Acor, Danville beat Milton to reach district final

May 22—ALMEDIA — Matt Acor was sidelined last season by a torn elbow ligament, so his four-RBI game in Danville's season opener was a triumphant return to varsity baseball.

Turns out, it was just the beginning.

Acor became the consummate glue guy in the Ironmen's run to the District 4 Class 4A championship game, helping to spark the offense from the two-hole while settling the team's shaky early season play at third base.

His latest entry in a banner campaign was Tuesday's 2-for-4 effort in an 8-5 win over Milton in the district semifinals at Central Columbia's Don Engle Memorial Field. He delivered a pair of two-run singles, each capping a four-run rally that punched Danville's ticket to the title game.

"I didn't want to do too much. Stay loose, just nice and easy, and my coaches always say, 'Line drive does the trick,'" Acor said. "To deliver, you know, it feels good to be able to do that for the team."

The Ironmen got four innings of one-hit, scoreless relief from Wyatt Shultz, biding their time while down 5-4 for three innings until they broke through against Black Panthers ace Luke Goodwin with a four-run sixth.

"Being in the dugout, everyone is so focused and everyone is more hype than ever," Shultz said. "We're cheering on our teammates, and as soon as that run comes by and we tie the game we're even more excited."

The Black Panthers answered a four-run Danville rally in the second inning with four runs in the third. Goodwin was terrific with a 5-4 lead, throwing three scoreless frames until the Ironmen fanned the ember of an infield single into an inferno with three consecutive run-scoring hits in the sixth.

"We never get down when we're behind," Acor said. "We always battle back."

Danville (16-4) earned its first district final berth since 2022 — a 15-0, three-inning loss to Montoursville. The Ironmen face the second-seeded Warriors (14-4) for the Class 4A title Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Williamsport's Bowman Field. The Ironmen's last district title came in 2011.

Montoursville beat third-seeded Mifflinburg 6-0 in Tuesday's other semifinal, handing the Heartland Athletic Conference-Division II crown to Danville, which at 8-2 edged the Wildcats (7-3) in the division race.

"It's all a matter of playing team baseball," Ironmen coach Devin Knorr said. "We stress this every single day. Every at-bat is a team AB. Individual numbers don't matter; we're here to win as a team. Now we've gotten to the point where we get to play for a district championship. These kids have been waiting for that moment ... and we get to have it happen on Friday. That's so important to our kids, our school and our community.

"Our kids are just so excited to have a shot for it."

Milton (11-11) broke the ice Tuesday after loading the bases with no outs in the second inning. The Black Panthers settled for Dominic Lytle's sacrifice fly, stranding four runners (three in scoring position) over the first two innings against Danville starter Garrett Hoffman.

Danville answered with a four-run spree in the home second, sparked by Jack Gibson's leadoff single and a Lincoln Diehl RBI double. Eli Welliver tomahawked a one-out RBI to left field, and Acor delivered a two-run single to center with two outs for a 4-1 lead.

Milton then did the same, parlaying a pair of one-out walks into four runs with the help of RBI hits from Avery Reiff (2-for-3) and Landon Tillson (2-for-3). An errant pickoff throw allowed a run to score ahead of Monty Fisher's sacrifice fly that made it 5-4 in the third.

An energized Goodwin retired eight of 11 Ironmen, pitching around fourth- and fifth-inning walks. He ended the third and fifth innings with emphatic swing-and-miss strikeouts to keep the Black Panthers in front.

The home sixth began innocently enough, with Diehl beating the throw on a slow roller to the right side. Hoffman then bunted to the right side, but no defender covered the bag in time to record an out.

Milton got a big out when Goodwin lunged off the mound to snare a flared bunt. However, Carter Raup and Cole Duffy shot consecutive run-scoring singles to the outfield for a 6-5 lead.

"You get a baserunner to start it, and that's such a huge thing. Then we executed with a bunt, and we've worked on that so hard in practice," Knorr said. "We've explained to the kids that these are going be the big moments in these playoff games, these pressure situations, and we were able to execute. Then we were able to come through and get the clutch hits."

Acor followed by chopping a ball through the middle of the infield for his second two-run hit, capping a four-run rally for the second time.

The outburst made a winner of Shultz, who sat down the last 10 Milton batters and needed just 47 pitches to book four innings.

"I pitched against the team before, so I knew about them and what they were going to swing at," the junior right-hander said. "All I had to do was shut them down and my team will pick me up and score some runs."

Acor hiked his batting average to .397 (25-for-63), which ranks second on the team to senior Reece McCarthy (.483), a UMass commit.

Acor was shifted to the No. 2 spot in the batting order for the April 17 game at Jersey Shore and went 9-for-13 in his first three games there. He has batted .513 between leadoff man Duffy (.375) and McCarthy, ranking third on the team with 23 RBIs while scoring 12 runs.

"The kids call him 'Matty Rakes,' and he does — he comes up big in those spots. To drive in those runs (Tuesday), a couple each time in those situations, says a lot about his role and what he does for this team," Knorr said. "When we moved him to the two-spot, he didn't get as many of those RBI opportunities. Now the guys at the bottom (of the order) are force-feeding the top, and he's getting those opportunities. In those big situations, he's delivering for us."

"I hold myself to high standards, so to be able to go up there and do as good as I have, I'd say I've impressed myself," Acor added. "Coming back (from injury), it feels good to be out here."

------

DISTRICT 4 CLASS 4A BASEBALL

SEMIFINAL

Tuesday

At Don Engle Memorial Field

Central Columbia H.S.

NO. 1 DANVILLE 8, NO. 5 MILTON 5

Milton;014;000;0 — 5-8-1

Danville;040;004;x — 8-8-2

Luke Goodwin and Landon Tillson. Garrett Hoffman, Wyatt Shultz (4) and Jack Gibson.

WP: Shultz. LP: Goodwin.

Milton: Dominic Lytle RBI; Ethan Rhodes 1-for-4; Logan Shrawder 1-for-4; Goodwin 1-for-3, double, run; Brayden Gower run; Avery Reiff 2-for-3, 2 runs, RBI; Tillson 2-for-3, run, RBI; Monty Fisher RBI; Peyton Rearick 1-for-3.

Danville: Cole Duffy 1-for-3, run, RBI; Matt Acor 2-for-3, 4 RBIs; Gibson 1-for-3; Casey Mills run; Lincoln Diehl 2-for-3, double, RBI; Landon Rogers run; Hoffman run; Eli Welliver 1-for-2, run, RBI; Carter Raup 1-for-2, 2 runs, RBI.