Former Easton High School graduate, Corey Webb (West Chester) hit a three run double in the bottom of the 6th to give the Allentown Railers a 6-5 lead and Jared Melone (West Chester) doubled in Webb with the seventh run.

Tyler Guidos (Mansfied) closed out for the save.

JohnPaul Bell (Bucknell), Ryan Malloy (Lehigh) and Dino Cattai (Chesnut Hill) each had two hits for the Quakertown Blazers.

The Railers top the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League with a 6-1 record while the Blazers fall to 4-6.

By Mike Kuhns | poconorecord.com

STROUDSBURG – Stroudsburg has squandered its fair share of leads late in games this year.

The Mounties weren't about to let a victory slip through their fingers in the District 11 Class 6A playoffs.

After watching Easton tie the game at 2 in the sixth, Kyle Albert drove in the winning run in the bottom half of the inning on a deep sacrifice fly to lead the No. 8 Mounties to a 3-2 victory over the No. 9 Red Rovers on Monday at Stroudsburg High School.

The victory salvaged a sensational start by left-hander Nate Kitchell (3 hits, 9Ks, 3 walks), and reliever AJ Denny worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh by getting a fly ball to center to end the game.

The opening-round victory advances Stroudsburg (15-7) into a meeting on Wednesday with top-seeded Parkland, this year's Eastern Pennsylvania Conference champion.

Albert has been a key hitter for the Mounties all year. His deep fly ball plated Chad Dorst for the winning run against the Rovers. "Coach told me to get a pitch in the middle of the zone and drive it deep, score the run," Albert said. "The first two pitches, they were down and it was a 2-0 count and I was looking for a fastball and I hit it."

Denny, who relieved Kitchell in the sixth, didn't make it easy on himself in the seventh. After getting the first two outs in order, the lefty gave up two infield hits sandwiched around a walk to load the bases. But he got Eddie Olsen to lift a fly ball to center to end the game.

It ended a game in which Stroudsburg left runners on base in every inning – 11 in total. Luckily for the Mounties, Kitchell was on his game. The lefty had eight strikeouts through four innings.

"With the conditions I think I threw great," Kitchell said. "Balls were wet. Everything was all damp."

Stroudsburg coach Phil Stokes said the senior left-hander was, "on fire."

"He's such an electric kid on the mound and he was able to figure it out," Stokes said.

Working with a 2-0 lead – Kitchell drove in a run on a single and Stroudsburg scored a second on an error in the first inning – Easton got a run back in the second inning. Kitchell walked Olsen to start the second and then allowed a double off the bat of Cam Hubbard, making it 2-1.

Kitchell sat Easton down in order in the third, and after a one-out walk in the fourth, got the next two batters on strikeouts for his seventh and eighth of the game.

"I've really enjoyed him," Stokes said of Kitchell's impact. "Our senior group has been good. We've got 10 of them and I couldn't be more proud of the way they've handled every situation of the season."

Easton tied the game in the sixth on an RBI single, but Denny got a strikeout to end the inning.

Dorst led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, and after Ben Stokes' bunt single and Emmett McCauley walked the bases full, Albert lifted a deep fly to right field for the winning run.

"We've had a couple of close games," Albert said. "We've had a variety of walk-offs. It always seems we're in it right to the end, so I think that's a great quality to the team."

Stroudsburg will travel on Wednesday to play Parkland at 4:30 in the quarterfinal.

"We're looking for some revenge, so we're excited about that," Albert said.