Jarrad Saffren recaps all of Tuesday’s District One baseball action. CR North/CR South photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
By Jarrad Saffren
The District One baseball playoffs started Tuesday, after getting rained out on Monday. There were four District One Class 6A first round games and eight District One Class 5A first round games.
Seven Suburban One League teams played on Tuesday. Two 6A games featured two SOL teams.
Four SOL teams won on Tuesday. Three lost.
All five results and recaps are below.
District One Class 6A First Round
#13 Central Bucks East 7, #20 William Tennent 0
Central Bucks East played another complete game.
Pitchers Tyler Quinlan and Jared Thompson combined for the shutout. CB East scored five runs in the bottom of the second, another run in the third and another in the sixth. And the Patriots did not make an error. Quinlan allowed five hits and walked two, but pitched well with men on base.
“Tyler Quinlan did what he’s done all year. He’s going to let up a handful of hits but he pitches out of it,” CB East coach Kyle Dennis said. “He doesn’t get rattled. He’s very in control of himself and his emotions. It doesn’t matter what the situation is. He’s going to execute his game plan.”
Quinlan struck out six. Jared Thompson fanned one in a scoreless seventh. He walked a batter with one out but got the next two batters to ground out.
“Thompson does what he does. He comes in and gets guys out. He’s a soft-throwing lefty but he throws a lot of strikes. Everything he throws moves,” Dennis said. “He keeps guys off balance with his breaking ball, and the fastball can move. If you can get movement on a fastball, especially as a lefty, that really helps.”
CJ Gillmer rocked the big hit of the game for CB East, a three-run double to left in the second.
“CJ Gillmer continued his tear. His double with the bases loaded broke things open,” Dennis said. “If there’s one guy we want up with men in scoring position, it’s CJ. He’s been clutch all year.”
The top and bottom of CB East’s order produced. Leadoff man Cameron Komonchak scored two runs and drove in one. Jimmy Wiegers scored a run and knocked one in.
Sixth batter Jimmy Parrish scored a run. Seventh batter PJ Harris scored twice. Ninth batter Matt Ernst scored a run and drove one in.
“PJ Harris has been streaky. He did a nice job today. Matt Ernst did, too,” Dennis said. “When the back end produces, we’re gonna be successful. The top end has been consistent.”
CB East won a playoff game one year after missing the playoffs with many of the same players.
“The guys learned a lot. (Collin) Sheehan’s a four-year varsity guy. We have a couple other three-year varsity guys,” Dennis said. “A year of experience playing in the toughest conference goes a long way. Plus we had other guys step up that maybe we didn’t expect, like Matt Bound won the third base job.”
CB East will play No. seed 4 Pennsbury on Wednesday in the second round.
Cole Browne and CJ Goodz got on twice for William Tennent on Tuesday. The Panthers ended the 2017 season at 7-12.
William Tennent 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0
Central Bucks East 0-5-1-0-0-1-X 7
#17 Council Rock South 10, #16 Council Rock North 2
Council Rock South, like CB East, played a complete baseball game in an impressive first round win.
Starter Zach Mayer pitched five shutout innings.
“He doesn’t get you with his speed. He gets you with his off-speed pitches,” Council Rock North coach Matt Schram said. “Today he induced grounder after grounder.”
“Zach battles. He loves the big moments. He’s done this time and time again in his career,” South coach Ted Kirner said. “I’m so happy he got a playoff win.”
The Golden Hawks made just one error behind Mayer and his relievers. Offensively, they pounded nine hits, worked seven walks and scored in four of seven innings.
South took a 4-0 lead in the top of the second. Trey Obarowski scored on an overthrow down the left field line. Joe Shragher scored on a wild pitch. Then Josh Kim lined a two-run double to right-center.
“That was a momentum booster,” Kim said. “Coming into this game I knew they were either going to throw me away, and something soft like off-speed. So I was looking to go away, and stay back on it, because I knew they weren’t going to come inside on me.”
“Once they went up 4-0, with the way Mayer was pitching, we knew it would be hard to come back,” Schram said.
“To go ahead with a four-spot in the second inning really means a lot for the confidence of our pitcher,” Kirner said. “And for the confidence of the rest of our guys.”
South expanded its lead to 6-0 in the fourth. Bryan Rieser ripped the ball down the left field line, a single. Matt Smith walked. And Kim bunted them to third and second, respectively.
