Check out the recaps for SOL baseball teams in action Wednesday. PW/Wissahickon photos provided by Keith Clemens Photography. Pennsbury/CR North photos courtesy of John Gleeson, and CB East/North Penn photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for galleries of all three games. All SOS photo galleries for BASEBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
SOL Liberty Division
Hatboro-Horsham 7, Upper Dublin 3
Upper Dublin started quickly and built a 3-0 lead. Hatboro-Horsham did its damage late, with seven runs over the last two innings to pull this SOL Liberty game out in the seventh inning.
“It was two really good high school baseball teams going at each other,” said H-H coach Pete Moore. “Upper Dublin won the first five innings, and we won the last two. Fortunately, the last two innings were really good innings for us, and we ended up winning the ballgame.”
The Hatters’ rally came against one of the best pitchers in the SOL, Tristan Cairnes, who was dominant for five innings.
“He dominated the first five innings, there’s no way around it,” Moore said. “The great thing about baseball at the high school level, it’s a seven-inning game. They were clearly a better team than us for the first five innings, but the last two innings we played extremely well. We played up to what we should be doing. That was enough to get the win today. I was proud of the guys.
“It’s fun coaching this group of kids because I never feel like we’re out of a game. We were down 3-0 to one of the best pitchers in the league, and I still had a lot of confidence that things would go our way in the end. There was no panic in our guys. We had an inning where we had bases loaded, nobody out early in the game, and we got no runs out of it. I said to our guys,’ It’s okay, we’ve got to learn from this.’
“We were too excited. Our guys are an emotional group of guys. They love playing the game of baseball. I told them – we’ve got to remember to breathe, we’ve got to simplify things, think about what our job is in that exact situation and do what’s best for the team in that situation.
“We ended up with the same situation later in the game, the same guys coming up. It was Logan Fischer that came up with the bases loaded both times, and the second time up, he just relaxed, he hit the ball up the middle of the field and scored us a run that got us to within one run. The next guy up did his job did his job, and it just snowballed. I was proud of the guys for adjusting in the middle of the game and learning and becoming better.”
Upper Dublin started the scoring with a run in the second, as Ethan Madnick led off the inning with a triple, and he later came across the plate on a fielder’s choice groundout by Leo Soriano. Two innings later, the Flying Cardinals took advantage of a pair of errors to plate two more runs and go up 3-0.
H-H pitcher Trey Porter settled down from there, going 6 2/3 innings and giving his team a chance to come back at the plate.
“Trey Porter threw zero pitches for us last year,” Moore said. “Ryan Toporowski, who closed the game out, had thrown zero pitches on a 60/90 field before last week. Those are the two guys that did it for us today. They’re both competitors.
“Trey’s dad is my best friend, so I’ve known Trey since he was born. The thing that I know about Trey is that he hates losing or admitting somebody is better than him, so when he steps on the mound, he’s coming at you to give his best all the time.
“This year we had Cole Fisher coming back, Steven Plefka and Logan Fischer coming back from last year’s staff, and that was it. We asked a couple of other competitors that are athletes to step up and try to pitch for us, and they really have stepped up. Ryan and Trey had really stepped up for us and given us a chance to do something special.”
Fisher started the H-H sixth inning with a double, and Will Bruner followed with an RBI double to put the Hatters on the board. Fischer scored one with a fielder’s choice ground and then Noah Schlosser tied the game with a sac fly to left to score Nick Katherine.
Tied at 3, H-H had five straight one-out singles, with Bruner, Katherine and Toporowski all picking up RBIs, and giving their team the lead.
Fisher and Bruner had two hits each, with Bruner finishing with three RBIs. H-H (6-2, 5-0 SOL) is back at it Monday at rival Upper Moreland.
Upper Dublin (4-3, 4-2 SOL) plays a nonleague game Thursday against CB West.
Hatboro-Horsham 000 003 4 – 7 10 3
Upper Dublin 010 200 0 – 3 4 3
Plymouth Whitemarsh 9, Wissahickon 1
After three straight division losses, Plymouth Whitemarsh bounced back in a big way Wednesday, with a nine-run, nine-hit effort in a 9-1 rout of Wissahickon on the road.
“We had a few tough losses to start conference play, so it was nice to be able to regroup and do a lot of things right today,” said Colonials coach Chris Manero.
Alex Wilkie-Viscio helped right the ship for PW, going the distance, allowing one run on six hits, didn’t walk a batter, struck out four and threw just 74 pitches.
“I can’t say enough about the command that Alex Wilkie-Viscio showed on the mound today,” Manero said. “He mixed his pitches and worked all over the strike zone. Our starting pitchers have done their jobs well thus far, and Alex’s performance today was further proof of the importance of getting good pitching.”
