ORWIGSBURG - In a classic pitching duel that featured a combined 21 strikeouts and only eight base hits, Blue Mountain defeated Jim Thorpe, 3-2 in a District 11 Class 4A quarterfinal game Wednesday.

James Lordi pitched a complete game for the eighth-seeded Olympians, but took the loss, while Dylan Sattazhan threw six innings to earn the victory for the top-seeded Eagles. Sattazhan received help from Mike Myro, who struck out the side in the seventh to close the game out. Lordi gave up three earned runs while scattering four hits. He struck out eight and walked two. Sattazhan allowed just three hits over six full while fanning 10.

Jim Thorpe coach Joe Marykwas was proud of his team the way they battled the whole game against the No. 1 seed.

“It was a well-played game by both sides,” he said., “There was really good pitching on both sides and they just scored one more than we did. That’s baseball.”

Jim Thorpe (10-11) opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with help from two Eagles’ errors on the same play. With one out, Chip Baldassano walked. Lordi singled to center where the ball was bobbled sending Baldassano racing to third. The throw from the outfield went out of play allowing Baldassano to score with Lordi getting to third base. Sattazhan then struck out the next two hitters to end the inning.

Blue Mountain, the Schuylkill League champions, answered with a run in the home-half of the first. Leadoff hitter Connor Mesiner drew a full count walk and reached second on a passed ball. Myro singled him home to tie the game.

The Eagles plated another run in the second. With one out, Tyler Miller crushed a long triple to right field and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Derek Walasavage.

The score remained 2-1 with neither team mounting a threat until the bottom of the fifth when Blue Mountain scored their third run of the game. Walasavage opened with a single to left and was bunted to second by Meisner. Walasavage stole third, and with two outs, Myro picked up his second RBI with a line single to left field.

The Olympian bats were kept quiet until the top of the sixth inning. With two outs, Ian Henkels drilled a double to the right center field gap. Jack Edwards drove Henkels home on a soft single to center.

Marykwas reflected upon his team’s season with an encouraging look ahead to next year.

“Our kids have worked hard since last fall, and we had some key injuries that set us back this season, but that gave other players the opportunity to earn varsity level experience for next season,” he said. “We lose just two seniors, so next year we have everyone else coming back.”

Blue Mountain moves on to play fourth-seeded Bethlehem Catholic at Tamaqua on Sunday afternoon.

AIR BALL ... Of the outs that were put in play by Jim Thorpe’s hitters, six were fly balls and only one was hit on the ground - a slow roller to shortstop in the sixth inning.

FAIR BALL ... The chatter around the field during the game was about the fair skies with the sun warming the fans with 70-degree weather - a welcome relief after a season played mostly in brutally cold temperatures and frigid wind for much of April and the first few weeks of May.

Jim Thorpe 100 001 0 - 2 3 0

Blue Mountain 110 001 x - 3 5 2

Lordi and Wimmer; Sattazhan, Myro (7) and Guers. W - Sattazhan. L - Lordi. S - Myro.