Jarrad Saffren recaps all of Wednesday’s SOL baseball action. CB West/Pennsbury photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson, and Souderton/PW photos provided by Kim Supko. Check back for action galleries of both games…CLICK HERE to go directly to the BASEBALL GALLERY.
By Jarrad Saffren
Eleven Suburban One League baseball teams played non-league games Wednesday. Only one—Upper Moreland—played a non-SOL team, Lower Merion. Five of the non-league games featured two SOL teams.
Wednesday’s results and recaps are below.
Non-League
Abington 4, Central Bucks East 3
Abington scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to earn the walk-off win. Nick McClay led off the inning with a walk. Paul Poppert followed with a single to short.
After a groundout that moved the runners up, Kenny Adkins hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring McClay, tying the game. Then Joseph DiMaria lined a single to left, plating Poppert, the winning run.
DiMaria finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
“(This is) huge,” Abington coach Jon Morrissette said. “Our middle of the order has been struggling. They came up big.”
JP Nolan kept the Ghosts in the game, allowing three runs in seven innings. He gave up just four hits.
“JP was lights out all day. He threw a lot of great curveballs and kept pounding the zone,” Morrissette said. “He and Paul Poppert have been very consistent. They are sharing the ace role.”
Kyle Feasby and PJ Harris each drove in a run for the Patriots. CJ Gillmer and Dillon Bergmann both scored a run for CB East. Starter Zach Millar allowed one run in five innings.
Abington (2-5, 1-3 SOL) plays Council Rock North Tuesday at 3:30. CB East (1-2, 0-2 SOL) hosts North Penn Thursday at 3:45.
Central Bucks East 0-0-0-1-1-0-1 3
Abington 0-0-0-1-0-1-2 4
Central Bucks West 5, Pennsbury 3
Three CB West pitchers—starter Dom Dicicco, Chris Heller and Steven Gebre—combined to allow just one earned run. Dicicco gave up the earned run, but also pitched the most innings, four. Heller tossed two innings and allowed two unearned runs. Gebre did not allow a run in one inning of work.
“It all starts with pitching. It’s so early in the season, I think every game’s an opportunity for someone to step up and earn those league innings,” Bucks’ coach Brad Tracy said. “All three did. All were around the plate and let our defense do our job. That’s what we are looking for from our pitchers.”
CB West scored two runs in the second and three in the fifth, taking a 5-1 lead into the late innings. In the fifth, Daniel Clayton and Frank Amsler bunted for singles. Then Matt Cooper laced a single to center through a drawn-in infield, scoring both.
“One of our strengths is speed. We took advantage of that today,” Tracy said. “With the bunt hits, and running the bases aggressively all game.”
Clayton, West’s leadoff man, got on three times and scored that run.
“Daniel’s a perfect leadoff man,” Tracy said. “He puts pressure on the other team when he puts the ball on the ground and he sees a lot of pitches.”
Gebre also scored a run. Matt Varallo had a hit and a run for the Bucks.
Pennsbury’s Justin Massielo had two hits and a run. Ryan McCarty had two hits and an RBI. Josh Tesarck had a hit, a run and an RBI. Justin Ward knocked in a run. Bryan Nagy pitched 2.1 scoreless innings for the Falcons.
CB West (2-2, 1-1 SOL) hosts CB East Tuesday at 3:45. Pennsbury (4-2, 2-0 SOL) plays Neshaminy Tuesday at 3:30.
Central Bucks West 0-2-0-0-3-0-0 5
Pennsbury 0-0-1-0-0-2-0 3
Souderton 6, Plymouth Whitemarsh 2
Three of four Souderton pitchers did not allow a run. Starter Thylar Summarell allowed no runs and one hit in three innings. Relievers Aaron Groller and David Gulibon combined to pitch three shutout innings.
“It was a good day. Summarell hasn’t thrown for a while. He did well. Groller came up from JV. He’s been doing well down there. And he did well, too,” Indians’ coach Michael Childs said. “Gulibon has been injured this year. He said he was ready to try it, so we gave him an inning.”
Summarell is already a league game pitcher for Souderton. Groller and Gulibon may have earned league innings, too, on Wednesday.
“Groller will stick around. We’ll see what he can do,” Childs said. “Gulibon will, too. It doesn’t hurt to have another lefty. You can’t have enough lefties.”
Souderton scored a run in the first, another in the third and four in the sixth, taking a 6-0 lead into
the seventh. Luke Barnum had another big game, with two hits, a run and an RBI.
“Luke Barnum has been great. He’s calm, cool, collected in the box. Nothing fazes him,” Childs said. “He’s averaging two hits a game. He’s also being a leader now. Kids respect him. If kids get confident like him, we’ll be fine.”
