"They pounded the zone," said Burlington County manager Marc Petragnani, the coach at Cherokee. "They threw strikes and let their fielders make the plays."
Singer, a lefthander from Holy Cross, and Johannink, a righthander from Shawnee, each pitched three scoreless innings as Burlington County advanced to face Suburban One League National/Bicentennial in Saturday's quarterfinals at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, home of the triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Holy Cross junior Tim Gallagher delivered a three-run double and also made a sliding catch in left field for the final out for Burlington County.
Souderton junior Cory Capaldi hit a solo home run and Quakertown senior Tyler Coleman hit a two-run double for SOL American/Continental, which took a 4-0 lead in the third inning.
Burlington County rallied with seven runs in the fifth. Gallagher's three-run double was the big hit, Seneca senior Gabe Santone delivered an RBI single, and two more runs scored on a long fly ball by Florence senior Jake DeWitt that was misplayed into a two-run error.
SOL American/Continential had two runners on base and the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth when Gallagher made a sliding catch in the wet outfield for the final out.
"It was tailing away from me," Gallagher said. "I almost snow-coned it."
Berks falls. Combining solid pitching with timely hitting and strong defense, Tri-Cape rolled to a 6-2 victory over Berks County in a first-round Carpenter Cup game.
Holy Spirit junior A.J. Martinez and Millville junior Andrew Biggs each pitched three scoreless innings as Tri-Cape advanced to face Jersey Shore in the quarterfinals Friday at Coca-Cola Park.
With a victory there, Tri-Cape would advance to Monday's semifinals at Citizens Bank Park.
Highland senior Pierce Phillips, St. Augustine senior Carlo Randazzo, Buena junior Manny Colon, and Pitman senior Dan MacAteer added RBI hits for Tri-Cape.
Tri-Cape also turned two double plays, with Buena junior second baseman Anthony Lopez in the middle of both.
"Our defense was fabulous," said Martinez, who started the game, allowed two hits, and struck out one.
Berks County scored two unearned runs in the eighth inning, one on an infield error and the other on an RBI single by Oley Valley junior Tim Shores.
Buena senior Sawyer Brown closed the door in the ninth. Fittingly, the game ended on a crisp double play, from Lopez to Atlantic City senior shortstop Brett Uhing to Pennsville senior first baseman Dom Wyshinski.
Burlington County 000 070 0 - 7 9 0
SOL Amer./Cont. 013 000 0 - 4 7 3
WP: Jeff Singer. LP: Tyler Zingle. 2B: BC-Tim Gallagher; SOL-Tyler Coleman. HR: SOL-Cory Capaldi.
Berks County 000 000 020 - 2 6 1
Tri-Cape 013 002 00x - 6 9 1
WP: A.J. Martinez. LP: Scott Merz. 2B: BC-Devin Wenzel; TC-Pierce Phillips. 3B: TC-Manny Colon.
Contact staff writer Phil Anastasia at 856-779-3223, at panastasia@phillynews.com, or @PhilAnastasia on Twitter
