Cutztown beats Newport in quarterfinal 3A 2A baseball

Cole Schuler distinguished himself in the fifth inning of three races, sending Cutztown, seeded fourth, victory over fifth-seeded Newport 5-4 in the quarterfinals of Class 3A 2A on Saturday in Cutztown Park.

The Cougars (16-7) overcame three errors to reach the semi-finals at Camp Hill with the best seed (16-5) on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

“We haven’t made it easy for ourselves,” said Cutztown coach Tim Merz. “You better throw and catch.”

Newport (12-9) scored two runs in the fifth and led 4-2 with RBI double Andrew Bates.

Dalton First distinguished himself in fifth place in Kutztown, and Jan Fenerti doubled for the second time. With two outs Nick Hugo highlighted the middle to knock in two rounds and equalize. Dominic Pizzellanti was struck by the field before Schuler’s units in the center forever brought the Cougars ahead.

Furst acted effectively in the first five innings, allowing one earned run, one move and five strokes, scoring five and winning. Grant Fitzgerald released him in the sixth, limited the Buffaloes to one walk for two innings and got a save. He has scored just 26 pitches, so can start against Camp Hill.

“Dalton held up very well in the heat,” Mertz said. “Grant came and did a good job.”

Fenerti went 2-on-3 with RBI and scored twice for Kutztown, while Bryce Schaefer had a single RBI.

Bates scored the center field in the first inning for Newport.