Christopher Dock rallies for third baseball state title in six years

Christopher Dock (Lansdale, Pa.) is a tiny Mennonite school about a 40-minute drive northeast of center-city Philadelphia. It's easy for the Pioneers to get overlooked and gobbled up when it comes to fighting for attention from the major high school sports programs in and around the city.

But each spring, the school has a habit of rising to the fore. Christopher Dock won PIAA Class A state titles in two of the last five years before meeting Serra Catholic (McKeesport, Pa.) on Friday in the state championship.

What transpired may be more memorable to this group than any other previous state champions Christopher Dock produced. That’s because with two outs in the last inning, down by a run, all seemed hopeless.

Then a rally.

One strike away from losing, Dock’s Alex Summers gave Dock its third state championship with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Serra at Altoona's Blair County Ballpark.

It was easily the most exciting game of the four-game series at Blair, featuring all four state-classification (A, AA, AAA, AAAA) title games.

Serra looked good carrying a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh. But Dock rallied to put runners on first and third with two outs, forcing Serra Catholic coach Brian Dzurenda to make an interesting decision.

Instead of facing Dock's Louisville-bound catcher Ryan Seiz, who already doubled twice, Dzurenda decided to walk Seiz to load the bases and face cleanup-hitter Summers. Dzurenda had good reason. Prior to his final at-bat, Summers was 0-for-3, striking out twice before his final—and memorable—plate appearance.

Summers became the hero when he slammed a two-out single, on a 2-2 pitch to left, plating Drew Mininger and Brandon Reichart with the tying and winning runs.

The 6-6, 215-pound Summer also notched the victory, ending Dock’s season at 20-3 with a third PIAA Class A state championship trophy in the last six years.

Class AAAA

Henderson (West Chester, Pa.) coach Luke McNichol openly admitted he didn’t see this coming in March. He got more of a surprise on Friday, when the Warriors made very easy work of their fellow District 1 companions, Owen J. Roberts (Pottstown, Pa.), in winning the first PIAA baseball title in school history, 7-0.

And it was the same pair that had been carrying the Warriors all season at it once again in the state title game, senior lefthander Kyle Hooven and senior righty Sean McCormick, who combined to put together a six-hitter.

Hooven started and received a nice boost in the first, getting three runs. He helped himself by driving in a run, and freshman Chas McCormick, Sean’s younger brother who led the Warriors with 28 RBI in 28 games, drove in two more with a double to left.

From there, it was all Hooven, who escaped near disaster by getting out of a bases-loaded first to settle and strike out three in driving his record to 9-1. Sean McCormick cleaned up, going two scoreless innings and beginning the dogpile on the mound with the final out of the game.

“What these kids achieved is something very special, it’s something that they can always remember,” said McNichol, who deserves a wealth of credit for showing faith in a young team in forging Henderson’s best record (25-4) and first state title in school history.

Class AAA

Conrad Weiser (Robesonia, Pa.) rode the strong right arm of Zachary Guiles in capturing the first PIAA Class AAA state title in school history by turning away Hershey (Hershey, Pa.), 6-2.

Guiles gave up seven hits, and stranded seven Hershey runners in aiding the Scouts their 27-3 overall finish this season. 

Guiles, who’s headed to Ohio Dominican, hit the 100-strike out mark for the season with three Ks in the state title game, giving up a mere 28 hits in 54 2/3 innings.

Jared Neiheiser closed the door in the final two innings.

Class AA

Senior Nate Emlet went out a winner in pitching Bermudian Springs (York Springs, Pa.) past Central (Martinsburg, Pa.), 5- 3, overcoming some early difficulties with a complete-game, nine-strikeout performance.

Eagles’ designated hitter Colton Forbes helped with a pair of RBI, but it was Emlet who led the way. After surrendering a solo, first-inning homer, he seemed to get stronger. He struck out the side in the seventh to land Bermudian Springs to its first-ever state championship.

Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.