Pleasant Valley’s Dan Hrbek may already have his
college baseball career all lined up, but the senior wasn’t about to let his high
school one come to an end on Monday.
With Monday
afternoon potentially being his last time in a Pleasant
Valley uniform, Hrbek hurled six
brilliant innings of one-hit ball and helped lead the Bears to a 5-1 victory
over Bangor in
the first round of the District 11 AAAA playoffs. The win allows the locals to move on and play
Mountain Valley Conference foe Pocono Mountain East in the quarterfinals on
Wednesday.
“Obviously
this is a big win after coming off of two losses the last few weeks,” said
Hrbek. “You have to come out and play
your hardest in districts. I think the
guys came out, put the ball in play, made the plays and did all the little
things right today.
“Knowing
this could be my last game was a ton of motivation. You never want to lose your last game at
home, especially as a senior. It was
definitely motivation for me today.”
The only
hit Hrbek allowed came in the fourth in the form of a single to
centerfield. Other than that, he
surrendered just three walks while punching out nine. He helped out with the bat as well, as he
finished the day 1-for-2 with two stolen bases and three runs scored.
“He was
tremendous,” said Pleasant
Valley manager Charlie
Inserra. “He has been doing this for us
on both sides of the ball all year. When
you are trying to get some good vibes going and are trying to get the ball
rolling in your direction in the district tournament – to have a game like this
is just huge.
“We got a
nice little lead early and put some pressure on (Bangor).
When your pitcher is throwing that well and you get an early lead, we
know from experience that it can seem insurmountable even if it is only
2-0. So he was huge for us and we really
need it.”
The
hard-throwing right-hander pitched three perfect innings before running into trouble
in the fourth. Following a long inning
in which the Bears scored two runs on four hits, Hrbek came out and allowed the
first three Bangor
batters to reach base via two walks and a single.
Despite
being caught between a rock and a hard place, the senior promptly worked his
way out of the jam. Hrbek got the next
three batters to go down on strikes, with the last two swinging, to end the
inning and strand all three runners.
“After the
long inning, to walk the leadoff batter is never a good thing,” Hrbek
said. “I got that in my head and I think
it affected me, but to rally back with the bases loaded was big. I knew I had to throw strikes and let the
defense work. Luckily we got out of it.”
The Bears
got their starter some early run support in the very first inning. With Jordan Caffrey on first, Hrbek hit a
grounder to second. The ball slipped
between the fielder’s legs and trickled into right field. It was then that the right fielder tried to
get Caffrey at third, but threw the ball out of play and allowed him to
score. James Shank hit a sacrifice fly
to plate Hrbek one batter later.
Caffrey
(fielder’s choice) and Ariel Mejia (double) each knocked in runs in the fourth
to increase the lead. Hrbek scored the
final run in the fifth when Bangor
was forced to throw down to first following a swinging strike. Hrbek took off on the throw and got in
safely.
Howie
Stevens led Pleasant
Valley with two hits.
Pleasant Valley (14-7) will now play Pocono
Mountain East for a fourth time this season.
The Bears won both regular-season meetings (7-6 and 12-8) before losing
to the Cardinals (6-3) in the MVC semi-finals last week.
“We are
looking forward to it,” said Inserra.
“We have a lot of respect for them.
Our three games this year have been battles. The first two were really tough. We expect nothing else than just another dog
fight.
“It is kind
of rare that you get the match-up of two MVC teams in the second round. We are looking forward to it and I am sure
they are too. It should be a lot of fun
with a familiar foe”
Bangor 000 000 1 – 1 2 2
Pleasant Vy. 202 101
x – 5 7
0
Gurinko and Nigito; Hrbek, Stevens (7) and Shank. W – Hrbek,
L – Gurinko. HR: B – Hydock (7th, none on).
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