PINE GROVE - For five innings, Pottsville's offense was dormant.
Dan Doyle woke up the Crimson Tide attack with one swing of the bat.
Doyle's solo homer sparked a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning that lifted Pottsville to a come-from-behind, 4-2 victory over Minersville in a Schuylkill League baseball semifinal Tuesday night at Stump Stadium.
The victory advances the Division I champion Tide (12-8) to tonight's championship game against Division II winner Tri-Valley (17-4), which blanked Tamaqua 4-0 in the other semifinal. Game time is 7 p.m. at Stump Stadium.
Prior to Doyle's homer, Minersville right-hander Aaron Fritz had yielded five hits and surrendered just one unearned run. When Fritz's teammates tallied a pair of runs in the top of the sixth to forge a 2-1 lead, the Miners had the Crimson Tide on full-fledge upset alert.
"A lot of that had to do with the pitcher on the mound for Minersville," Pottsville coach Mike Welsh
said. "Aaron did a heck of a job competing, making solid pitches when he had to. He hit his spots.
"Danny has the capability of doing that. He sat on a fastball and did what he had to do with it. After that, it woke us up.
"We picked the exact right time to wake up."
Pottsville scored a run in the bottom of the first when Ty Painter's fly ball to left field was misplayed and Eli Nabholz followed three batters later with an RBI single.
The score stayed 1-0 until the sixth as Fritz and Nabholz battled toe-to-toe. Nabholz allowed five hits, struck out 13 and walked one in a complete-game, 113-pitch effort.
"He's a power pitcher and he was able to locate some of the pitches he uses," Welsh said of the Penn State recruit. "He was able to battle and overpower some of their guys a little bit with his fastball."
The Miners (15-7), however, kept hanging around. In the sixth they capitalized, as an infield error, a wild pitch and Matt Roberts' two-out, RBI single tied the game. Luke Heffron brought the Minersville faithful to their feet a few pitches later with a single to right to score Roberts and give the Miners a 2-1 lead.
Heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Crimson Tide gathered in front of their dugout.
"We said we needed to fight back," Doyle said. "Our backs were against the wall. I was just looking to hit the ball hard and help my team out."
Fritz started the sixth by fanning Mike Kuperavage, the last of his seven strikeouts. Doyle then turned on a 1-0 fastball and launched it into the batting cage netting beyond the left-field fence to tie it.
"All I saw tonight was fastballs," Doyle said. "So, especially 1-0, I had the mindset of a fastball. He threw me one right down the middle.
"I've never hit a home run on this big of a stage. I had two last year, but none in this regular season. I was able to start the inning off in a big way."
One out later, Connor Hinchliffe tripled to right-center and Darion Jacoby followed with another triple to right-center to give Pottsville a 3-2 lead. Jacoby scored moments later on a wild pitch to put the Tide up 4-2.
Prior to the sixth inning, Jacoby was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
"Eli was throwing a great game, and he kept telling me to forget about my last at-bat, this was my opportunity," Jacoby said. "That bumped up my confidence and I just tried to help us win. I was looking for a first-pitch fastball, jumped on it and took it to right field."
Pottsville won the Schuylkill League title in 1984, and captured eight Division I crowns from 1986-2008 when the league didn't have a postseason tournament.
Prior to the bottom of the sixth inning, however, images of the Crimson Tide's 5-2 loss to Nativity in the 2012 semifinals were prevalent. Doyle's homer helped the Tide avoid a similar ending.
"We have a bunch of tough kids, and we just kind of put it on them," Welsh said. "They met, had some words with each other and they were determined. They said, 'We're not going out like this.' They battled and were able to get three runs in the sixth."