Bonner-Prendergast falls in Class AAA playoff opener

THE PLAYERS and coaches trudged to shallow rightfield and met for several agonizing minutes, then the seniors exchanged hugs and/or handshakes before walking, even more slowly, back toward the first-base dugout.

That scene was difficult enough to churn the emotions for Dan Furman, one of the important 12th-graders on Bonner-Prendergast's baseball team.

This realization was worse: A wonderful stretch of brotherhood also had gone poof!

First, be advised that Dan Furman, in relief, pitched eight mostly terrific innings at La Salle High yesterday while B-P was falling to West York, 9-6, in that same number of frames, in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA state playoffs.

Dan's catcher was his brother, Steve, a freshman.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to do this again someday," said Dan, a 6-foot, 195-pound righthander who's bound for Pittsburgh. "I've had so much fun with my brother. It's been awesome.

"For a freshman, the leadership skills he shows are unreal. He knows how to get me zoned in, and get the team zoned in. He's going to be so good these next 3 years. I know he's going to put in so much work to get everybody ready for next season. Wish I could be around to see it."

Dan Furman began the game at first base, but switched places with classmate Pat Vanderslice, also a righty, after batter No. 6. There were four walks, two errors, a horrendous umpiring decision at first base (a tag by D. Furman, off a errant throw, occurred way before the runner reached the bag) and a three-run triple down the rightfield line, which followed what could have been a called third strike.

Just like that, Dan switched roles to The Pitchin' Man.

Though he quickly allowed an RBI single - albeit on a blooper - he kept the Bulldogs off the board through seven innings and, hey, whaddya know, B-P scored two runs apiece in the fourth, fifth and sixth to force extra innings.

In the No. 5 hole, Dan helped himself with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a run-scoring single in the fifth.

But in the eighth, Dan momentarily struggled, walking the first two batters on only eight pitches. Two errors helped the Bulldogs score three runs, though one tally did go into the books as earned.

"I still felt good in the eighth," Dan said. "I just didn't do well enough to get it done. I momentarily lost my release point and the strike zone. I got it back, but . . . "

His voice cracked slightly. "The last thing you want to do is let your team down."

About being called upon so early, he noted, "I wanted to give us a chance to win the game. Compete pitch by pitch. I've had long [relief stints]. Not a problem."

The Furman family includes brother Nate, a fifth-grader partial to pitcher and shortstop, along with dad Tom, who played at the ol' St. James High in Chester, and mom Terri. And the main TV spends a lot of time pumping out baseball games.

"The majors, colleges, we watch it all," said Dan, who lives in Brookhaven and plans to become a coach and special-education teacher. "There's a lot of 'just watching,' but we also check out the ins and outs. We look to see how the pitchers and catchers communicate, and how the hitters handle themselves at the plate. We also look to see if teams run any plays we use at Bonner. It's a lot of fun.

"Actually, talk about sports of all kinds is pretty much nonstop in our house. My mom's part of it, too. Absolutely."

B-P's other RBI went to Brandon Gaal and Jim Haley on sac flies, Frank Saviski on a single and Dan Healey on a groundout.

Behind the dish, Steve Furman gunned down two would-be stealers, scooped a pitch out of the dirt to start what became a doubleplay and made a great block/tag to prevent a run.

Aside from the early mess, the Friars' downfall was stranding 10 runners over the fourth through seventh innings. To end the sixth, Saviski was gunned down at the plate when he tried to score on a would-be wild pitch.

Though the Friars posted the first perfect regular-season league mark (12-0) in school history, they laid two eggs in the Catholic League's double-elimination tournament - losses by 11-3 to St. Joseph's Prep and 9-0 to Archbishop Ryan - after winning their opener. They did muffle Franklin Towne, 5-0, for the City Title.

"Our coaches did a great job keeping us in shape as we waited for the state tournament to begin," Dan Furman said. "There was always practice intensity. We'd be nowhere without them.

"In these last few innings today, I knew we were getting back to playing Bonner baseball. If we could have advanced, we would have been a nightmare for teams."