Baseball: Conestoga shocks top-seeded North Penn in District 1-6A second round

TOWAMENCIN >> Jacob Marcus’ unerring fastball and slider threw one big twist into the District 1-6A Playoff bracket.

Marcus racked up eight strikeouts, surrendering just one run off of two hits in five innings of work, pitching 16th-seeded Conestoga to a 2-1 upset victory over No. 1 North Penn.

“I wanted this game,” said a determined Marcus on this sunny Wednesday afternoon at NP. “We were saying the whole day, ‘seeds don’t matter, seeds don’t matter. It’s the team.’ We’re just gonna keep winning. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”

The victory advances the Pioneers to a quarterfinal matchup at No. 8 Boyertown on Friday.

“It feels good. We’re moving on,” said Marcus, a senior. “These guys behind me, I couldn’t have done it without them. I couldn’t have thrown my slider the way I did or my fastball the way I did if I didn’t know these guys were behind me the whole way. You gotta have confidence in the guys behind you to do anything.”

Conestoga rode Marcus’ right arm and pushed a run across in the third and fourth innings.

“I’m just so happy for our guys. They are a tremendous group, especially our senior class,” Pioneers coach Matt Diamond said. “They have been leaders throughout the whole season. For them to be able to accomplish something like this, that’s such a special thing for them.

“Jacob was phenomenal. He had actually injured his non-throwing arm earlier this year but that actually game him a little rest because we hadn’t been throwing him for a little bit. His arm looked very alive today and he just did a good job of mixing up pitches, hitting his spots and keeping guys off balance.”

Marcus’ younger brother, Cameron, came on to pitch the final two innings.

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Conestoga pitcher Jacob Marcus throws to first on a bunt attempt during the Pioneers’ District 1-6A second round game against North Penn on Wednesday, May 23, 2018. (Gene Walsh/Digital First Media)

“A little change of pace,” Diamond said of the junior, who pitched to contact and got the six outs he needed.