Just before last night's game, Troy Reinhardt sent a text message to his baseball coach stating he feels he has the confidence for a better spot in the batting order.

The coach, Dr. Peter Baddick, went along with the request and moved Reinhardt from ninth in the order to fourth. What dividends the move paid.Reinhardt hit two home runs - including a grand slam. He drove in eight runs. As if his batting wasn't enough, he then closed on the mound, pitching out of a jam by striking out three batters in a row.Reinhardt and his Penn Medical Group teammates of Tamaqua won a slugfest over town rivals Valley Athletic of Tamaqua, 13-9, in the semi-finals of the Schuylkill County Teener League.The game was played at Dutch Hill in Tamaqua, and advances Penn Medical Group to the league finals on Thursday at Pine Grove.Penn Medical, also known as Tamaqua Blue, jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning.Reliever Matt Yeakel entered the game for Valley Athletic in the second inning and did a terrific job on the mound, essentially shutting down the Blue team. By the top of the fifth, Valley Athletic clawed to within one, 6-5. Yeakel had pitched the second, third, and fourth innings without giving up any hits.In the bottom of the fifth, Tamaqua Blue's heavy hitters finally got to him, scoring three runs on five hits. Yeakel allowed Penn Medical runners to get on first and second with one out in the sixth before being pulled.His reliever, Ian Nichols, gave up a hit to Tanner Kehl which loaded the bases.In came Reinhardt, who read the first pitch and delivered it down the left field line, over the fence, for the grand slam and a 13-6 lead.Reinhardt had two home runs in the game. In the first inning, he had hit a deep, three-run shot. They were his first home runs of the season.For the night, Reinhardt went three-for-four. He hit a fifth-inning single. His only out was a fly deep into center field.After the game, assistant coach Tony Zaloga gave the team ball to coach Baddick. Baddick, in turn, presented it to Reinhard."I'm very proud of Troy," Dr. Baddick said.He said one reason he moved Reinhardt up in the batting order was to get a power hitter in the number three spot. He said he knew Valley would pitch around Kolton Von Kiel and he was right. Von Kiel got two intentional walks. He was one-for-one batting, blasting a double in the bottom of the fifth.Also hitting a homer for Tamaqua Blue was Anthony Zaloga, who had a three-run shot go over the center field fence in the first. Zaloga, who also received a game ball, went two-for-two, including a sixth-inning single. He walked once.Derek Rottet went three-for-three for Valley Athletic, while Tyler Skripko and Trevor Skripko each went two-for-three.The head coach commented, "I have to give Valley a lot of credit. They were one of the final three teams for a reason. I thought they would play a good game. I knew it would be a slug fest."The two teams combined for 27 hits.Reinhardt, 16 and a junior at Tamaqua Area High School, said he didn't think the second home run was going to go over the fence. When it did, "It felt really good," he said.Tamaqua Blue went 17-1 in the regular season, with its only loss being a forfeit to Southern Area. In the playoffs, they are 2-1 with their only loss being to Pine Grove by an 8-1 decision. In that game, the score was 2-1 until the sixth when Pine Grove broke it open.In the regular season, the Tamaqua squad won over Pine Grove, 4-1.Dr. Baddick said to beat Pine Grove on Thursday, "We must play error-free baseball and we must be agressive at the plate and on offense."Valley Ath. 004 011 3 - 9 14 1Penn Med 600 034 x - 13 13 5D. Rottet, Yeakel (2), Nichols (6) and Nichols, Coccio (6). Thrash, Kosciolek (4), Thrash (6), Reinhardt (7) and Von Kiel. WP - Thrash. LP - D. Rottet. HR: Penn Med - Reinhardt (2), 1st with two on, 6th with three on; Zaloga, 1st with two on.