LEGION BASEBALL: College roommates deHaan, Eross lead the way in Spring City’s Region 3 playoff win

NEWTOWN SQUARE — As college roommates, best friends and Senior American Legion baseball teammates, Mike deHaan and Andrew Eross do just about everything together.

So when deHaan ran out of gas following six strong innings of work for the Spring City Red Sox during Friday’s opening round of the PA Legion Region 3 playoffs, it was only natural that Eross would be first up out of the bullpen.

Eross walked two batters before locking down the save and aptly finishing the job his roommate at Penn State had started. The duo delivered Spring City a 3-2 win over Yardley-Morrisville on the first day of the eight-team double-elimination tournament that will run through July 23 at Marple Newtown High School. Over the next few days the Red Sox — winners of 19 of their 20 games overall this summer — will see if they can advance to the state tournament, the next round of the Legion postseason.

So far, so good.

“We were college roommates our first year, and we’re going to carry that right over into the second year,” deHaan said after striking out six batters to pick up the win. “We’re both very similar. Both of us had 8 a.m. first semester classes, so we’re even on the same schedule. We work out together and both are managers for the Penn State baseball team, so we really do do everything together.”

deHaan and Eross are 2023 Spring-Ford graduates who found their way into the same dormitory in Happy Valley. As baseball managers at the university, whenever Nittany Lions hitters wanted extra swings in the cage, deHaan, who pitched for the varsity Spring-Ford team, would throw to them while Eross tagged along.

“So we were at college for a year but it’s not like we got away from the game,” Eross said. “We were still able to play and have fun.”

On Friday, each continued to play and have fun for Spring City. Eross plated the first run of the game in the home second with an RBI double to right-center that scored catcher Nate Rosenzweig, and third baseman Micah Seitzinger added an RBI single later in the frame to put the Red Sox up 2-0.

That was about all the support deHaan needed, although Eross grounded into a double play with no outs and runners on the corners in the fourth to add a critical insurance run and put Spring City up 3-0.

deHaan produced 1-2-3 innings on the mound in both the first and fifth innings and worked out of minor trouble in the second, third and fourth to remain scoreless through five.

“I was hitting my spots with the fastball, and the changeup and slider were working early,” deHaan said. “I hit a couple kids and walked some, but for the most part I jammed them up a little bit and kept them off balance.”

deHaan finally bent in the sixth, yielding two walks, a double, an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, but ultimately got through the inning with Spring City still leading 3-2. With deHaan over his allotted pitch count, it was then up to Eross to finish the job.

He issued a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh, and that runner advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Eross walked a second Sharks batter before inducing a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

“Nothing better than getting a ground ball to turn two,” Eross said.

The clutch result was Spring City’s ninth consecutive victory, and the pitching staff of deHaan, Eross, Mitchell Barajas, Zack Uba, Jackson Wowak, David Ruckman and Mike Rapchinski has surrendered just 23 runs in that span. It’s a fact that’s even more impressive when considering only deHaan and Barajas (also a 2023 Spring-Ford grad) pitched at the varsity level.

“It honestly speaks to our character,” Eross said. “Mike and Mitch are the only two. Everyone else came in during the summer, threw a bullpen the first week of June and started pitching. We understand there’s nine guys and not just a pitcher out there, so just throw strikes and let the offense and defense take care of the rest.”

This marks the third and final Senior Legion go-round for Eross, deHaan and several other Red Sox who will soon age out of the program. Some of the players have been playing together for a decade, so the motivation to keep winning is obvious. The last Region 3 team standing will advance to the state tournament, which will be played July 27-31 in western Pennsylvania. There is also the Mid-Atlantic Tournament in Maryland beyond that, and the Legion World Series in North Carolina beyond that, so if deHaan and Eross play their cards right they could be playing baseball right until it’s time to head back to State College for sophomore year.

“We’ve been preparing for this the entire college year,” deHaan said. “We got up at 6 a.m. some days and would just start sprinting outside or get some lifts in. We’ve been getting ready all year, so we’re looking forward to it.”

The Red Sox will be in action on Saturday against Mt. Airy at 4 p.m. in the next round of the winner’s bracket, and how that one goes will determine who Spring City will play on Sunday.

“It’s about as loose and great as team chemistry and vibes can be,” Eross said. “In the biggest game of the year, we’re out there having fun and playing for each other. In the seventh inning of a one-run game, we’re playing our best baseball.”

With deHaan’s ace pitching and Eross’ clutch two-way play leading the way, this iteration of the Spring City Red Sox are in good hands no matter where and when the season ends.

“Each game means more, but we play like we’re playing the same game every day,” Eross said. “Some of these guys have been on the same teams for 10 years now, so for our last ride we want to go all out. Winning is fun, but with the right group of guys and coaches it makes it even better.”

Spring City 3, Yardley-Morrisville 2

YM-   0 0 0 0 0 2 0 – 2 5 1
SC-   0 2 0 1 0 0 x – 3 6 0

WP- Mike deHaan (6ip, 5h, 2er, 3bb, 6k)
LP- Isaac Galarza (6ip, 6h, 2er, bb, 6)
SV- Andrew Eross (ip, 2bb)
2B- SC- Andrew Eross; YM- Sam Labrecque 2