Offensively, PW scored four runs in the second inning and never looked back. It added one in the fourth and four more in the fifth to put the game away.
Jesse Jaconski, Wilkie-Viscio and Luke Garland had two RBIs each, while Gartland and Gavin Rooks went 2-for-4. Luke Caucci had a double.
With the win, PW is now 4-3 overall and 1-3 in SOL Liberty play. It hosts Cheltenham on Monday.
“We’ve been working to figure some things out defensively, and today a lot of that came together with very steady play behind Alex’s work on the mound,” Manero said.
Wissahickon (1-4, 1-3 SOL) plays at William Tennent Monday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 040 140 0 – 9 9 1
Wissahickon 001 000 0 – 1 6 5
Quakertown 9, Abington 5
A seven-run sixth inning wiped away a tough start and carried Quakertown to the come-from-behind win over the visiting Galloping Ghosts on Wednesday.
Abington started quickly, with runs in the first, second and third innings to go up 3-0, and then two more in the fourth to make it a 5-2 game. They took advantage of hit batters, walks and errors in each frame. Anthony Ehly had a RBI single in the first and Worek had an RBI single in the third.
Quakertown started the sixth inning with a home run to center field by Ethan Beil. Later, with two outs Cooper Natisin hit a two-run homer to tie the game at 5.
“That got us to 5-3, but we still had to cover a couple more,” Quakertown coach Jon Pallone said about Beil’s homer. “We got a runner on with two outs, and we were still down two runs. Cooper Natisin, who was pitching, hits one out. It was a real nice swing. Both home runs were real nice swings. He puts it out, ties the game and helps himself. He was actually batting ninth today. It’s the top of the order right after, and we got four more hits in a row.”
Daniel Schwalm then singled, stole second and scored on a Ty Everitt RBI single. Peyton Kochel doubled home two runs and then scored on a passed ball to make it 9-5.
Kochel finished with three RBIs. Schwalm went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Natisin came out of the bullpen to pitch five innings, allowing just one earned run to pick up the win. Schwalm recorded the final out to finish off the game.
It was a big win for Quakertown, which was coming off back-to-back losses, including Tuesday night’s nonleague game against CB West at FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading.
“I was proud that all of our guys got to school,” Pallone said. “We got to the game, and I know Abington had a tough week too. They had three league games, and they were 0-2 also.
“Abington is a good team. Bill Degen has done a great job, and we’ve always had tight games with them. I said to the guys before the game, ‘This is going to be tough today. It’s our third game in a row, but it’s their third game too. The only difference is we got back a little later than they did. We have to come out and play,’ and we didn’t the first couple of innings. It was real frustrating.
“This week has been kind of frustrating. As a team, we’re actually making them all read Moneyball, and we’re discussing it a couple chapters at a time throughout the week. We were talking about approach to the plate, having good at-bats, working counts, and we’re starting to do that stuff. It just wasn’t paying off. We weren’t getting the big hits, we weren’t scoring runs. We didn’t score any runs against Hatboro, and CB West last night we didn’t do as much as we needed to do, and it was getting real frustrating.
“In the back of my head, I’m thinking, the (Oakland) As started off rough that year too, and then all of a sudden everything went. I’m, like, at some point, this has got to click. There’s nothing for me to really get too upset about because they’re doing what we’re asking them to do, and then boom – five hits in a row.”
Matt Worek had two of Abington’s three hits. Luke Sydlowski did not allow an earned run in 4 ⅔ innings on the mound.
Quakertown (2-3, 2-1 SOL) hosts New Hope-Solebury in a cross-over game on Monday. Abington (2-4, 1-4 SOL) plays at Lower Moreland on Tuesday.
Abington 111 200 0 – 5 3 1
Quakertown 002 007 – 9 7 2
SOL Freedom Division
Springfield Twp 5, Cheltenham 0
Sophomore Brett Smith went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead the Spartans to the shutout win.
Also for Springfield, Dan Matthews was 2-for-4, while Tim Saiber scored a pair of runs. Ben Cooney also drove in a run.
Quadire Eberthardt pitched the first four innings and picked up the win, allowing one hit and two walks, while striking out five. Saiber pitched the final three innings, allowing just one hit and striking out five.
Springfield (1-3, 1-2 SOL) is back at it Thursday at Bensalem. Cheltenham (2-2, 0-2 SOL) plays at Plymouth Whitemarsh on Monday.
Springfield 000 000 5 – 5
Cheltenham 000 000 0 – 0
SOL Patriot Division
Bensalem 2, Neshaminy 1
Dan McShane and Kyle Rubin held up strong for Bensalem, which went on the road to knock off Neshaminy in a key Patriot Division win on Wednesday.
“It was a team effort,” said Owls first-year coach Kurt Sowa. “Everyone was locked in and focused for all seven innings today.”
