Check out the recaps for SOL baseball teams in action Friday.
SOL Patriot/Colonial crossover
Central Bucks East 11, Harry S Truman 3
The Patriots opened up an 8-0 lead on their way to the road win in Friday’s crossover game. Three pitchers combined for the win in a bullpen game for the Patriots.
“This was our third game this week, and we decided to utilize our bullpen for as much of the game as possible as we have another three-game week next week,” East coach Kyle Dennis said. “Chase Fulford, who usually plays second base or DH, got his first start of the year with a plan of only going one or two innings since he only been used as a pitcher one other time this year. He was extremely efficient and extended into a third inning, which was very important.
“This allowed Tim Mahony, another Bullpen guy, to come in and cover the next three innings.”
Tyler Dandrea – best known for his contributions to East’s Colonial Division championship basketball team – closed it out with a scoreless seventh, striking out two.
“This was a whole team win with almost every player who played reaching base at some point with a hit or a walk and scoring a run,” Dennis said.
The Patriots put four runs on the board in the third inning and never looked back. Sean Hill led off the inning with a single and moved to second on Reece Moody’s sacrifice bunt. Hill scored when Nolan Behm lined a single to center. A double to left by Chase Harlan put East runners on second and third.
With two outs, Jack Mislan emptied the bases with a three-run blast to left field. The home run gave the Patriots a 4-0 lead that grew to 8-0 after they plated two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.
East pounded out 14 hits in the win. Behm’s 3-for-5 effort with a double and five RBIs and two runs scored led the offensive attack. Moody was 2-for-4 with a double and run scored. Fulford was 2-for-3 with a triple, RBI and run scored. Anthony Niro was 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored.
“The bottom four in the order(which combined for six hits) continues to do a great job of getting on base, and guys at the top are driving them in,” Dennis said.
For the Tigers, Nathan Gilson was 1-for-3 with three RBIs.
Central Bucks East (8-2, 7-0 SOL) will host Pennsbury in a crossover game on Monday, and Harry S Truman (1-6, 1-5) will host Archbishop Wood in a non-league game on Saturday.
Central Bucks East 004 022 3 11-14-0
Harry S Truman 000 003 0 3-5-1
SOL Freedom Division
Cheltenham 1, William Tennent 0
“This one’s for you BC”
That was the mindset of the Panthers entering Friday’s division game at William Tennent. Emotions ran high for a Cheltenham team that earlier in the day attended the funeral of senior Corey Bradley’s mother.
Bradley, an all-state wrestler, set a program record for wins on the mat.
“With all the emotions of the week and attending our teammate’s mom’s funeral earlier in the day, we wanted to win for our guy, Corey Bradley,” Cheltenham coach Kevin Hite said. “It was very emotional, and we needed this win, especially with being a league game.”
Sam ‘Smooth’ Batiancila made sure the Panthers would get the win, tossing a brilliant complete game two-hit shutout. He struck out seven and walked one. Batiancila threw 98 pitches – 67 strikes – and faced 26 batters, retiring 16 in a row to close out the game.
For good measure, he drove in the game-winning run in the top of the eighth after the Panthers staged a two-out rally.
Jack Haugen gave the Panthers life when he drew a two-out walk after a tough-at bat that included fouling off five straight 3-2 pitches. Emile Chanoine followed with a hard ground single to right field. With runners on first and second, Batiancila lined the first pitch he saw for a single to left, and Haugen scored from second.
“Sam Batiancila was dominating on the mound and knocked the only run of the game in also,” Hite said.
Batiancila, who had two of the Panthers’ four hits, closed out the game with a 1-2-3 seventh for a win to honor their teammate.
Tennent leadoff batter Chase Solkoff had both of his team’s hits.
All but lost in the shuffle was the stellar performance of Tennent starter Jackson Archibald, who threw seven shutout innings. He allowed only two hits while striking out 12 and walking one and threw exactly 100 pitches – 73 for strikes.
