Colonial Baseball Association fell to Royersford Complete game 9-8 in its second of three games in the Baseballtown Charities Showcase at Reading on Tuesday night.
Dylan Strunk and Ben Mascio had a point to prove.
Neither player was all that happy with their performance in last week’s 9-8 win over May’s Sandwich Shop in the first of three contests in the Baseballtown Charities Showcase at FirstEnergy Stadium, home of the Reading Fightin Phillies.
Strunk hadn’t seen live game action in four months prior to last week’s outing.
“I struggled a little bit,” the recent Plymouth Whitemarsh graduate said. “I was long on my swings, and I struck out my first two at-bats. I saw some really good pitchers for the first time, and it was kind of a wake-up call. My third at-bat I had a hard ground ball, put contact on the ball but it was a rough start. Coming back tonight, it was a real motivation for me.”
In two innings last week, Mascio, who had played in several tournaments this summer, allowed one hit and one run. He struck out five, but it wasn’t up to the high standards the PW grad sets for himself.
Both players were in midseason form in Tuesday night’s return trip to Reading. Actually, it would have been tough to top their performances in the Colonials 9-8 loss to Royersford Complete Game.
In three dazzling innings, Mascio struck out eight of the 10 batters he faced. Royersford’s lone baserunner – a hit batsman - came with two outs in the bottom of the first. Mascio acknowledged he has rarely had a start quite like Tuesday night’s stint on the mound.
“My change-up was definitely working tonight,” he said. “That was my go-to tonight and was working pretty much every at-bat. That was definitely the game changer.
“I just felt good coming out the first inning – I felt good in the bullpen before the game. I didn’t throw that good in my first two innings I threw in our first game (last week), so I definitely wanted to come out and throw better in this game.”
Strunk, meanwhile, had an impressive 3-for-3 night at the plate that included a triple and two RBIs.
“It boosted my confidence a lot,” said Strunk, who will continue his baseball career at Delaware Valley University. “We have practiced here and there, but most of the work that you have to put in is really by yourself. We can’t even practice at our school right now, so at this point, it’s really getting work in for yourself and finding opportunities to get out there.”
Tuesday’s game bore a remarkable resemblance to last week’s game that saw Colonial Baseball take a 9-4 lead into the seventh and hold on for the 9-8 win. On Tuesday, the Colonials once again took a five-run lead into the bottom of the final inning (8-3), but this time it slipped away as Royersford notched the walk-off win in a game that was halted after six innings due to the two-hour time limit.
In the top of the second, Colonial Baseball put a run on the board when Strunk, who singled down the third base line to open the inning, scored on Emerson Abromavage’s double to left center.
One inning later, they added a pair of runs. Kevin Reilly drew a two-out walk, and Mike Miller singled. Jesse Jaconski and Strunk followed with back-to-back RBI singles, spotting Colonial Baseball a 3-0 lead with Mascio rolling on the mound.
“He was great,” Colonial Baseball coach Chris Manero said. “The good thing about Ben is he can be such a different kind of pitcher every game. Some games he goes out and it’s his fastball – he’s just pumping fastballs and guys can’t hit him.
“It’s really his change-up that can be his best pitch. Tonight he was struggling with his curveball early on, so he was mostly fastball and change-up. He seemed to get a lot of his strikeouts with that changeup, and eventually, he threw a couple of good curveballs.
“He’s the type of kid - if he has a pitch that’s not working for him, he can resort to something else, and as the game goes on, he can all of a sudden have three pitches working his way. If tonight was a regular season game, obviously, we wouldn’t have taken him out, and he could have just been getting better as the game went on. I don’t know how you get much better than eight strikeouts – the only out that wasn’t a strikeout was a fly out to left field.”
Royersford made it a one-run game with two runs in the fourth, but Colonial Baseball got those two runs back in to top of the fifth.
Eddie Owens led off the frame with a single, and two outs later Jesse Jaconski singled to plate Owens. Strunk’s triple to right center put Colonial Baseball on top 5-2.
“Dylan struggled a little bit last week,” Manero said. “I think he was pretty frustrated after last week, and tonight he had big hits in big spots.”
In the top of the sixth, John Doroba gave Colonial Baseball a leadoff baserunner when he drew a walk. It looked as though Royersford would escape unscathed after back-to-back strikeouts, but Anthony Viola drew a free pass, and both runners scored when Joe Jaconski ripped a clutch two-out triple to right field. Jaconski scored on a Royersford miscue to give Colonial Baseball a five-run advantage. On this night, it wasn’t quite enough.
Seventeen different players had at-bats for Colonial Baseball, which held a 10-5 advantage in hits. Three players saw action on the mound.
“The most important part was that we got to go out there and play baseball,” Manero said. “Tonight, there were a couple of guys that maybe didn’t hit the ball as well last week who did tonight. We had some really big two-out hits.”
Once again, the outcome was secondary to getting back on the diamond.
“Even the first game when I struck out, I kept my head up because I know this is better than not playing baseball at all,” Strunk said. “That is the mentality I’m going to keep and I had going into it. It’s a great experience.”
“It was great coming back and playing with everyone that I played with my whole life,” Mascio said. “After losing the season, everyone was definitely bummed out. It’s not the state championship we wanted, but it’s better than not having anything.”
Extra innings: Mascio was expecting to leave for West Chester in several weeks, but the school’s classes are all on on-line and the fall baseball season cancelled…In addition to Strunk, Jesse Jaconski also had a multi-hit game, finishing the night 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored. Joe Jaconski had a triple and two RBIs.
Colonial Baseball 012 023 8-10-1
Royersford Complete Game 000 216 9-5-1
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