Check out Scott Huff's Latest Baseball Notebook
By Scott Huff
North Penn (5-0 overall, 1-0 SOL Continental Conference) has made a successful transition from veteran head coach Bob McCreary to ‘rookie’ head coach Kevin Manero.
However, don’t buy that ‘rookie’ label for Manero who coached the last nine seasons under McCreary with the Knights. Plus, Manero has been enormously successful as head coach of the Nor-Gwyn Hawks – winning a state title at the legion level.
“I had the best experience of coaching with Bob the last nine years here at North Penn,” said Manero, “I learned a lot about high school baseball from Bob, and taking over a program where winning is expected has been great. The work ethic is something that is already instilled in the players, and so far they have been a great group to work with. They are winning and playing baseball the right way.
“Coaching high school baseball is different than coaching legion baseball,” added Manero. “In legion, you only see that kids for a limited amount of time, and it is mostly on game days (in the summer). In high school, the kids come from school to practice and you can teach a lot more. I like the structure that you have with coaching the high school players.”
North Penn opened its conference schedule with a win over Central Bucks East and is unbeaten in non-league games. The Knights added to that win total with a 5-3 victory Monday over Wissahickon (3-3).
“We use a lot of our regular players in the lineup, but we try and some other players a chance to play,” said Manero. “We had Brian Maher start a game for us today, and he did a good job of keeping us in the game. We want to work on execution, but we also play to win the game.”
North Penn trailed Wissahickon 3-2 going into the top of the sixth inning. Senior Casey Clauss drove home the game winning runs with a blistering double to secure the win. Senior Alex Lashkevich came into the game in relief to record the win, while senior Bobby Reddick notched the save for the Knights.
North Penn will be on the road to face defending conference champion Pennridge (4-1, 0-1) today (4/10) as # 1 hurler Bryce Mengel will get the ball as the starter for the Knights.
“Pennridge is very young, but believe me, they are talented,” said Manero. “(Pennridge head coach) Tom Nuneviller has them well coached, and they are always tough at home. There is truly no easy game in our conference, and the conference should be competitive all season.”
North Penn Knights 011 003 0 - 5 4 4
Wissahickon Trojans 101 100 0 - 3 3 3
Central Bucks South (5-0, 2-0) moved into sole possession of first place in the SOL Continental Conference as the Titans out slugged visiting Quakertown (0-2) – 12-10 in the only conference game of the day.
“We both gave each other too many extra outs,” said Central Bucks South head coach Mike Schaefer as the teams combined for nine errors – seven by Quakertown. “We were able to bunch runs in a couple of innings, and when I step back and think about it, I’m just glad that the baseball gods allowed us to win the game.
“We haven’t played our best baseball, and we’re still 2-0 in the league,” added Schaefer. “We could just as easily be 0-2 in the league, so I can’t really complain too loud.”
Quakertown Panthers 240 004 0 - 10 9 7
Central Bucks South Titans 501 060 x - 12 9 2
Baseball Today in the SOL Continental Conference
Central Bucks South Titans (2-0) @ Souderton Indians (0-1)
North Penn Knights (1-0) @ Pennridge Rams (0-1)
Central Bucks West Bucks (1-0) @ Quakertown Panthers (0-2)
Hatboro-Horsham Hatters (1-0) @ Central Bucks East Patriots (0-1)
Owls Soar to Unbeaten Season
Bensalem (3-0 overall, 1-0 SOL National Conference) has embraced the coaching of head coach Rick Lee and assistants Harry Daut (sr) and Shawn Fleming early in the season. And the dividends have been paid in victories for the veteran Owls.
“We have a great group of seniors that understand what we have to do to win baseball games,” said Lee. “We don’t have the bats to overpower most teams, and we are going to have to do the little things to win. We have to make productive outs, run the bases hard, and limit mistakes. If we can do that, we can win some games.”
Bensalem has collected two non-league wins over New Hope-Solebury (3-1) and Carvel Academy (6-2), and the Owls opened the conference schedule with a thrilling 3-2 eight-inning victory over Pennsbury (0-1).
“We have 11 seniors on this team, and we have received leadership from them,” said Lee. “We play in a very good conference, and we are going to have to keep playing baseball the right way in order to keep winning.”
The senior core of the team includes Zach Hizer (pitcher/2b), Jesse Dannin (p/of), Harry Daut (1b), Andy Moser (c), Joe Nieves (p/of), Matt Smith (p/of), Zach Schwartz (of), Anthony Micalizzi (ss), and Eric Ruud (3b).