Cheltenham (2-6, 2-5 SOL) will travel to Council Rock South for a non-league game Saturday at 10 a.m. William Tennent (3-5, 2-4) will travel to Hatboro-Horsham on Monday for a crossover game.
Cheltenham 000 000 01 1-4-1
William Tennent 000 000 00 0-2-1
Springfield Twp 4, New Hope-Solebury 2
The Spartans notched their second win in as many days, and for the second time in as many days rode a strong complete game effort from their pitcher.
In Friday’s win, it was Bobby Hartman doing the job on mound, limiting the Lions to just five hits and two runs. He struck out five and walked three and needed just 87 pitches to finish the task.
The Spartans scored all their runs in the fourth inning. Mike Capoferri began the two-out rally with a single to left, and Max May followed with a single. A walk to Anderson Kerper loaded the bases, and the first run of the inning scored on an error.
With the bases still loaded, Jack McKittrick drew a walk to push a second run across, and Owen Hastings delivered the inning’s big blow – a two-run double to center field that put the Spartans on top 4-0.
The Lions answered with two runs in the top of the fifth. Joe Rickard, John Whelan and Kieran Patel opened the inning with consecutive singles. A pair of runs crossed the plate on an error, but the Spartans escaped without further damage.
Hartman retired six of the last seven batters he faced to secure the win.
Hastings was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs to lead the Spartans, who had five hits.
Whelan, who threw a complete game for the Lions, pitched well enough to win, allowing five hits and four runs – none earned.
Springfield Twp (5-3 SOL) will host Bensalem in a non-league game Saturday at 11 a.m., and New Hope-Solebury (2-7, 0-7) will host Wissahickon in a crossover game on Monday.
New Hope-Solebury 000 020 0 2-5-1
Springfield Twp 000 400 x 4-5-1
Non-league
Pennridge 6, Quakertown 5
It’s only a non-league game that doesn’t count toward the district rankings, but it always feels like much more than that when neighboring Pennridge and Quakertown do battle on the diamond.
Friday night’s game a Memorial Park was no different.
The Rams took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth and then withstood a late rally by the Panthers to earn the win in another tightly contested game between the two schools.
“The Pennridge/Quakertown rivalry is always a fun one,” said Pennridge coach Danny Long, who experienced it as a player and now as a head coach. “It was a great atmosphere for a baseball game, and we played well enough to come away with a win.”
The Rams broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run fourth that began with a leadoff double by Connor Murray, but it looked as though it might end there as the next two batters were retired. A walk to Andrew Rendler kept the inning alive, and that was followed by a Zach Swanson single that loaded the bases.
Back-to-back walks to Antonio Lillo and Tommy Ginnetti pushed two runs across, and Ryder Olson’s single put the Rams on top 4-1. They upped that lead to 6-1 in the fifth.
The Panthers used Matt Marsten’s RBI double and an RBI single by Carver Perrone in the fifth to make it a 6-3 game. Andrew Klitsch led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to center, and Dan Qualteria drew a walk. Both scored when Cooper Natisin lined a triple to right field, but that’s where the Panthers’ comeback ended as Rams’ starter Connor Smith worked his way out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam without further damage.
James Embert threw a scoreless seventh to close it out.
Murray’s 3-for-4 effort with two doubles and two runs scored led the Rams’ eight-hit attack. Noah Keating was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Olson was 2-for-5 with one RBI.
For the Panthers, Natisin was 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs, and Marsten was 2-for-2 with a double, one RBI and one run scored.
Pennridge (5-3, 3-3 SOL) will travel to Dock Mennonite Academy for a non-league game Tuesday, and Quakertown (7-4, 6-2) will host Upper Moreland in a crossover game Monday.
Pennridge 001 320 0 6-8-1
Quakertown 100 022 0 5-7-2
Upper Dublin 4, Souderton 0
The Cardinals notched their second shutout in as many days with Friday’s win representing the combined efforts of three pitchers.
“It was really great,” UD coach Ed Wall said. “Our seniors were away all week, so we played yesterday against Upper Moreland and (Austin) Dahl threw that game (a 3-0 win), so we had our other starters throw this game.