McShane earned the start, and he went 3 2/3 innings, threw 63 pitches and allowed just two hits and one run (unearned).
Rubin came on in the fourth, recorded the final out, and then shut down Neshaminy the rest of the way, allowing just one hit and one walk, with seven strikeouts.
“We had great pitching by Dan McShane and Kyle Rubin,” Sowa said. “Dan gave us a great 3.2 innings and Kyle came in and closed the door.”
Offensively, the Owls didn’t have a ton of success against Neshaminy pitching, either. Liam DelGuerico started the game, giving way to Evan Krippel in the second and Krippel ended up posting 5 2/3 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and two walks, while striking out six.
In the Bensalem second, Evan Crowell started the rally with a one-out single, Ryan Brown walked, and Jon Ridge hit an RBI single to score Crowell. Brown came into score on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
“Jon Ridge came up with a big RBI hit for the team,” Sowa said. “It was great to see that from him.”
Neshaminy came right back, starting with a Powell single, then an error, and after two outs, back-to-back walks to Hardnock and Anrhein plated a run to make it 2-1. McShane got out of the jam with a flyout to shortstop.
Rubin struck out six, allowing only a pair of seventh inning baserunners before closing out the game for the save.
Bensalem (4-3, 3-2 SOL) has a nonleague home game against Springfield Township on Thursday. Neshaminy (2-2, 2-2 SOL) hosts Holy Ghost Prep in a nonleague game Saturday.
Bensalem 020 000 0 – 2 5 1
Neshaminy 010 000 0 – 1 3 0
Pennsbury 1, Council Rock North 0
Justin Mitrovich capped off a huge week for Pennsbury – and the Falcons’ pitchers – with a masterpiece against CR North ace Colin Williams.
“He had 13 strikeouts, and the only hit was kind of like a weak ground ball to third,” said Pennsbury coach Joe Pesci. “My kid made a great play, it was literally bang-bang.
“In my opinion, (Mitrovich and Williams) are the two best pitchers in the league. Our league is loaded with great pitching. Those two guys battled it out. Williams was incredible too.”
Mitrovich threw 100 pitches on the day, walking just two and that one infield hit with two outs in the fourth inning.
CR North’s Williams scattered three hits and five walks, striking out 10 in 5 2/3 innings on the mound.
The one run came with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, as Justin Schaffer reached on a two-out walk and then went to second on a wild pitch. Charlie Evans followed with an infield single, and Schaffer came around to score on an error.
Pennsbury and CR North are now tied in the loss column atop the Patriot Division standings.
“The kids are excited, they’re intense,” Pesci said. “We knew going in, it was the last game of the first round of the league. We won’t see (CR North) until May 17, the last game of the year. They were 5-0 coming in, and they had just beaten Neshaminy, who beat us.”
Pennsbury (7-1, 4-1 SOL) next plays Tuesday at home against North Penn. CR North (7-1, 5-1 SOL) plays at Souderton on Monday.
CR North 000 000 0 – 0 1 1
Pennsbury 000 010 x – 1 3 2
Harry S. Truman 6, Council Rock South 5
It wasn’t easy, but nothing has been easy for Truman.
After surrendering a 5-0 lead in the top of the seventh, the Tigers bounced back with the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh to win walk-off style on an Andrew Armstrong single to right field.
“Mike Burns had a really good at-bat and walked,” said Truman coach Tim Monaghan. “He stole second and advanced to third as the ball got away. They decided to walk (George) Cairns and (James) Baker, bringing up Andrew Armstrong. He hit a two-strike outside fastball down the right field line. The right fielder made an intelligent play to see if it was fair or foul. It dropped inside the line, but it was deep enough to score the run if he caught it, so it was a smart play.”
Cairnes went 3-for-3 to lead the Truman offense, while James Baker was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Baker also was on the mound, and he had a shutout through six. But in the seventh, the wheels fell
Noah Lackman had a double and two RBIs for CR South. Daniel Albright and Kyle Bruck also had doubles.
Truman (2-4, 1-3 SOL) next plays Monday at Pennridge. CR South (1-5, 0-5 SOL) is off until April 25 when it is at CB West.
CR South 000 000 5 – 5 6 5
Truman 000 104 1 – 6 6 0
SOL Colonial Division
Central Bucks East 4, North Penn 2
CB East needed this one … badly.
After back-to-back league losses to start the season, the Patriots hosted North Penn on Wednesday and got solid pitching from senior Aidan Weaver and timely hitting for the close Colonial Division victory.
“It was nice to get on the winning side of this one,” said East coach Kyle Dennis. “It was just a great high school baseball game. Two great pitchers getting after each other. It was real competitive with a lot of energy, a lot of juice.”
Weaver made his first league start, allowing just one hit, without a walk, two runs (unearned), while striking out eight. Brett Young picked up the win in relief with four shut-out innings, allowing just two hits and a walk.
