Knights Baseball and the Buckingham Patriots were winners in Monday’s opening round of the Bux-Mont Baseball Classic. Knights Baseball/Casey’s Place Hooligans photos provided by Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
The Bux-Mont Baseball Classic features six teams and allows high school seniors who lost their final season to the COVID-19 pandemic to join some of their teammates and gain closure to the season that wasn’t.
“A lot of guys are playing baseball for various teams right now, especially the underclassmen,” said Knights Baseball coach Kevin Manero. ‘They’re doing a lot of showcase tournaments and a lot of stuff to try to give themselves a chance to play at the college level.
“For the seniors, a lot of them haven’t played, and we want to make sure that they have an opportunity for all of those guys to come together in a safe, responsible manner in which we are very closely monitoring every guideline and precaution.
“We feel good that as a bunch of independent teams with our own insurance and accepting our own responsibilities that we can do that this week and give the kids a chance to play together.”
Round robin play will continue on Wednesday and Friday nights with the championship game between the top two teams next Wednesday, August 5, at a time and location to be determined.
KNIGHTS BASEBALL 13, CASEY’S PLACE HOOLIGANS 3 (5 innings)
Some moments are worth the wait.
Erik Jesberger was waiting for his first varsity hit when he stepped to the plate for Knights Baseball in the bottom of the first inning of Monday’s opener against Casey’s Place Hooligans in the Bux-Mont Baseball Classic at Memorial Park.
Granted, this wasn’t high school baseball, but it certainly wasn’t a bad substitute for the recent North Penn grad. Emotions ran high for Jesberger, who was playing with many of his former high school teammates after being sidelined his entire junior season with an injury and losing his senior season to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Being out in front of a packed house like that under the lights is really a dream come true, especially wearing the Knights uniform,” Jesberger said. “I’ve been coming to Community Nights since we moved up here when I was eight years old.
“So definitely being under the lights in front of your student section, parents who were my coaches growing up in Little League, former coaches was definitely an amazing feeling.”
That feeling only got more amazing when Jesberger singled in his first at-bat of the night.
“Rounding first as the ball trickled into left field and coming back to give coach (Kevin) Harris a high five – it’s definitely one of the best feelings,” he said. “Not only the base hit to get the Knights going early, but I didn’t quite realize it was my first one.
“One game I got called up sophomore year, and I played varsity with fall teams, but it’s the fall. Spring is where it counts. It was definitely an amazing feeling when coach Harris gave the ball to my dad. Coach Harris is one of the best coaches, no doubt, I’ve ever had, so it was awesome to have that moment with him.”
A back injury sidelined Jesberger his entire junior season, and he reinjured it during fall ball as a senior but – after extensive rehab - was ready to go this spring.
“I’ve told the Erik Jesberger story as many times as I can because he has a great story and he’s a great human being,” Knights Baseball coach Kevin Manero said. “He went out there tonight, and he picked up right where he left off that one day we were in Florida for 24 hours.
“When you tell kids, play every game like it’s your last, a lot of times that’s a platitude that nobody really thinks about, but Erik plays that way. He did that tonight. He got up there and put together two great at-bats and was 2-for-2 right out of the gate, and he made some great plays at shortstop.
“For a kid that didn’t get to play for an entire season and then to have another season cancelled, I think he really understands very deeply what it means to play every game like it’s your last. Just the way he goes about things is such a great model for all the younger guys on our team to follow.”
Knights Baseball took care of business in a hurry, plating seven runs in the first. Jesberger was 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs while Colby Chan had a two-run double. He also had a triple in the third inning.
“Colby Chan had a big night,” Manero said. “Colby is really quiet, but I can see in him that desire to be very successful.
“He came out tonight and had two real big RBI hits and truthfully – as a big guy in the middle of the order, he did exactly what you would want a senior to do. He was going to be one of those guys this spring that I thought was just going to quietly go up there and go about his business and be a real big part of whether or not we were a good offensive team. The way he played tonight – it makes me think what could have been.”
The Knights Baseball coach also credited the play of third baseman Chris McLean.
“I kind of got on him tonight because he made a couple of base running mistakes, but they were errors of commission not omission,” Manero said. “He was trying to get every base he could out there. He was so hungry to get an extra 90 feet. He was putting it all on the line, and if it meant that he might get thrown out, he didn’t care. He just was cranking it up a notch.
“It’s little things like that – at first, I get a little mad, but then I take a step back and say, ‘But this kid is just trying to play as much baseball and play as hard as he can for the small window of time that he has so why not go for it.’ Again, it just sets a good tone of being aggressive and not taking anything for granted.”
Also for the Knights, catcher Evin Sullivan had a productive night out of the leadoff spot, collecting a pair of hits and scoring three runs. In the third inning, he picked a runner off first and gunned down another trying to steal. Nicky Koch also had a pair of hits, one RBI and one run scored. Brian Neal singled and drove in a pair.
“It’s just good to be out there with your brothers you’ve grinded with multiple years – growing up playing against each other in Little League and getting back to the grind with North Penn, able to put on the navy and white and Columbia blue and grinding the offseason,” Jesberger said. “We have some guys that are animals in the weight room, animals as they get out into the cage and indoor work. We really do make each other better, and coach pointed out – we have a lot of guys who show up early to everything.
