Check out the recaps for SOL baseball teams in action Tuesday. Neshaminy/CR South photos courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f899671345 (NP/CBW photos courtesy of Cindy Manero/NP baseball)
SOL Patriot Division
Neshaminy 5, Council Rock South 0
Steven Martin and Evan Krippel combined for a three-hit shutout, as Neshaminy blanked CR South for its second Patriot Division win in as many games.
Martin went the first five innings, threw 73 pitches and scattered three hits and a walk, while striking out six.
Krippel pitched the last two innings, did not allow a hit or a walk, and struck out four.
“Steven Martin was very good in his first start of the season,” said coach Dan Toner. “Evan Krippel came in, once again, and closed out the game.
“We returned our entire pitching staff from last season and you can see the experience and confidence in each pitcher when they take the mound.”
Offensively, Neshaminy got to CR South ace Chase Ennis for three runs in the top of the second, and that’s all the team would need.
Stone Powell led off with a walk, followed by a single by Ryan Fox and an RBI single by Danny Nocito. After another walk, Chase Bonner roped a double to right field, scoring two to make it a 3-0 game.
Neshaminy added two insurance runs in the sixth, as Fox led off with a triple and then scored on a Nocito sac fly. An additional run scored on a wild pitch.
“Today was another big win for us against a good team with talented pitching,” Toner said. “We have had a high level of focus on our approach at the plate and begin able to execute in specific situations.
“That level of focus paid off for us today. We were able to go out and hit our runs in early and follow it up with manufacturing two more crucial runs late in the game.
“The back end of our order carried us on offense today. Ryan Fox, Dan Nocito, Jake Plebani and Chase Bonner did a fantastic job coming through in those big situations.”
Neshaminy (2-0, 2-0 SOL) is off until a April 3 game against Harry S. Truman.
CR South (2-1, 1-1 SOL) has a nonleague game scheduled Wednesday against Holy Ghost Prep.
Neshaminy 030 002 0 – 5 6 1
CR South 000 000 0 – 0 3 0
Pennsbury 14, Harry S Truman 4 (5 innings)
Since coming back from Myrtle Beach, Pennsbury has struggled early, allowing three runs in the first inning last week against Neshaminy and two in the first Tuesday against Harry S. Truman.
Both times, however, the Falcons responded with big bottom of the firsts.
While they lost to Neshaminy, coach Joe Pesci’s squad bounced back in a big way against Truman, scoring five times in the first on the way to a five-inning, mercy-rule shortened 14-4 win.
“It was big, because we played well in Myrtle Beach,” Pesci said. “We had two scrimmages and two games down there, and scored 7, 7, 9, and 5 runs. Against Neshaminy, we had 14 strikeouts, and we didn’t feel like we competed.
“Today, obviously, we were playing Truman, and we always have interesting games with them. We came out swinging, scored five in the first inning and that was a huge relief. It was nice to see the kids put the bat on the ball.”
Truman started with a single and a walk in the first inning, and then with one out, Nick Gilson roped a two-run single to right field.
Pennsbury starter Connor McCluskey avoided any further damage by striking out the final two batters, and then the offense took over in the bottom half of the inning.
Dylan Hirsh made it a 2-1 game with a RBI double, and he came around to score on an Eric David RBI single. Evan Hawkes followed with a two-run double to put the Falcons up 4-2, and Charlie Cordisco rounded out the inning with an RBI double.
After the Tigers cut the lead to 5-4 in the third, Pennsbury put the game away with a six-run fourth, including a huge two-run home run by Jordan Czerniak.
Czerniak went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Ryan Webber was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Hirsh was 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored and three RBs. Hawkes was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs.
“We had a bunch of extra base hits,” Pesci said. “And we had key hits in big situations.”
Pennsbury (3-1, 1-1 SOL) is off until April 3 when it plays at Bensalem.
Truman (0-3, 0-2 SOL) hosts CR South on Monday.
Harry S. Truman 202 00 – 4 4 2
Pennsbury 500 63 – 14 16 0
SOL Colonial Division
North Penn 2, Central Bucks West 0
After the first inning, offense was tough to come by for both teams Tuesday afternoon, but in the end, it was North Penn’s two runs in the first that proved plenty for ace lefty Trevor Lugara, who threw his second league shutout in as many games as the Knights improved to 4-0 overall with the win.
“It was a day for the baseball purists, for sure,” said NP coach Kevin Manero. “A total of two (walks) combined and zero errors. The clean baseball is what we want more than anything.”
Lugara allowed just one hit and one walk over six innings pitched, with seven strikeouts, throwing just 78 pitches.
Nick Palovich picked up the save with the clean slate in the seventh to finish off the visiting Bucks.
“Trevor was outstanding today, even without his best stuff,” Manero said. “We ended a 22 1/3 innings streak without issuing a base on balls, which is pretty awesome.
“Right now, with the way the schedule has been spread out, it’s a lot of No. 1s vs. No. 1s, so playing clean baseball and grounding out tough at-bats is the key, and I think we’ve been pretty good in those areas.”
