“(Mangel) was going the distance no matter what,” said A-C Valley coach John Irwin. “We left it up to him as to what he was going to do.”

Kyle Rhoads opened the scoring for the Panthers in the first inning. Rhoads, a senior, scored from second when Falcon third baseman Blayne McGuirk made a throwing error trying to retire Keystone’s Gary Stephens on a grounder.

The Panthers added another run in the second inning when Brett Zuck cracked a two-out solo home run to centerfield.

“That is a great story for Brett,” said Keystone coach Ed Rhoads. “He has practiced hard since January. He works very hard and it was nice to see him put one out of the park like that.”

Zuck was 1-for-2 with one RBI and one run scored.

A-C Valley cut the Keystone lead in half in the bottom of the second frame when Nick McGuirk ripped a lead-off single to left field, stole second, advanced to third on a fielder’s choice, and scored on a wild pitch from Panthers’ hurler Matt Bashline.

Nick McGuirk, a senior, was 2-for-3 with one home run, one RBI, and two runs scored.

The score stayed at 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth when Mangel knocked the first pitch of the inning to left center for a homer. Nick McGuirk followed with an opposite-field shot to give the Falcons a 3-2 advantage.

“I told Jess when he went up there to open the inning ‘I just want contact,’” said Irwin. “Well, he got contact.”

Later in the inning, A-C Valley loaded the bases and Ryan Austin ripped a line-drive two-out single to centerfield that scored two Falcons and increased the A-C Valley lead to 5-2.

“In years past, we didn’t have a team that could come back,” said Irwin. “The score could have been 1-0 and their heads would have been down. These kids, we’re teaching the winning attitude to at A-C Valley .

“I’m the proudest person here right now.”

Bashline was charged with all four Falcon runs in the inning. Bashline only gave up one hit through the first four frames but was unable to retire a Falcon batter in the fifth. In the loss, Bashline recorded six strikeouts and gave up only two walks.

“We knew we could hit (Bashline),” said Irwin. “We just had to stay after him. I told the kids ‘there’s no die here.’ It’s all them.”

“I think they just caught up to (Bashline’s) ball,” added Rhoads. “And this isn’t the biggest field, and they got a hold of a couple.”

Josh Huffman and Zuck led off the top of the seventh with back-to-back singles and Mangel walked Ken Alsop to load the bases with no one out. However, Rhoads grounded to Falcon second sacker Nate Silvis, who tossed the ball to John Stumpner for the force-out at second. Stumpner’s throw to first was too late to force out Rhoads at first, but Alsop was called for interference for not sliding into second so Rhoads was called out automatically.

Two runs scored on the play to make the score 5-4, but it would be as close as the Panthers would get, as Mangel buckled down to get the final out.

“I had a thought (of taking Mangel out),” said Irwin. “But I know Jesse, and I knew how he was. He got us there, so it was his game to win or lose.”