PLYMOUTH – It was a good run but Skylar Szynski put an end to Plymouth’s sectional title dreams by strking out 14 on the way to a 5-0 Penn win in the Plymouth sectional.

 

The Pilgrims had made a living coming from behind in sectional play taking wins over South Bend Washington and Mishawaka in dramatic fashion but Szynski took away that dream actually getting stronger as the game went on striking out the side in the sixth and adding another “K” for good measure in the seventh on his way to the win.

 

“That’s the tournament you’re going to see the best the other team has every night and you’re going to throw your best out there” said Plymouth coach Ryan Wolfe. “He (Szynski) was good tonight. We had some opportunities early and he made pitches he had to make when he had to make them.”

 

“You get past his fastball his slider was probably his best pitch. I thought his fastball was all over the place early and he went to the slider. We had to make them make some plays and we couldn’t make any mistakes with a guy throwing like that. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t make that happen tonight.”

 

Penn on the other hand did make that happen. They pushed across three first inning runs on a pair of hits and Plymouth errors and then added two more in the second inning in exactly the same two error two hit fashion. Nik Kavados had the big first inning hit, a two run single, and Brandon Stesiak had a run scoring single in the second.

 

Plymouth on the other hand left the bases loaded in the first, and two more on base in the second unable to take advantage of the limited opportunities Szynski offered.

 

From there Plymouth reliever Brandon Milligan and Szynski fell into a classic pitchers duel, but the Pilgrims were unable to climb out of the five run hole.

 

“These seven guys (Plymouth’s seniors) put a lot of time and effort in with me,” said Wolfe. “It’s unfortunate to lose but I wouldn’t trade these guys for any other seven guys on any other team. They’ve given me everything I could ask and been the leaders I’ve asked them to be. I couldn’t be prouder of the way they’ve battled.

 

“They’ve laid a foundation that is incredible here. They leave a legacy here of how to play the game of baseball and that’s what we want whenever (22-9) heads to the LaPorte regional on Saturday.

 

Linescore

Plymouth 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-3-3

Penn 3 2 0 0 0 0 x 5-6-2

 

WP – Szynski. LP – Davidson. 2B – Ullery (Penn).