Wednesday was definitely a confidence booster for Souderton players not named Luke Barnum. Tim Robinson had a hit, a run and an RBI. Jack Despain had a hit and a run. Justin Kullman stroked a hit and an RBI. Brendan Kreag had a hit and a run. Dan Knechel knocked a hit and an RBI. Kyle Meiler ripped two hits and scored a run.
Robinson, Kullman, Kreag, Knechel and Meiler did not start the game.
“Everybody played. We wanted to get guys action because it was a non-league game,” Childs said. “We also worked on things. We tried a suicide squeeze, which was effective for the first time in a game situation.”
Steve Longo had two hits and an RBI for Plymouth Whitemarsh. Luca Amoroso and Dillon Famous both scored a run. John Pecharo did not allow a run in 1.2 innings.
Souderton (2-4, 0-1 SOL) plays Pennridge Tuesday at 3:45. PW (2-5, 1-3 SOL) battles Upper Dublin Tuesday at 3:45.
Souderton 1-0-1-0-0-4-0 6
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-0-0-0-0-0-2 2
Harry S. Truman 3, Pennridge 0
Harry S. Truman upset Pennridge, earning its first win of 2017. Pitchers Mike White and Jackson Sutton combined for the shutout. White started and got through four innings. Sutton tossed the last three.
They allowed five hits between them.
“They were working ahead of hitters, letting them put it in play. White relies on contact. I thought he was a good matchup for a team like Pennridge that hits well. He had guys out in front. Soft outs, curves, changeups, guys on their front foot,” Monaghan said. “Jackson has more speed, so he was a good change of pace. He also did a good job getting ahead, and he induced ground balls when he got in jams.”
Truman scored one run in the third and two in the fifth. Cameron Culver, Mike McCormick and Brandon Wolf drove in the runs. Wolf, Chris Haer and Evan Profy scored the runs. Wayne Pekarski stroked two hits for Truman.
Joe Robinson knocked two hits for Pennridge. Rams’ starter Jon Nase allowed one run in four innings. Jack Goddess surrendered no runs in two innings.
Truman (1-4, 0-3 SOL) hosts Bensalem Tuesday at 3:45. Pennridge (4-2, 2-0 SOL) plays Southern Lehigh Thursday at four.
Harry S. Truman 0-0-1-0-2-0-0 3
Pennridge 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0
Neshaminy 9, Hatboro-Horsham 6
Neshaminy scored six runs in the last three innings, overcoming a 6-3 deficit. Anthony Rapposelli drove in the winning run in the top of the sixth, flying out to center, scoring Owen Foraker. Rapposelli had two RBIs, two runs and a hit Wednesday.
Evan Matthews and Ed Parry also drove in two runs for Neshaminy. Eric Gale and Ben Raab knocked in the other two runs, one each. Gale’s two-run home run put Neshaminy up 9-6. Rapposelli, Foraker and Brian Nicolas all scored two runs for Neshaminy.
Neshaminy reliever Kyle Rovny allowed no runs in three innings.
“We got everybody in the game today, which was good. Ben Raab had a good game. And Gale’s home run sealed the deal,” Neshaminy coach Dan Toner said. “It was the first time we overcame a deficit. It’s good for guys to be in that spot. They answered how they needed to. It’s good for them to see they can come back at any point in the game.”
Toner was pleased with his team’s offensive performance. But he said Neshaminy can still improve.
“The offense is producing but we have so much more impact and pop in our bats,” the Redskins’ coach said. “We need better situational hitting, instead of overswinging. We have to get our timing down. We’ve faced a lot of pitchers with different speeds this year.”
Eddie Schultz, Shaun Thomas, Colin Kennedy, Alex Crim, Jake Bianchini and Kevin Waeltz all had one RBI for Hatboro-Horsham.
Neshaminy (5-1, 3-0 SOL) plays Pennsbury Tuesday at 3:45. Hatboro-Horsham (2-3, 2-2 SOL) takes on Methacton Thursday at 11 a.m.
Neshaminy 0-0-3-0-3-1-2 9
Hatboro-Horsham 1-0-1-4-0-0-0 6
Upper Moreland 12, Lower Merion 0 (5 innings)
Nick Pagano had a game for Upper Moreland. As a pitcher, he allowed no runs and no hits in five innings. As a hitter, he had two singles and two RBIs.
Ryan Lowry stroked three singles for Upper Moreland. Randy Meehl hit two. Dawson Ruggles cranked a single and a triple.
The Golden Bears scored five runs in the second and seven in the third. They won by the 10-run rule.
Upper Moreland (5-0, 3-0 SOL) plays Downingtown West Thursday at 3:45.
Lower Merion 0-0-0-0-0 0
Upper Moreland 0-5-7-0-X 12
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