Perkasie Baseball Club won a pair of games while Casey’s Place Hooligans split its two games on Monday at St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley Baseball Tournament.
PERKASIE BASEBALL CLUB 13, CASEY’S PLACE HOOLIGANS 5
PERKASIE BASEBALL CLUB 10, PALISADES 2
Perkasie Baseball Club picked up where it left off in the Bux-Mont Classic last week, winning a pair of games on Monday at the St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley High School Baseball Tournament and putting itself in an excellent position to advance to Friday’s playoffs.
The team’s success is especially significant for the Pennridge seniors on the squad who were part of last year’s squad that won just one game in SOL Continental Conference action.
“It’s definitely fun,” recent Pennridge grad Ray Knight said. “A lot of the seniors were looking forward to this season with our new coach. We thought we would have a good season with a lot of preparation we had in the offseason with practices, going to the weight room and open gyms in the fall, so we were looking forward to it and thought that we could definitely do well in the SOL this year and have a chance at playoffs.”
In back-to-back wins last week, Perkasie scored 30 runs in its final two wins combined. They put up double-digit runs in both wins on Monday.
“To pick up where we left off Wednesday and Friday of last week – we had 26 total hits in both games (combined),” Perkasie coach Craig Whitten said. “We’re just getting on base.
“I tell the kids all the time – ‘Give me 15-16 base runners a game, and we’re bound to score six or seven of them.’ Six or seven is a decent run output for a high school baseball game. Guys are hitting.”
Perkasie has won four straight since dropping its first game of the Bux-Mont Classic to Indians Baseball in a game it led 5-0.
“Our first game against Souderton was a lot of people’s first game,” Knight said. “We talk a lot about being aggressive with hitting and not waiting for pitches and getting down in the count. We’re coming out aggressive. Last week definitely gave us confidence to know we can play with Souderton and (Central Bucks) East who are usually good in the SOL, so we know we can compete with pretty much anybody.
“I think there’s energy off the bench. We have a lot of good guys that aren’t playing but are into the game, and they want the best for the team. Everybody just wants to win and keep playing, play into the weekend and play for hardware at the end.”
The marquee game of the day pitted Perkasie’s game against Casey’s Place in a battle of neighboring archrivals. Pitcher Nick Christ followed his win over the Buckingham Patriots last Wednesday with another strong showing, notching his second win in as many outings.
Perkasie took a 1-0 lead in the second, thanks to consecutive two-out singles by Bobby Croyle, Ryan Healy, Ryan DeHaven and Kyle Moran (RBI). Casey’s took a short-lived 2-1 lead in the top of the third, but Perkasie took a lead it would not lose with four runs in the bottom of the inning.
Joey Calabretti led off the inning with a solo home run to left center. One out later, Timmy Mastrogiovanni reached first on an error, and Paul Croyle followed with a single. Shea Grourke’s double to right center plated a run. Healy also had an RBI single in the inning, giving Perkasie a 4-2 lead.
Perkasie upped that lead to 8-2 with three runs in the fourth. Sean Lerro’s two-run double was the highlight. Quakertown made it an 8-5 game with three runs in the fifth, but Perkasie answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning and added three more in the fifth and two more in the sixth on its way to the win.
All told, Perkasie pounded out 16 hits. Moran led the way with a 3-for-4 effort out of the leadoff spot. He drove in a run and scored a pair. Calabretti and Lerro were both 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Bobby Croyle was 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored. Healy was 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.
Christ threw 4 2/3 innings in a winning effort, allowing seven hits while striking out five and walking two.
“I told Nick after our game Friday against Allentown RBIs, ‘You’ve got the ball first game on Monday. Do what you do,’ and he didn’t disappoint,” Whitten said. “A lot of the hits he gave up - he maybe gave up three hard ones and a couple of them just sort of settled in the gaps or were just out of the reach of our infielders.
“He kept the ball down. Looking at his pitching chart, he started pretty much everybody with a strike except for one or two guys. He knows what I look for in his starts – get ahead, stay ahead, work ahead. He kept us in it.”
Harry Haeflein closed it out with one-and-a-half scoreless innings in relief, fanning one and walking one.
“I love Harry’s pace,” Whitten said. “He comes in, and he’s so cool, he’s so relaxed, he’s not emotional. The game wasn’t in hand for us yet, and he came in and killed the rally. Struck out the last guy in the inning.
“He came into the game in a big spot. He wasn’t rostered last week because he had some other showcases. Harry is one of those guys – he’s a corner infielder, plays first and third. I brought him on the roster just so he could pitch for us.”
In Perkasie’s romp over Palisades, Knight and Christ each had a pair of hits to lead the 11-hit attack. The team also benefitted from seven walks in a contest that saw all except one Perkasie player reach base.
Perkasie broke a 1-1 tie with five runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth. Both of the Palisades runs were unearned.
“Back to my mantra going into the season, ‘Let’s just be alpha guys – go out, get on base,’” Whitten said. “That was the last thing I texted them in my group chat.
