Give and take

By Mike KilroyEagle Staff Writer

McCANDLESS TWP — Mick Fennell gave up five hits.
That's OK. He took them all back at the plate.
The Butler pitcher tossed a complete-game, five-hitter, giving up just one meaningless run in the seventh inning and went 5-for-5 at the plate with four RBI as the Golden Tornado rolled to a 10-1 win over Hempfield in the WPIAL Class AAAA baseball quarterfinals at La Roche College Monday afternoon.
It was the second consecutive dominating performance in the playoffs for Butler (14-4), which was coming off a 10-0 blanking of Penn-Trafford in the first round. Tyler Slepski tossed a no-hitter in that five-inning win.
Fennell was nearly as dominant Monday.
“I was going to try to follow up on that (Slepksi's no-hitter),” Fennell said, smiling. “I didn't quite get it, but I got the win, though.”
Fennell retired the first seven hitters he faced before Erik Walor singled. Hempfield (11-10) didn't get another hit until the sixth inning.
Fennell was spotting a live fastball with a sweeping curveball that kept the Hempfield hitters off-balance.
“He has such separation between his fastball and his curveball,” said Hempfield coach Tim Buzzard. “There must be 25 miles per hour between those pitches. That's what we heard about him going in, but our kids couldn't adjust to it. We were out ahead of the curveballs and late on the fastballs.”
“Mick pitched a great game today,” said Butler coach Todd Erdos. “He was working ahead in the count, which was huge.”
Fennell also was working ahead on the scoreboard.
Butler banged out 16 hits and scored at least one run in every inning but the fifth.
The Golden Tornado led 2-0 after the top of the first inning, 5-0 after four and scored five more runs over the final two innings in the rout.
Fennell had four singles — three of which were infield hits — and a two-run triple in the seventh that put an exclamation point on the victory.
Fennell, a switch hitter, did all of his damage from the left side of the plate, where he gets out of the box quickly and gets to first base with great haste.
“No matter where it's hit, I'm sprinting out of the box,” Fennell said. “A lot of my hits have been infield singles this season.”
Cody Herald was 3-for-3 with a triple and three RBI and Bobby Swartwout had a RBI double for Butler.
In two playoffs games, Butler has given up one run on five hits and scored 20 runs on 28 hits.
The Golden Tornado defense also has been stellar.
On a windy afternoon at La Roche, Butler centerfielder Alex Ziegler ran down several fly balls in center and left fielder Colin Williamson gunned down Joe Hayden at the plate while trying to score from second on a single in the sixth inning.
Butler has been error-free in the playoffs.
“When they did hit it, we made some nice plays out there today,” Erdos said. “The guys were on their toes ready to go.”
Butler is ready to go to the next round as quickly as possible; The Tornado would rather not waste the momentum they have built.
But momentum doesn't always carry over in baseball. Erdos said that is the message being sent to his players as they prepare to play WPIAL power Peters Township (18-1) in the semifinals Wednesday.
“We just have to take it one pitch, one at-bat, one inning at a time,” Erdos said. “We just have to keep on doing what's been working and not try to do anything above and beyond what we are capable of. Each day is a new day and new things can happen and you have to be ready to play.”

Butler 211 102 3 — 10 16 0
Hempfield 000 000 1 — 1 5 0
W: Mick Fennell 7IP (6 K, 2 BB). L: Jared Hensler 6IP (2 K, 1 BB).
Butler (14-4): Fennell 4-1B 3B 4-RBI, Colin Williamson 2B, Cody Herald 2-1B 3B 3-RBI, Bobby Swartwout 2B RBI, Tyler Slepski 3-1B, Nate Bresnahan 1B RBI, Tom Bruce 2-1B
Hempfield (11-10): Erik Walor 2-1B