“It was really good to see – Wes Gill had a really good outing today. He’s had a tough go of it this year with some accuracy issues but really sharpened up today, had a really good strike percentage and had six strikeouts. I was extremely pleased with that.”
Gill, who was credited with the win, allowed two hits in four shutout innings, striking out six and walking one. Jack Brannigan followed with two scoreless innings of one-hit ball, and Evan Sanders closed it out with one shutout inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.
The trio combined for seven strikeouts and one walk.
“The one walk is definitely a highlight,” Wall said. “We’ve been working really hard at not giving up anything free.
“We had three errors today, but they were aggressive mistakes and not something that was carelessness. We made some really good plays. Eric Berman cut down a runner at the plate on a throw from center field. We made a lot of plays behind our guys – the defense had to play if there’s a shutout. It was a good game, a well-pitched game.”
The Cardinals broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the fourth inning and added two more in the sixth. In the sixth, Eddie Stoffel and David Morris hit back-to-back singles, and the bases were loaded when Ben Wilkins reached base on a miscue. Berman’s two-run double to left field put the Cardinals on top 4-0, a score that stood the rest of the way.
Stoffel’s 2-for-3 day at the plate with a run scored led UD.
Cody Ricko’s 2-for-3 effort led the Indians.
Upper Dublin (7-2, 5-1 SOL) will travel to Cheltenham for Monday’s crossover game, and Souderton (3-7, 2-5) will be on the road at Neshaminy Monday for a crossover game.
Upper Dublin 000 202 0 4-5-3
Souderton 000 000 0 0-4-3
Bensalem 4, Lansdale Catholic 3 (8 innings)
It might not have been the most dramatic of endings, but the Owls will happily take it.
Ed Colgan drew a bases-loaded walk with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving the Owls the walk-off non-league win.
The win was the first of the season for the Owls.
“It was great to get a win today,” Bensalem coach Kurt Sowa said. “We’ve been in a lot of games but have let them get away from us in the later innings
“It was a back-and-forth game, with both teams having runners in scoring position all game long. Pitchers on both sides were able to work out of trouble.”
LC’s pitcher couldn’t work his way out of an eighth inning jam that began with a leadoff walk to Kaden Lavendar. Tyler Anderson followed with a double, and the Owls had runners on second and third with one out.
Jim Ridge was the recipient of an intentional walk to load the bases, and after a strikeout for the inning’s first out, Colgan stepped to the plate and, after falling behind in the count 1-2 and fouling off a two-strike pitch, he drew the walk that brought home the game-winner.
The Owls received solid outings on the mound from Joey Dougherty and Jake Wagner. Dougherty started and allowed four hits and two runs in four innings while walking four and striking out four. Wagner threw the final three innings to notch the win, allowing four hits and one run with three strikeouts and one walk.
Wagner escaped a bases-loaded with no outs jam in the top of the seventh. The Crusaders used a walk and two singles to load the bases. Wagner induced a grounder to third for the force at home and the inning’s first out and then escaped any damage with a double play on a grounder to shortstop Lukas Wilson.
“Joey Dougherty gave us solid five innings on the mound and kept us in the game,” Sowa said. “Jake Wagner pitched tremendously out of the bullpen and was able to work out of a bases loaded no-out jam in the seventh inning. He also had two hits and two RBIs offensively. He has been playing very well lately for us.”
Bensalem needed a Wagner RBI single in the fifth inning to tie the game 2-2. The Crusaders scored a run in the top of the sixth, but the Owls answered when Wilson lined a two-out double to left field to knot the score 3-3, setting the stage for extra innings.
“Lukas Wilson had a big time hit with two outs to tie the game in the sixth inning,” Sowa said. “Jim Ridge had a nice day at the plate as well with two hits.”
Wagner was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Jim Ridge was 2-for-3 with a double.
Bensalem (1-7, 0-5 SOL) will travel to Springfield Twp for a non-league game Saturday at 11 a.m.
Lansdale Catholic 002 001 00 3-8-1
Bensalem 100 011 01 4-6-1
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