Then Evan Fisher bounced out to second, plating Rieser. Two batters later, Eric Jeronis slammed a single to left, scoring Smith.
South added three more runs in the fifth. Kim hit another RBI double. Fisher stroked an RBI single up the middle. And Shragher raced home on a passed ball.
North scored to make it 9-1 in the sixth. Joe Preciado blasted an RBI double to right-center. Lucas Feinstein sprinted home.
South answered with another run in the top of the sixth. Smith crushed an RBI double to right-center.
North’s Cavan Tully scored a run in the seventh. But it was on Kellen Pecuch’s double play groundout, which left two outs and nobody on, ending North’s hopes for a rally.
South reliever Matt O’Neill struck out the last batter swinging at a changeup away.
CR South will play top seed Downingtown West in a second round game on Wednesday. CR North’s season is over. The Indians finished 10-11. They lost six of their last seven games.
“We came out pretty hot. It seemed like everything was falling for us,” Schram said. “Then we got into a slump. With inexperienced players on the varsity level, slumps are hard to get out of. But we had a lot of young guys contribute this year. This year will help them for next year.”
Council Rock South 0-4-0-2-3-1-0 10
Council Rock North 0-0-0-0-0-1-1 2
#14 Methacton 1, #19 Bensalem 0
In the bottom of the seventh, Methacton loaded the bases. Bensalem pitcher Nicholas Dean got ahead 0-and-2. But then he missed his spot.
“He left it over a little,” Bensalem coach Harry Daut said. “The kid put a nice swing on it.”
Josh Dubost barreled the ball to center. Patrick O’Neil ran home with the winning run.
Despite the mistake, Dean pitched well. He tossed a scoreless sixth, fanning one.
“Nick had a great sixth,” Daut said.
Bensalem starter Stephen Aldrich pitched five shutout innings, fanning six. But he reached 97 pitches. So he had to come out after one batter in the sixth.
“Steve pitched another really good game. He mixed it up pretty good,” Daut said. “He threw fastballs and curves for strikes.”
Dean and Jon Revell both got on twice for Bensalem. Austin Shay had a hit.
Bensalem finished the 2017 season at 11-9.
“I’m happy with the season. The guys played with a lot of emotion and heart,” Daut said. “I haven’t had a pitching staff that did this well since I’ve been here at Bensalem. We have a lot of guys coming back and a lot to look forward to.”
Bensalem 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0
Methacton 0-0-0-0-0-0-1 1
District One Class 5A First Round
#10 Upper Moreland 3, #7 West Chester Henderson 0
Upper Moreland starter Brandon Kohn pitched 6.1 shutout innings, despite allowing four hits and walking four. He did strike out seven.
“Brandon did a great job keeping their batters off balance in the box. The top of their lineup was unable to take advantage at the plate,” Golden Bears coach Dan Heiland said. “When they did put the ball in play our defense was tremendous behind Brandon. He did a great job in key situations getting big outs and strikeouts.”
Tommy Jacob relieved Kohn in the seventh, and got the final two outs. He fanned one and earned the save.
“Both guys hit their spots. It’s not typical when a kid who comes in after your ace and throws as hard,” Heiland said. “He did a great job keeping the ball down, hitting spots.”
Upper Moreland scored all three of its runs in the fourth.
Jon Searles led off with a hit and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Kevin Walder bunted for a single to put runners on first and third. Then Dawson Ruggles hit the ball under the third baseman’s glove, plating Searles.
Walder ran to third on Jacob’s sacrifice fly to center. Then Sean Casey stroked an RBI single to make it 2-0. Matt Wister came up with guys on first and second and hit a single to right, scoring Ruggles.
Upper Moreland advanced to the quarterfinals to play No. 2 seed Holy Ghost Prep.
Upper Moreland 0-0-0-3-0-0-0 3
West Chester Henderson 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0
#2 Holy Ghost Prep 5, #15 Wissahickon 1
Holy Ghost Prep ended Wissahickon’s 2017 season. The Firebirds scored three runs in the first and never trailed.
Wissahickon – which managed just three hits – had a lot of trouble hitting Ghost flamethrower Peyton Birch, who lasted six innings. Alex Tappen’s solo home run in the sixth broke up Birch’s no-hitter bid.
The Trojans ended the season at 11-10.
Wissahickon 0-0-0-0-0-1-0 1
Holy Ghost Prep 3-0-0-1-0-1-0 5
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