The Knights started quickly in the bottom of the first, as Kevin Brace and Henry Wetzel each singled, Ben Farley doubled to right to drive in a run, and then a sac fly by Chase Jones scored Wetzel and made it a 2-0 game.
“We came out early and had some very good two-strike swings to capitalize for a couple of early runs,” Manero said. “Credit to (CB West’s Sam) Greer. I think
he got better as the game went on.
“We competed well in the box, we just didn’t have our best swings today after the first inning.”
Greer settled down and allowed just those two runs over 4 1/3 innings pitched. Jacob Greer came in and didn’t allow a run over the last 1 2/3 innings.
“Lugara did his thing today,” said CB West coach Brian Weaver. “When his control is on, he’s one of the toughest guys to hit in District One.
“I was really proud of Sam and Jacob today. After those first three North Penn batters, there were only three hits the rest of the game for both sides combined. But those guys did the damage when they needed to. We had two strikes on Brace and Wetzel, and they battled through to get singles. Now, Farley’s double does damage.
“After those three, Sam dialed in and pitched a heck of a game. It was unlucky we couldn’t string a few good at-bats together to get him some support. He and Jacob deserved a better result for the game they threw.”
North Penn (4-0, 2-0 SOL) is now off until an April 5 date at CB South.
CB West (1-2, 0-2 SOL) next plays April 3 Wednesday against CB South.
CB West 000 000 0 – 0 2 0
North Penn 200 000 x – 2 4 0
Central Bucks East 2, Central Bucks South 0
Two inter-district rivals up and two down for CB East’s Sam Bliss.
Tuesday, Bliss tossed a complete-game, three-hit shutout, striking out seven and not walking a batter, on the way to a 82-pitch masterpiece.
“It was a really, really well-pitched game on both sides,” said Patriots coach Kyle Dennis. “Sammy pitched a complete game, and these are the games last year that we’d kind of give away late. Something bad would happen and we wound up losing a ballgame. Today, he pitched really well, and he did that all last year. He has two wins so far this year, and he didn’t have two last year.”
CB South sophomore Luke Hillegass matched Bliss zero for zero through four innings. He allowed just two earned runs on six hits and one walk, while striking out nine over six innings.
“He’s really good,” Dennis said. “He really kept us off balance today. We didn’t get a lot going until the fifth inning.”
Reece Moody and Nolan Behm had two hits each for the Patriots, and both had big hits in their team’s run-scoring fifth inning, but that rally started with 9-hole hitter Matt Sharkey getting hit by a pitch. Moody and Behm followed with singles, the latter driving in Sharkey.
In the sixth, Chase Fulford reached on a two-out single and came around to score after Anthony Niro’s bloop single.
East improved to 3-2 with the win, including 2-0 in SOL play heading into the Easter break.
“This conference is brutal,” Dennis said. “Any time you can sneak out a win is a good thing. We had two rivalry games at the beginning of the season, and that can be tough on emotions, but, again, our guys have the experience, and we have a couple new guys that are producing too. You take any win you can get.”
The Patriots next play April 3 at Pennridge.
CB South (2-1, 1-1 SOL) has a scheduled nonleague home games against Ridley on Wednesday.
CB South 000 000 0 – 0 3 3
CB East 000 011 x – 2 6 0
Pennridge 3, Souderton 2
Solid pitching and a two-run top of the sixth inning enabled Pennridge to go on the road and eke out a close one against rival Souderton on Tuesday.
Connor Murray started for the Rams and allowed just one earned run over four innings. He scattered two hits and two walks and struck out five.
Connor Smith came out of the bullpen and allowed just one run (unearned) over two innings, and Ryder Olson pitched around two walks to shut the door and pick up the save.
“Our trio of pitchers did a good job of competing and working through some traffic on the bases,” said Rams coach Danny Long. “They made big pitches in crunch time.”
Offensively, Pennridge started strong with a run in the first, only to see Souderton score a run in the bottom of the second and another in the fifth to go up 2-1.
Andrew Rendler singled to lead off the top of the sixth for the Rams, followed by a walk to Tommy Ginnett. An error on a ground ball scored one run and an RBI groundout by Joey Gregoire put the team in front 3-2.
“In the SOL, the little things matter and are going to show up in big spots in games. Credit to Will Munley for coming off the bench due to injury and delivering a big sacrifice bunt late in the game.
“It takes more than the nine players on the field to win games. It was great to get a highly competitive league win before the holiday.”
Connor Klock and Tyler Derry had the RBIs for Souderton.
Pennridge (2-1, 1-1 SOL) next plays April 3 at home against CB East.
Souderton (1-2, 0-2 SOL) looks for its first league win that day against rival North Penn.
Pennridge 100 002 0 – 3 5 2
Souderton 010 010 0 – 2 3 2
SOL Liberty Division
Upper Dublin 3, Wissahickon 1
An early run didn’t deter Upper Dublin starter Austin Dahl, who allowed an unearned run in the top of the first and then dominated the rest of the way, allowing just three hits and one walk, while striking out 15 Wissahickon hitters, leading the Flying Cardinals to the 3-1 win against their Liberty Division rivals.
