BCIAA baseball tournament: Wilson wins title with 10-0 victory over Muhlenberg

That dominance brought out some emotion in the bottom of the fourth inning when the West Chester commit stepped back into the batter’s box.

Gabel crushed a one-out triple to deep left-center field and showed his excitement after reaching third base.

“Senior night we took a tough loss from them, and it wasn’t what we expected,” Gabel said. “And against Muhlenberg, there’s always a lot of talking from them. So coming into this game, we wanted to get it back. I just had a lot of emotion on that one, and it kind of came out a little bit.”

Wilson (17-6) and Muhlenberg split their regular-season series, with the Bulldogs earning a 13-1 win on April 10 before the Muhls responded with a 6-4 victory on May 1.

That passion and energy from Gabel was enough for Underwood to call for a pinch runner in an effort to settle his guy down a bit.

“He’s a very passionate guy,” Underwood said of Gabel. “We’ve worked through that all season about how to handle adversity, but also how to handle things when they’re going well and how to handle it with dignity, too.”

“He’s a high-energy guy. Muhlenberg is a rivalry. I knew I’d kind of have to coach him through this and prepare him for it, and he knows that. It’s just in the moment, he’s a fiery guy.”

It is not abnormal for competitors to show emotion, and when a player is performing at a high level both on the mound and at the plate, it can provide an extra spark for the rest of the team.

In the sixth inning, the Bulldogs did just that to secure their 14th county championship.

Landon Kostelac started the inning with a leadoff double to left field and later scored on a Gabel single to left.

A sacrifice fly by Marmolejos plated Wilson’s seventh run before Lengle drove in two more with a single to left field.

The inning was capped off by Spohn, who drove in the final run to invoke the 10-run mercy rule against Chase Kreider, who entered for Rosenberry at the start of the sixth inning.

For Wilson, Underwood said his squad overcame a slow start to the season that included defensive struggles before quickly turning things around with a 12-game winning streak fueled by strong offensive production.

“We have guys throughout the whole lineup getting timely hits,” Underwood said of his offense. “We have solid guys up and down the lineup, and opposing pitchers really can’t take a day off. It’s really nice to have that.”

The District 3 Class 6A playoffs will begin Friday, May 15, for both Wilson and Muhlenberg.

The Muhls were eliminated in the first round last season by Ephrata in a 2-0 loss. Their most recent district championship came in 2008 when they defeated Fleetwood 3-0.

As for Wilson, that same Ephrata team ended the Bulldogs’ season with a 6-4 quarterfinal victory. Underwood’s last team to reach the district championship game came in 2023, when Wilson fell 7-1 to Cedar Crest.