LOWER GWYNEDD — Game 3 of the Perkiomen Valley Twilight League quarterfinal series couldn’t have gone much better for Philadelphia Thursday evening.
The fourth-seeded Dirt Dawgs totaled 18 hits and held fifth-seeded Spring-Ford to just three in an 18-0 win to complete a three-game sweep at Gwynedd Mercy University.
Philadelphia scored 16 runs across the second, third and fourth innings.
Luke Borgmann got the scoring started with an RBI single in the bottom of the second. Nate Wingenroth added another run with a bases-loaded walk before Sam Junker hit a two-run single into right field.
Keegan Wade hit an RBI double in the third inning and scored on an error. Ronnie Raby hit an RBI triple and Shawn Levan made it 8-0 with an RBI groundout.
Nate Kress led off the fourth inning with a solo home run to right field. Levan, Junker and Kress worked bases-loaded walks in the inning while Kevin Schmidt hit an RBI single and Aidan Bretschneider crushed a three-run double left-center field.
“In the first inning we went 1-2-3,” Kress said, “but we knew we were going to get started after the week we’ve had. We felt good. We had all our guys here. It was good.”
Philadelphia celebrates after defeating Spring-Ford in Game 3 of a Perkiomen Valley Twilight League quarterfinal series, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Ed Morlock/MediaNews Group)
The Dirt Dawgs added a 17th run in the fifth inning on Wingenroth’s RBI triple and an 18th in the sixth on a Borgmann RBI single.
Junker and Bretschneider each had three RBIs while Wingenroth, Kress, Borgmann and Levan each plated two runs.
In the three-game series, Philly out-scored Spring-Ford, 36-4.
Philadelphia’s three pitchers shut down Spring-Ford Thursday.
Trevor Lugara started and went four innings. He struck out eight batters to one walk and surrendered two hits.
“I was dropping down sidearm a lot,” Lugara said. “Fastball was working and changeup was working off of that.”
Cole Stocks threw a pair of innings in relief with two strikeouts and Logan Potter pitched a perfect seventh with one strikeout.
Philadelphia will face No. 2 Collegeville, a 3-1 series winner over No. 7 Conshohocken, in the semifinals next week. The Dirt Dawgs went 1-2-1 in four games against Collegeville this regular season – the most recent meeting a 1-1 tie on July 7. These franchises met in the semifinals last season and Collegeville won, 3-2, by winning the decisive fifth game, 8-7.
“We played them last year and lost on a double play,” Kress said. “We’re ready to get back at it and see them this year.”