Only the pitch count kept Dahl away from the complete-game, as he hit 103 pitches with two outs in the seventh. Evan Sanders picked up a strikeout of his own to end the game.
“Austin did a great job,” said coach Ed Wall. “The defense held up behind him. We turned a double play. Even though there weren’t many opportunities with balls in the play, having Austin strike out 15 was pretty impressive.
“Especially going up against a team like Wissahickon. They’re coming in undefeated and have had a really good preseason. Andy (Noga) does a great job getting their guys ready to go. I was really happy to see Austin back up the performance that he had against Quakertown.”
UD didn’t have a huge offensive game itself, but starting with a two-run third inning, it took advantage of the few chances it had against Wissahickon’s Gavin Malloy.
The third started with a pair of outs, but Nate Cairnes and Eric Berman then singled, Dahl walked to load the bases and Bobby Keck singled to center field to drive in two runs and put the Cardinals in front 2-1.
A fielder’s choice grounder by Oliver Gill scored UD’s third run in the fourth.
“Bobby Keck had a huge two-out hit that plated two runs and was pretty important,” Wall said. “That put us ahead. It scored (Nate) Cairnes, who had two hits on the day, and (Eric) Berman.”
Upper Dublin (3-1, 2-0 SOL) is now off until an April 3 game at Abington.
Wissahickon (4-1, 1-1 SOL) has a night game at Quakertown on that same day.
Wissahickon 100 000 0 – 1 3 1
Upper Dublin 002 100 x – 3 4 1
Hatboro-Horsham 10, Abington 0 (5 innings)
After dropping its league opener to Wissahickon last week, Hatboro-Horsham rebounded with a convincing 10-0 win over Abington Tuesday, the first varsity head coaching win for longtime assistant and JV coach Bill deBoer.
The Hatters set the tone early in this one, with a five-spot in the bottom of the second and they never let up, finishing the Ghosts off in five innings.
Jamie O’Neill tripled in the first inning for H-H and was left stranded on the basepaths, but the team wasn’t about to let that happen going forward. In the second, after an error and a hit-batter, Seamus Hellings singled to load the bases. Chase Canney then doubled down the line to put his team in front 2-0. O’Neill drove in a run with a fielder’s choice and then Jaxson Bumpus had a two-run single.
Canney finished the game 1-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBIs.
O’Neill was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. He also picked up the win on the mound, with four shutout innings, allowing only two hits and three walks, while striking out four. Stephen Plefka struck out the side in the fifth to put the game away.
“Jamie pitched great today,” deBoer said. “Had multiple pitches consistently in the zone on both sides of the plate, Canney had a big double to get us going in the second, and the rest of the guys continued to have good at bats and enough of them fell in.
“The game was pretty solid defensively. The teams split the two errors made in the game. It was nice to see our guys put a strong game together today. “
H-H (1-1, 1-1 SOL) has a nonleague home game scheduled Wednesday against Bristol.
Abington (0-2, 0-2 SOL) hosts Upper Dublin on April 3.
Abington 000 00 – 0 2 2
H-H 052 03 – 10 6 0
SOL Freedom Division
William Tennent 3, Upper Moreland 1
The duo of Jackson Archibald and Mike Woehr pitched Tennent to its first division win, as they limited host Upper Moreland to just one run on the way to the 3-1 victory.
Starter Archibald went five innings, allowing just one earned run, scattering five hits and striking out seven to pick up the win.
Woehr closed out the game with two shutout innings of relief.
“Yes, it was a really good win heading into the break,” said Panthers coach Lucas Denzi. “As a younger team, it’s nice to see all the hard work paying off these last two weeks.
“We got another tremendous pitching performance from Jackson and Mike. Both worked out of difficult situations and the defense supported them all the way.”
Neither team had a ton of luck plating runs, as three of the four scored came in the third inning.
Tennent got things started with two in the top of the third. Aiden Wilkowski led off with a single and came around to score on an error. A two-out single by Chase Solkoff, back-to-back walks and then an RBI single by Woehr put the Panthers in front 2-0.
Upper Moreland countered with a run in the bottom half of the inning, as Dylan Wood led off with a single and scored on a RBI double to center by Nate Kelly.
Tennent also managed an insurance run on an error in the top of the sixth.
“Offensively, we are starting to find our way,” Denzi said. “A significant focus the last two weeks has been increasing our quality at bats. Today, the boys did just that as they worked some counts and put the ball in play when it counted.”
Wilkowski went 2-for-2 on the day for the Panthers.
Jackson Townsend went 2-for-4 with a double for Upper Moreland.
William Tennent (2-2, 1-1 SOL) is off until Wednesday, April 3 when it hosts Cheltenham.
UM (1-3, 1-1 SOL) hosts Springfield on April 3.
Tennent 002 001 0 – 3 6 2
UM 001 000 0 – 1 7 3
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