“We’re playing for the weekend – we go 2-0 today and we put ourselves in a good position to play to the weekend. Right now we’re looking okay, but we don’t want to look ahead. I told the guys, ‘Have the weekend in the back of your mind, but we have to earn our spot to the weekend.’ I liked the attitude. The kids were engaged in every single at-bat. Even guys that weren’t in the game were talking it up and super engaged. These kids are hungry, they want to play.”
Rising junior Ryan DeHaven notched the win against Palisades, allowing two hits while striking out six. Ryan McAloon closed it out, allowing two hits while striking out two. Both Palisades runs were unearned.
Perkasie returns to action Wednesday against Southern Lehigh. Their sights are set on going well beyond round robin play.
“We have a lot of older guys – since we’re seniors, we can’t really play AAU, and (American) Legion and different leagues we would have played for are closed, so this is the only thing that’s really open for us,” said Knight, who will continue his baseball career at Misericordia. “It is our last time playing with each other since we didn’t get to play for the school season.
“We’re having fun. We’re definitely looking forward to moving on and playing Friday and the weekend. Everyone wants to be there and is having a good time.”
Casey’s Place Hooligans 002 030 0 5-7-4
Perkasie Baseball Club 014 332 x 13-16-3
Palisades 000 100 1 2
Perkasie Baseball Club 001 540 x 10
CASEY’S PLACE HOOLIGANS 3, SOUTHERN LEHIGH 2
PERKASIE BASEBALL CLUB 13, CASEY’S PLACE HOOLIGAN’S 5
Cody Barberio was supposed to get his first start of the season in March. The West Chester bound pitcher didn’t get his first starting nod until Monday when he took the mound for the opening game of the St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley High School Tournament.
“Getting the start again for the first time in four months, it was a surreal moment,” the recent Quakertown graduate said. “Leading up to it, all the nerves we had, and once you’re out there and throw that first pitch strike – well, this is what we worked for.”
Monday’s win came on the heels of Friday’s 9-3 win over the Buckingham Patriots in the Bux-Mont Classic.
“We kind of used that tournament to get ready for this one,” Barberio said. “We’re still missing some key players that had other commitments today, but working with what we had against the two well-coached and well-prepared teams we played, I think it was pretty good.”
Barberio threw four strong innings, allowing just two hits and one run (unearned) while striking out four and walking two.
“Being able to loosen my restriction on how much I could throw – I definitely wanted to go out for another inning, but I also wanted to equally pace myself so if we were to make playoffs,” Barberio said.
Making the win even sweeter was the fact that Barberio was going up against his friend and teammate from the PA Shockers AAU squad – Wyatt Yaindl, who absorbed the loss despite allowing just three hits while striking out 12 and walking two in five innings
“We were going back and forth - he struck me out twice and I struck him out twice,” Barberio said. “He doesn’t pitch normally, and we were saying we made him look like a Cy Young award winner.”
Brandon Pierce was the undisputed hitting star in the win over Southern Lehigh. His two-out solo home run to left center knotted the score 1-1 in the third inning. The rising junior gave Casey’s Place a 3-1 lead in the fifth when he laced a two-run double down the left field line.
Pierce finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. An impressive outing for a player who just received the green light to return to action after tearing his ACL last fall in football.
“He does a lot for a being a guy who came back from his ACL tear earlier in the year and getting this second opportunity,” Barberio said of Pierce. “We’re taking it slow – we’re not trying to overdo it with him, but he definitely came up clutch today.
“We had runners in scoring position when he doubled, and he found a way to get it done. Ultimately, it was just enough to get by in the first game.”
In its second game of the day, Casey’s Place squared off against Perkasie, and although Perkasie earned the win, Casey’s Place had several highlights.
In the third inning, Ty Everitt gave Casey’s Place a 2-1 lead when his single to right field plated a pair. Earlier in the inning, Tommy Kozluski singled, and Nick Anthony doubled to left center, setting the stage for Everitt’s big hit.
Matt Tuley, heading to Ursinus College this fall where he will pitch, has had a rare opportunity to hit in the summer travel tournaments.
With Casey’s Place on the short end of an 8-2 score in the fifth inning, Freddie Steinmetz collected a one-out single to left, Brandon Pierce drew a walk, and the bases were loaded after Ben Eichorn singled to left. Tuley, who struck out in his first two at-bats, roped a bases-clearing double to right center to make it an 8-5 game.
“(Pitcher Nick) Christ made him look silly his first two at-bats, so I said, ‘We’ll let him get Tuley,’ and Tuley ripped a double 0-2,” Perkasie coach Craig Whitten said. “He definitely redeemed himself from his first two at-bats. It seemed like Nick had his number, but good for Matt – he saw a good pitch 0-2, and he drove it way into the outfield gap. It was a great piece of hitting, timely hitting.”
Kozluski led Casey’s Place with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate. Everitt and Tuley accounted for all five of their team’s RBIs.
Casey’s Place will face the Palisades Pirates on Wednesday at 11 a.m. with a chance to move on to Friday’s playoffs at stake.
“We have to focus on Palisades and what we have to control,” Barberio said. “If we end up going to Friday, we’ll have me and a couple of the other seniors to throw again, and we’ll go from there.”
Casey’s Place Hooligans 002 030 0 5-7-4
Perkasie Baseball Club 014 332 x 13-16-3
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