Considering Musikfest’s virtual format, the place to be on Wednesday night in the Bethlehem area was Freemansburg’s baseball fields.
Eric Ludwick and the Liberty baseball team delivered during their time on center stage.
The Hurricanes defeated rival Freedom 9-2 to close out play in Pool D during the Lehigh Valley Baseball Tournament.
Liberty advances to Friday’s Round of 16 with a 3-0 record. Freedom, which finished 2-1 in pool play, also made the single-elimination bracket.
Ludwick, a rising senior, came to the plate with two runners on base and a 1-1 score in the top of the sixth inning. He promptly put a jolt into the big crowd by pulling a homer over the 310 sign in left field.
“The last at-bat, I was 2-0 also and I just missed one off the end of the bat that, if I would have barreled-up, would have, hopefully, been the same result,” said Ludwick, who started the game as a DH and finished at catcher. “So, I was looking for a fastball again because that’s what (pitcher Cade Horwath) gave me the (previous) at-bat. He put it in the same spot and I got it on the barrel that time.”
“It was a game-changer,” Liberty graduate Ryan Pysher said. “Once he got it started, we had a cushion to lean on a little bit, we weren’t so uptight and we got it done.”
The long ball caused quite an eruption among Liberty supporters and players, after five tense, closely contested innings.
“It was the best feeling of my life,” said Ludwick, who was 2-for-3 with a double and Wednesday’s only batter with multiple hits. “It just felt amazing, seeing everyone while I was rounding second – cheering and yelling. It was great to create something for us to build on.”
Liberty scored another run in the sixth when Braydon D’Amico, who appeared to be picked off earlier in the frame, scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.
The Hurricanes ran away with the game by scoring four more runs in the top of the seventh.
Parker Frey hit an RBI double, and D’Amico sent two home with a single and then scored on an error.
“The first game (a 6-4 win over Bethlehem Catholic), we weren’t really getting the sticks going,” Ludwick said. “Our middle-of-the-lineup guys weren’t getting people off the bases. We kind of had to play small ball. Last game (a 14-0 win vs. Catasauqua), we started to get the bats going. This game, we really got stuff to drop and got into a rhythm throughout our whole lineup.”
Liberty graduate Lukas Azatti started the game and gave up one run while working around four walks in three-plus innings.
“It was a great start. He was hitting his spots; he was throwing good. It’s probably as good as he’s looked, in my opinion,” said Pysher, who began the game behind the plate.
Rising senior Jack Rothenhausler pitched the final four innings for the Hurricanes, striking out four and walking two.
Blake George walked twice, scored twice and gave Liberty a 1-0 lead in the third inning with a sacrifice fly.
Cade Horwath tied the contest for Freedom in the bottom of the fourth inning with an RBI knock.
The defensive play of the night came in the bottom of the first, when left fielder Matthew Klipple threw a seed to Pysher at the plate to gun down Garrett Glick, who had tagged up at third.
Next, Liberty surges into the knockout round of the tournament with a ton of momentum after being denied an opportunity to defend its 2019 District 11 Class 6A title due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s really important, especially for the five seniors on the team. It’s our last time playing for most of us. We want to do the best we can, get as far as we can and hopefully win it all,” said Pysher, who will attend Temple University and was honored with the rest of the Liberty and Freedom seniors prior to first pitch.
“It’s our chance to show what we could have done in this past season that got taken away from us,” Ludwick said. “We think we’re the top team and we want to prove that.”
Liberty 0 0 1 0 0 4 4 – 9 8 2
Freedom 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 – 2 2 2
2B – Ludwick, Frey. HR – Ludwick. RBI – Ludwick 3, Braydon D’Amico 2, George, Frey; Horwath. R – George 2, Braydon D’Amico 2, Brandyn D’Amico 2, Rothenhausler, Ludwick, Frey; Moniz, Stannard. HBP – Gill. SAC – Klipple.
W – Rothenhausler. L – Horwath. Azatti, Rothenhausler (4) and Pysher and Ludwick. Horwath, Mikulski (6), Frailey (7), Bove (7) and Moniz and Suarez. SO-BB – Azatti 2-4, Rothenhausler 4-2; Horwath 1-1, Mikulski 1-2, Frailey 1-2, Bove 0-1.
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Kyle Craig may be reached at kcraig@lehighvalleylive.com.
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