeat of that,” said Murphy, who was the starting pitcher of the loss last month to the Royals. “We hadn’t had a playoff win in a long time and I wanted to help get that.”

Murphy got in trouble in consecutive innings in the third and fourth. Patrick Zarola led off the third with a triple, but a pair of groundouts and a fly out stranded the runner. In the fourth, the Royals loaded the bases with two outs. But again, Murphy got out of the jam; this time with a comebacker to the mound to end the threat.

“In my mind I’m thinking ‘get groundballs, get outs,’” Murphy said about the two stressful innings. “It was very exciting (to get the big outs). It was a big momentum-booster. It really got us going as a team not letting them score in those scoring situations that they had.”

The Blue Knights fed off the big outs and used that as a momentum swing. Then in the bottom of the fourth, they made noise offensively.

Sem sent eight batters to the plate in the frame scoring all four runs in that period. The big blow was a two-run double from Jackson Amend, who came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Gavin Flanley. The fourth run of the stanza was a gutsy call by coach Joe Phillips, who wanted a suicide squeeze. Zane Nardone executed it perfectly for a 4-0 lead.

“Jackson Amend had a huge hit with runners on base, and the sacrifice fly from Gavin Flanley followed by the suicide squeeze from Zane Nardone, that’s just good baseball,” Phillips said.

The big inning was all the Blue Knights needed against Redeemer (10-11) ace David Wickiser. That was the only frame where Sem gave him fits. The only other time Wickiser allowed a runner to reach third base was the first batter of the game, Todd Phillips, who singled to start the bottom of the first and was stranded on third. Wickiser allowed four of Sem’s seven hits in the fourth. For the game, he whiffed seven and didn’t walk any.

“He’s an excellent pitcher. He’s one of the top pitchers in the league,” Phillips added. “He’s been a great player for Redeemer all year long, and the last couple of years. The baseball gods were with us today and we were able to come through.”

District 2 Class 3A Quarterfinals

Wyoming Seminary 4, Holy Redeemer 0

Holy Redeemer`AB`R`H`BI

Cook lf`3`0`0`0

Martin 3b `3`0`2`0

Wickiser p`3`0`1`0

Hayden cf`3`0`0`0

Skutack rf`0`0`0`0

Krugel dh`3`0`0`0

Desiderio 1b`1`0`0`0

Gibbon ph`1`0`0`0

Zarola c`2`0`1`0

Yastremski rf`1`0`0`0

Roguskie ss`3`0`2`0

Preston 2b`2`0`0`0

Conway ph`1`0`0`0

Totals`26`0`6`0

Wyoming Seminary

Phillips ss`3`0`2`0

Kutzl rf`3`0`0`0

Nockley 3b`2`1`0`0

Murphy p` 3`1`1`0

Amend c` 3`1`1`2

Lonstein 2b`3`1`2`0

Flanley lf`2`0`0`1

Hromisin cf`3`0`1`0

Nardone 1b`1`0`0`1

Totals`23`4`7`4

2B: Amend, Hromisin. 3B: Zarola.

Holy Redeemer`000`000`0`—`0

Wyoming Semirary`000`400`x` —`4

Holy Redeemer`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Wickiser (L) `6.0`7`4`4`0`7

Wyoming Seminary`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Murphy (W) `7.0`6`0`0`2`7

Wyoming Seminary’s Hugo Kachi scores for the Blue Knights against Holy Redeemer in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal baseball game Monday in Kingston.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL052119HSBB-Sem-Redeemer_1.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Seminary’s Hugo Kachi scores for the Blue Knights against Holy Redeemer in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal baseball game Monday in Kingston. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Wyoming Seminary pitcher Aiden Murphy (27) celebrates with right fielder Charlie Kutz after throwing a 4-0 complete-game shutout against Holy Redeemer in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game Monday in Kingston.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL052119HSBB-Sem-Redeemer_2.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Seminary pitcher Aiden Murphy (27) celebrates with right fielder Charlie Kutz after throwing a 4-0 complete-game shutout against Holy Redeemer in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game Monday in Kingston. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Holy Redeemer’s Matt Hayden bunts against Wyoming Seminary in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game Monday in Kingston.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL052119HSBB-Sem-Redeemer_3.jpg.optimal.jpgHoly Redeemer’s Matt Hayden bunts against Wyoming Seminary in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game Monday in Kingston. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Wyoming Seminary’s Frankie Nockley slides safely to third base in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game against Holy Redeemer Monday in Kingston.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL052119HSBB-Sem-Redeemer_4.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Seminary’s Frankie Nockley slides safely to third base in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game against Holy Redeemer Monday in Kingston. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader
Victory is Sem’s first D2 playoff win since 2012

By Dave Rosengrant

For Times Leader