NAZARETH - Late game heroics are nothing new for the Birches.

After trailing early in the first game of the opening round of the NorCo Legion playoffs, the team stunned East Stroudsburg when Joe Denny delivered a game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning.The latest chapter in a storybook season came Tuesday in the opener of the championship series against Nazareth, as Brent Beck took his turn as captain comeback by knocking in what proved to be the winning run in the top of the eighth inning to propel Birches to a 4-2 victory."This is huge," Birches head coach Allen Faust said afterward. "We've been battling all year long; our team never gives up."The other night we were down (6-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning) against East Stroudsburg and we came back and won it. They don't quit."Despite being 0-for-3 when he stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, Faust never lost confidence in Beck."They've been under pressure all the way through the whole season. He's (Beck) been my No. 2 hitter the whole season and he's been a very good hitter," said Faust. "He's been struggling of late, but I just had a feeling he was going to come through in a big spot, because he normally does."With Matt Pierce standing at third base and Dakota George on second, Beck simply tried to make contact."I just tried to go up there with the same approach, to put the ball in play," said Beck, who flipped the bat head out and poked the ball over second base for the decisive hit.The Birches got an insurance run when Luke Hohenstein collected his second RBI of the game with a single to plate George and make it 4-2.George finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Travis Van Houten went 3-for-3 with a double.Hohenstein was effective on the mound as well, going the distance to earn the win, striking out three while allowing just one walk."I didn't have my best stuff at the beginning of the game so I knew I was just going to have to keep the hitters off balance as much as I could and spot my pitches," said Hohenstein, who hadn't pitched since last Wednesday's series-clinching victory against East Stroudsburg."I had my full rest so I was expecting to go deep coming into the game. Obviously, I wasn't expecting to give up the runs or have as many pitches as I threw, but I knew I just had to keep the ball in the strike zone and let my teammates pick me up behind me."Birches trailed early when Nazareth, the No. 3 seed, got RBI singles from Kole Pokrivsak and Noah McMullen in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead.But Birches clawed back, getting runs in each of the next two innings on RBIs from Luc Cibischino and Hohenstein, respectively, to make it 2-2 heading to the seventh."They're a very experienced team," Nazareth head coach Jason Brown said of the Birches. "They have a lot of upperclassmen, some college freshmen on the squad. So they have some experience on us."But I thought our guys played well tonight. Bottom line is, if we can hold the Birches to two runs through seven innings, I would expect to have a 3-2 win. But it just wasn't in the cards tonight."SWEEP? … Birches will return home to the Saylorsburg Playground Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and go for a sweep in the three-game series.THOU SHALL NOT PASS … Hohenstein, along with Nazareth pitchers Tyler Hartranft and Ryan Pitts, allowed a total of two walks.The Birches 000 011 02 - 4 11 2Nazareth 000 200 00 - 2 5 2Hohenstein and Hanyon; Hartranft, Pitts (8) and Trenberth. W - Hohenstein. L - Hartranft.