“We’ve been lucky with the weather,” Dennis said. “(Weaver) has had some scheduled starts, but the weather hasn’t worked out. We were supposed to play CR South last week and were washed out a couple of times. So, it was his first league start.”
After Weaver struck out the side in the top of the first, East started out the bottom of the first with a pair of outs. Joey Wilga then walked and scored on a Max McGrady double.
The Patriots went up 3-0 in the second – after Weaver again struck out the side in the top of the inning – and started with a Young double. After a pair of strikeouts, sophomore Chase Harlan hit a two-run home run to center field. Harlan had an RBI sac fly in the sixth as well.
“The story of this game was runs with two outs,” Dennis said. “We scored all of our runs with two outs.
North Penn had just three hits, with Jack Picozzi driving in a run with an RBI double in the third.
Knights starter Dylan Brown went four innings and allowed three runs, finishing with eight strikeouts before giving way to Christian Oh, who pitched two shutout innings.
“I don’t think more than four guys got on base the rest of the game,” said Dennis, whose team is now 2-2 overall (1-2 SOL). “It was a really well-pitched game.
“We have a nonleague game against Holy Ghost Prep (Thursday), and we hope we can get ourselves going, get some momentum. “We lost two early. We played well against Souderton. (CB) West just beat us.”
North Penn (3-2, 1-2 SOL) is off until Tuesday when it plays at Pennsbury.
North Penn 002 000 0 – 2 3 4
CB East 120 001 x – 4 5 2
Central Bucks South 10, Pennridge 3
After four straight losses to start the season, CB South needed a win.
Wednesday, the Titans fell behind early, but when the offense got going, they weren’t to be denied, scoring three runs in the second and five in the third to blow the game wide open.
Five of South’s seven hits went for extra bases, including home runs by Eric Damico and Colin Mitchell.
Pennridge’s Aidan Fretz singled home a run in the first to put his team up. South didn’t answer right back that inning, but in the third, it did in a big way.
After back-to-back walks, Damico put the Titans in front with a three-run homer to left.
Mitchell started the third with a homer to left, JT Anderosky stole home to make it 5-1, another scored on a wild pitch and two more crossed the plate on an error.
Owen Wheeler had a RBI single in the fourth and Tyler Robinson scored the 10th run with a RBI triple in the fifth.
Fretz hit a two-run home run for Pennridge’s remaining runs in the sixth.
On the mound, Justin Marraccini went the first six innings for the Titans to pick up the win, allowing just three runs, while scattering seven hits without a walk. He struck out five. Joe Rooney closed the game out with a scoreless seventh.
South (1-4, 1-3 SOL) hosts first-place Souderton in another league game on Thursday. Pennridge (3-2, 1-2 SOL) is back in action Monday at James Memorial Park against Harry S. Truman.
Pennridge 100 002 0 – 3 8 1
CB South 035 110 x – 10 7 1
Souderton 14, Central Bucks West 5
So far so good for Souderton, which remained unbeaten in SOL Colonial Division play with a dominant win over a CB West team that also went into the game undefeated.
Offensively, the Indians have been hitting the ball, including five runs against CB East last week and nine runs in Monday’s win over Pennridge.
Wednesday, the Indians scored 14 runs on 11 hits, including 11 runs in a huge third inning that turn this one into a rout.
“I am impressed how these guys are staying patient in the box and hitting their pitch,” said coach Mike Childs. “We preach don’t overthink and just put the ball in play.
“What is really cool to see is that the runs are coming from the entire lineup, 1-9. Today, Ethan Warner, our 5-hole hitter, was the hot bat, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
“I was also impressed in the third, when we didn’t quit with two outs and scored 11. It has definitely been a team effort.”
In all, 16 batters came to the plate for Souderton in a third inning that started with it holding a 1-0 lead. Two hit batters, three walks, an error and seven straight singles broke this game wide open. Shanley Wall, Chris McKenna, Luke Pollock, Carter Jagiela, Warner, Justin Dicesare and Joey Crecca all had singles in the inning.
Jeremy Fallon had an RBI double and then Garrett Moyer a fielder’s choice RBI as Souderton tacked on two more in the seventh.
Will McCausland pitched three shutout innings, allowing just one hit with no walks and four strikeouts, before giving way to teammate Liam O’Leary, who went the remaining four innings.
Aiden Quinn was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for CB West. Max McGlone also had two hits.
Souderton (4-1, 3-0 SOL) has another big game Thursday, at North Penn at 10 a.m. and later in the date will take on CB South. CB West (3-2, 2-1 SOL) looks to bounce back after the break with a Tuesday game at Neshaminy
Souderton 10(11) 000 2 – 14 11 2
CB West 000 030 2 – 5 6 4
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