Pa. Boys: Rohena leads Frankford to round-one win

Edwin Rohena's one-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning brought a sudden end to what

Frankford

baseball coach Juan Namnun called "the biggest win in school history" yesterday.

The Pioneers (20-2) had just two hits but stunned

Avon Grove

, 3-1, in the first round of the PIAA state Class AAAA playoffs at La Salle University.

The Public League, which failed to score a run in last year's tournament, now has a team in the state quarterfinals on Thursday.

Rohena pitched a complete game, scattering four hits, striking out seven and walking two against the third-seeded Red Devils from District 1.

In the eighth, John Bracero was hit in the ribs by a pitch, and Rohena, a righthanded batter, clubbed a 340-foot opposite-field home run.

"Rohena was lights out on the mound today," Namnun said. "He threw a bunch of change-ups and curves to keep them off-balance. He's usually a power thrower and Avon Grove is aggressive at the plate. We played very clean, mistake-free baseball."

Also In Class AAAA, Kenny Pierson's two-run homer snapped 2-2 deadlock in a five-run sixth inning as

Spring-Ford

pulled away from

Whitehall

for a 10-2 win at Northampton.

Mike Haslam knocked in a pair of runs for the Wildcats (17-8), and pitcher Elliot Cross had five strikeouts in throwing a three-hit complete game.

North Penn

watched a 5-0 lead disappear in the seventh inning, and

Hempfield

added a run in the eighth to jolt the District 1 champion Knights, 6-5, at Quakertown.

Home runs by Brandon Kline and Mike Schusko accounted for three of Hempfield's seventh-inning runs, and Derek Dornes scored on an error in the eighth for the deciding run.

North Penn pitcher Eric Ruth struck out nine in six innings before giving way to Mike Bradstreet, and Hempfield's Brett Houseal put North Penn down in order in the bottom of the eighth.

State Class A.

The last four hitters in the

Christopher Dock

lineup combined for 11 hits and scored 11 runs, powering the Pioneers' 16-1 victory over

GAMP

at FDR Park in South Philadelphia.

Bryce Frankenfield, the No. 6 hitter, went 3 for 5 with a triple and three runs scored, and No. 7 hitter Alex Summers poked two hits and scored three runs.

Christopher Dock (18-5), which advanced to Thursday's state quarterfinals against District 3 runner-up Camp Hill, also featured Owen Longacre's 3-for-3 effort with two runs scored from the No. 8 slot. No. 9 hitter Brandon Reichert had three hits and two RBIs.

State Class AA.

Vinny Voorhees struck out 10 batters in pitching a complete game, but it was not enough to prevent District 1 champ

New Hope-Solebury

(17-4) from ending its season with a 7-4 first-round loss to

Lancaster Catholic

at Ephrata.

Voorhees, Alex Hazar and Shane Mulvihill each drove in a run for the Lions. One of New Hope's nine hits was a double by Paul Bako.

State Class AAA.

District 3 champion

Muhlenberg

dealt

Marple Newtown

(15-8) pitcher Scott Dececco his second loss of the season, 8-3, at Fredericksburg.

Dececco (8-2), who is 16-3 over the last two years, was hurt by eight walks in 32/3 innings.

Sun Valley

pitcher Mike Pappas was 10-0 in his career until losing for the first time, 1-0, to

Fleetwood

(15-8) at West Chester University.

Pappas allowed just three hits, but one was a triple to Andrew Dietrich, who scored the run on a passed ball in the third inning.

Sun Valley (21-2) got a leadoff triple by Sam Farnell in the fourth and had two baserunners in the sixth, but was unable to score, ending a 21-game win streak.