PW defeated Cheltenham in SOL baseball action Tuesday. (File photo courtesy of Cindy Manero/PW baseball)
SOL Liberty/Freedom crossover
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 10, CHELTENHAM 3
The weather – the unpredictable, cold and windy weather – was almost as big a story as the game on Tuesday. PW and Cheltenham were the only SOL baseball teams braving the elements, and conditions were not pleasant.
“It was one of those days where it just didn’t let up,” PW coach Chris Manero said. “We had a little bit of drizzle. I don’t know if it was sleet or what it was, but there were ice pellets falling from the sky at one point.
“The wind never stopped. It was relentless. I think it’s hard for anyone to get comfortable in weather like that. We didn’t look as crisp or as sharp as I would have hoped, but I have to think the elements had a lot to do with that.”
The Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. John Ivory had an RBI single, and Sam Batiancila accounted for the only other hit in the inning. Ivory scored the inning’s second run on a PW miscue.
It took the Colonials no time at all to get those runs back. Jesse Jaconski led off with a single, and Joe Redmond drew a walk. Jaconski stole third and Redmond moved up to second, setting the stage for Lincoln Sharpe, who lined a single to center that plated a pair of runs. It was his first of three singles on the day.
“He gets his money’s worth, he gets his swings in,” Manero said of Sharpe. “He’s a pitcher, but we saw his bat in practice and wanted to get him some more at-bats. We had him in a DH role. We shuffled some things around in the lineup after a couple of losses, and we wanted to make sure we were trying to get certain bats in there. We put him in left field to try and get his bat and some other bats in at the same time.
“Really, since then, he’s given us no reason to make any changes. He gets on base a lot. He’s been producing for us. The ball just flies off of his bat when he gets ahold of it. Our catcher was sick, and we had to make some last-minute adjustments to the lineup, and we put him in the three spot, which was a new position for him, and he definitely took advantage of it, which was great.”
Luke Caucci gave the Colonials a 4-2 lead with one swing of his bat, thanks to his two-run home run to center field.
“Luke Caucci had a really big day at the plate today,” Manero said. “He’s been a little bit up and down this season, but he hit some balls really hard today. Even the two at-bats he didn’t get hits, he hit the ball right on the screws.
“In his first at-bat, he hit an opposite field home run, and that was a big hit in the first inning because we had fallen behind 2-0, so for him to come up and pick up a couple runs with that – that made everybody feel better. He just really hit the ball hard today, he had some good at-bats and was aggressive. He’s a guy that we want to see hot. He’s a big piece of our lineup. When he does well, the rest of the guys around him do better.”
Luke Gartland doubled to right field – the fifth straight Colonial to reach base. The Colonials benefitted from a pair of Cheltenham miscues as well as a hit batter, and by the end of the inning, PW led 6-2.
In the third inning, the Colonials staged a two-out rally that was highlighted by Joe Redmond’s RBI triple to right field, an RBI single by Sharpe and Caucci’s RBI double to left that put PW on top 9-2 on its way to the decisive win.
Sharpe (3-for-3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs), Caucci (2-for-4, 2B, HR, 1 run, 3 RBIs) and Redmond (2-for-3, 3B, 3 runs, RBI) all finished the game with multiple hits.
“Joe Redmond had two more hits today,” Manero said. “Joe Redmond has been our most consistent hitter up to this point. He’s a senior, he’s a very smart player, he plays really hard, and he just always seems to be in the middle of everything.
“Whenever we’re scoring runs, he’s involved somewhere. He’s also played just an outstanding right field for us.”
Ray Tomasseti threw four innings and notched the win, allowing three hits and three runs (two earned) while striking out 10 and walking two. Dylan Robinson closed it out with three shutout innings, allowing one hit, striking out five and walking none. Robinson threw just 38 pitches – 28 of them for strikes.
“(Tomasseti) got off to a little bit of a slow start in the first inning, but after that, he settled in,” Manero said. “Obviously, pitchers when they get strikeouts – you prevent any other type of damage, and you have to throw strikes to do that. I think once he got through the first inning – he was good.
“With the conditions today, he was up around 75 pitches, so we brought Dylan Robinson in out of the pen. He hasn’t had a chance to pitch a ton for us, and he was really good. It was a really good opportunity for him to come in and have some success. He threw a lot of strikes. Today was really good for his confidence coming out of the pen because as we have these three-game weeks coming up, we’re definitely going to be using a lot more pitching. Today was a preview of what we might have to work with in the coming weeks.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (2-3, 2-2 SOL) will be on the road at New Hope-Solebury on Wednesday, and Cheltenham (0-3) will travel to Abington on Wednesday.
Cheltenham 200 100 0 3-4-3
Plymouth Whitemarsh 603 010 x 10-10-2
About the Author
