Central Bucks East defeated Hatboro-Horsham in SOL baseball action Wednesday.
Central Bucks East 3, Hatboro-Horsham 1
Kyle Dennis should be forgiven for second guessing his decision to limit Eric Chase to outfield duty last year as a sophomore. All the junior righthander has done when he’s been on the mound this season is win games.
“It looks like we might have made a mistake last year for not throwing him,” Dennis said. “This is his third outing this year, his second league outing, and he’s 3-0.
“In his two league outings, he’s allowed one run and only had a handful of strikeouts, but he pitches to contact. He forces you to put it into play.”
Chase made sure Hatboro-Horsham’s stay at the top of the SOL Continental Conference standings would be brief, knocking off the Hatters 24 hours after they had earned a share of the top spot with their win over previously unbeaten North Penn. The junior pitcher allowed just four hits while fanning four and walking none. He needed just 72 pitches to get the job done – eight more than he needed in his shutout win over Quakertown.
“He’s been phenomenal,” Dennis said. “He’s throwing a lot of pitches for strikes. He’s keeping the hitters off balance a little bit, and he’s forcing you to hit his pitch.
“In 14 innings of pitching, he’s only thrown 136 pitches. He’s averaging nine-and-a-half pitches an inning. He’s just going after guys, getting ahead and challenging.
“Hatboro-Horsham is a good hitting team. They’ve been putting up some runs. Fortunately, we made the plays behind him. He forces you to put it in play, and our defensive play has really picked up. We’re making plays and taking care of the baseball.”
The Hatters got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth when Colin Kennedy, who had singled, scored on Justin Gregorio’s two-out triple.
Kennedy took a two-hit shutout and that 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Sophomore CJ Gillmer singled to lead off the frame.
“He did a nice job defensively,” Dennis said.
One out later, senior Thomas Prato singled to left, putting runners on first on third. Kennedy picked up a huge strikeout for the inning’s second out, but Carter Usowski sent an 0-2 pitch over the right field fence for a home run that gave the Patriots a 3-1 lead that stood the rest of the way.
“What’s incredible is against Souderton the day before – our two runs we scored to take a lead were both RBI singles by our eight and nine hitters, both with two outs and both with two strikes, so we got some clutch hits the past two games, Dennis said. “Their pitcher did a really nice job in shutting us down all game. It was a real pitcher’s dual.”
Prato (2-for-3, one run) and Usowski (2-for-3, 3 RBIs, one run) accounted for four of the Patriots’ five hits.
Gregario had two of the Hatters’ four hits off Chase, finishing the day 2-for-2 with an RBI.
Kennedy was forced to absorb the loss – this despite allowing just five hits while striking out five and walking none.
Central Bucks East (6-4) and Hatboro-Horsham (7-4) both boast identical 5-2 records in conference play.
Hatboro-Horsham 000 010 0 1-4-0
Central Bucks East 000 003 x 3-5-1
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