“We have a # 1 and a # 1A in Zach Hizer and Jesse Dannin,” said Lee. “Pitching, defense, and base running is going to have to carry this team. We might have games where we struggle at the plate.”
Baseball Today in the SOL National Conference
Council Rock South Golden Hawks (1-0) @ William Tennent Panthers (0-1)
Neshaminy Redskins (1-0) @ Pennsbury Falcons (0-1)
Bensalem Owls (1-0) @ Truman Tigers (0-1)
Council Rock North Indians (1-0) @ Abington Ghosts (0-1)
Golden Bears Claw Back First Place
Upper Moreland (3-1) moved into a first place tie in the SOL American Conference standingsas the Golden Bears captured a 9-5 victory over visiting Plymouth Whitmarsh (4-2). Upper Moreland is percentage points ahead of PW and is in a dead heat record wise with Wissahickon (3-1).
Unlike Philadelphia Phillie manager Charlie Manuel, Upper Moreland head coach Ernie Rehr has no problem filling out a lineup card these days.
“No matter where I bat anyone in the lineup – we hit the ball,” said Rehr as the Golden Bears pounded out 12 hits in the win. “We have hit the ball hard in every game of the season, and I have a lot of flexibility in this lineup.
“Matt Kohn had three hits today, and although he is hitting second in my lineup, he could easily lead off,” added Rehr. “And Kyle Walder probably hits with the most power on the team – and I hit him sixth because we have been getting so many base runners on ahead of him.”
Walder – who had a pair of hits and three runs batted in – was also the winning pitcher for the Bears. He threw a complete game and fired five shutout innings that allowed the Bears to build a 7-0 lead.
“Kyle did a great job of keeping them off balance for most of the game,” said Rehr. “And for him to give us a complete game gives us more options for kids to throw later in the week.
“We have a big game with Wissahickon coming up on Wednesday,” added Rehr as the winner will gain sole possession of first place. “We will give Charlie Hooker the ball and hope we can keep hitting the baseball the way that we have so far this season.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials 000 003 2 - 5 10 0
Upper Moreland Golden Bears 520 002 x - 9 12 0
Cheltenham (2-2) won one wild-and wacky baseball game as the Panthers won 15-5 in nine innings over host Upper Merion (1-4). Cheltenham – which trailed 5-0 after five innings – tied the game at 5-5 with a two-run seventh inning rally and scored 10 runs in the top of the seventh inning to secure the win.
“There is no question that we responded late in the game,” said Cheltenham head coach Frank Decembrino. “We had a few hurdles to overcome at the beginning of the game, but we played our hearts out late in the game and were able to come up with the win.”
Matt Bernstein and Matt Lawlor collected key hits for the Panthers, while Upper Merion had big hitting days from Dalton Armenti, Peter Lopez, and Mike Shannon.
“We had a great week in Florida winning two of three games,” said Decembrino. “And it was nice to come home and get a win in first game back.”
Cheltenham Panth 000 003 20(10) - 15 12 5
Upper Merion Vikings 010 220 000 - 5 10 2
Upper Dublin (4-2) moved to percentage points off the conference lead in the standings as the Flying Cardinals soared to a 7-3 victory over winless Norristown (0-5).
Jesse Kohler registered the victory for Upper Dublin, while Jared Zarwin and Andrew Carber delivered extra base hits for the winners.
Upper Dublin Flying Cardinals 200 320 0 - 7 7 0
Norristown Eagles 012 000 0 - 3 5 1
Suburban One Sports.com
Top Ten
1. Council Rock South Golden Hawks (4-0, 1-0)
2. Central Bucks South Titans (5-0, 2-0)
3. North Penn Knights (5-0, 1-0)
4. Hatboro-Horsham Hatters (4-1, 1-0)
5. Central Bucks West Bucks (4-1, 1-0)
6. Bensalem Owls (3-0, 1-0)
7. Upper Moreland Golden Bears (3-1 conf.)
8. Wissahickon Trojans (3-1 conf.)
9-T. Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials (4-2 conf.)
9-T. Upper Dublin Flying Cardinals (4-2 conf.)
10-T. Pennridge Rams (4-1, 0-1)
10-T. Council Rock North Indians (2-2, 1-0)
- Log in to post comments