“It really is just a bond of brothers who are able to step out on the field able to lace it up again. We have a great team that’s all chemistry. You talk about the seniors who were able to lead a squad of underclassmen who are extremely talented. North Penn is definitely set for the next couple of years.”
On the mound, Quinn Holt allowed two hits in three shutout inning to open the game. He walked three and struck out three.
“It’s awesome to see guys like Quinn Holt get on the mound tonight and just pummel the strike zone, Evin Sullivan gets runners who are sleeping out on the base paths,” Jesberger said. “It’s kind of bittersweet because this year we really felt this was the year.
“As seniors, we were ready to go with the talent we have – Evin Sullivan behind the plate, and the pitching we have is astonishing. It’s amazing to step out on the field as a senior to write the end of our story but also get the page turning for these guys that are extremely talented.”
Casey’s Place featured a lot of young faces, but the opportunity to play was especially significant for the seniors. West Chester-bound Cody Barbiero threw 1.1 shutout innings, fanning all four batters he faced. He also was 1-for-3 at the plate.
“As far as being on the mound, it felt good,” Barberio said. “When we put it together a month ago, this was one last ride we could finally have before I’m off going to West Chester.
““I’ve been doing individual workouts, but before that, we were all showing up and doing our best with what we were given and doing a lot of side work. A lot of people are doing independent work. We didn’t really get the opportunity in the season besides the few games we had when we were in our spring training. This is fun and even if we win or lose, it’s fun to have one last good-bye before we all go our separate ways.”
For the Panthers, Justin Butler was 2-for-2 at the plate. Ty Everitt was 1-for-2 with an RBI, but this night was about a whole lot more than the outcome.
“This was pretty cool,” said senior Ben Eichorn, who will be attending Bloomsburg University but will not be playing baseball. “We didn’t have a season, and this was basically the end of me playing.
“I didn’t have any summer ball, and it was tough. We haven’t seen live pitching in a while, and that was the toughest part. Also, in the field, since we haven’t taken too many ground balls, that was difficult too. Even though we didn’t have the whole team, it was a lot of fun being out there with my teammates again.”
Knights Baseball will host Allentown RBI on Wednesday at Ben Hostelley Field at 7 p.m. Casey’s Place will take on Indians Baseball at Harleysville Community Center Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Casey’s Place 000 12 3
Knights Baseball 701 05 13
BUCKINGHAM PATRIOTS 7, ALLENTOWN RBI 4
Blake Ravkin – used mainly in late relief during his career at Central Bucks East – hasn’t had a whole lot of opportunities to hit during his high school career. In Monday’s opener of the Bux-Mont Baseball Classic, the recent East grad showed that he can not only get it done on the mound but at the plate as well.
Ravkin - who was projected to be the third starter and first relief pitcher for East - earned the starting nod he did not allow a hit in three brilliant shutout innings, fanning nine and walking a pair.
At the plate, Ravkin delivered a two-run single in a four-run fifth that sealed Allentown RBI’s fate. Not bad for someone who hadn’t picked up a baseball since the season was cancelled in March until a week ago.
“I texted our whole baseball group and said, ‘Hey guys, who wants to throw,’ so we got a group of guys to just go out and throw,” said Ravkin, who will be attending West Chester University but will not continue be playing baseball. “From there, I just worked myself up. I threw a bullpen on Friday, I gave my arm time to heal this weekend, and it felt good today.
“They’re a good team, they had a couple of good batters. I said, ‘I’ll keep using what I’ve pitched through high school.’ I don’t throw 90 miles an hour, I’m not something crazy. I’m just a kid that likes to throw – hit locations, hit spots and go from there. I was ready to go.”
Lehigh University-bound Tyler Young roped a two-out triple to right field and scored to spot the Patriots a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Allentown RBI knotted the score with a run in the top of the fourth, but the Patriots answered with two in the bottom of the inning, benefitting from hit batsman and a walk as well as a costly miscue.
In the top of the fifth, Allentown RBI used a three-run outburst to go on top 4-3. Again, the Patriots had an answer, putting four runs on the board in the bottom of the inning. David Bloom opened the inning with a single to left, and Cole Allen drew a walk. One out later, Tony Rossi drew a few pass to load the bases.
Recent Central Bucks West graduate Sam Tierney came up with a big hit for the Patriots, driving in a pair with a single to left that turned a 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 lead.
Ravkin’s two-out double to right field plated a pair of insurance runs, giving the Patriots a 7-4 lead that stood the rest of the way.
“It’s always fun hitting,” Ravkin said. “Especially today joking around with all my friends – it always means something. It was fun. It was good to get out there and be around friends. It was just good to play baseball again.”
Kyle Morrison, who threw two innings, earned the win. Gabe Marshall did not allow a hit in a scoreless sixth, and Max McGrady put an exclamation point on the win, striking out the side in a scoreless seventh. Both are underclassmen.
Allentown RBI managed just two hits off a quartet of Patriot hurlers. The Patriots had eight hits. Bloom, a senior, had a pair of hits out of the leadoff spot.
The Buckingham Patriots will travel to James Memorial Park to take on the Perkasie Baseball Club on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Allentown RBI 000 130 0 4-2-4
Buckingham Patriots 100 240 x 7-5-1
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