Jarrad Saffren recaps all of Wednesday’s SOL baseball action.
By Jarrad Saffren
“Madness” is synonymous with “March.” But is that really fair to May? “May Madness” is just as alliterative.
This is my stupidly silly way of saying upsets happened Wednesday. Two big ones, by teams that have zero chance of making the district playoffs (Barring a major, pervasive scandal among teams with winning records).
Also, Upper Moreland coach Ken Irwin wins Wednesday’s award for most refreshingly candid/human coach. You will see why.
Twelve Suburban One League baseball teams played league games Wednesday. The results and recaps are below.
Spoiler alert: There were no ties.
SOL American
Upper Moreland 10, Norristown 2
Did anybody watch “How I Met Your Mother?” Boats, boats, boats? Ring a bell?
Well, Google or YouTube it (You have not made it as a tech company until your name becomes a verb).
Anyway, I have wandered off again. Back to the reason you clicked on this article in the first place: Baseball.
Boats, boats, boats? No?
Well, Upper Moreland’s story on Wednesday was bats, bats, bats.
The Golden Bears had scored just seven runs in their previous two games.
“Offensively we were getting it together before last week’s rainouts,” Irwin said. “But we started slow this week. Today we were much better. We hit the ball hard. It was a good day. Guys had good at-bats.”
Brace yourself. Stats ahead: Connor Casey went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Paul Ciampoli hit 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Ryan Lowry was 2-for-3 with an RBI. And Randy Meehl was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Every starter got on base at least once.
But here’s the Ollie McLellan story of the night: Bench player Nick Pagano got on base four times, including two hits, and knocked in a run.
Pagano played because UM’s regular right fielder lost his car keys and did not have a uniform. But Pagano may have played anyway.
“Nick laid down a bunt on Tuesday and scored on Randy Meehl’s squeeze play. It was a great bunt,” Irwin said. “We wanted to reward him.”
Pagano’s main sport is football, so he does not play baseball in the summer.
“Which is unfortunate because he’s a great baseball player,” Irwin said.
The Golden Bears scored in five of seven innings.
“We wanted to stay on them because we had a 5-0 lead on Monday against Upper Dublin and stopped scoring,” Irwin said. “We had chances to score and didn’t and it came back to bite us.”
Upper Moreland is averaging more than seven runs per game in league play.
UM’s Brandon Kohn gave up five hits and two runs in six innings. He improved to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in league play.
The Golden Bears have won two straight games. They want to enter the playoffs hot, like another local team.
“We are trying to be like Villanova. Peak at the right time and put it together,” Irwin said.
Irwin started the “Be like Villanova” mantra after the Wildcats’ last-second win over North Carolina in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. On the night of Nova’s epic victory, the Golden Bears were texting in their group until 2:30 a.m. Irwin is in that group text.
“I said, ‘Guys! Enough already. We have a game tomorrow,’” Irwin said laughing.
Upper Moreland, at 10-2 in league play, is No. 2 in the District One Class AAA Power Rankings. Bicentennial Athletic League leader Holy Ghost Prep is No. 1. Here’s where Irwin gets refreshingly candid…
“It’s so tough to catch Holy Ghost with the teams we play and the league we play in. The teams they play don’t compare. And the one team (Christopher Dock) that beat them they only played once,” Irwin said. “They are the No. 1 seed almost every year. In my 10 years, I think they’ve been the No. 1 seed every year but one.”
“When they are pitching their best pitchers in non-league games, you know there’s something wrong. That should open eyes. Something’s not right,” Irwin said. “When we play non-league games, we are hoping to get guys in. It’s completely different.”
Mic drop.
Upper Moreland (13-3, 10-2 SOL) plays Neshaminy Friday. Norristown (3-10, 2-9 SOL) battles Upper Merion Friday. The Eagles have lost eight straight games.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3, Wissahickon 2
Here’s a story for the senior day scrapbook…
Plymouth Whitemarsh has 13 seniors.
“On a typical day we play two or three,” PW coach Chris Manero said.
All 13 played Wednesday against Wissahickon.
“They rose to the occasion,” Manero said.
Let’s start on the mound. Senior Connor Kissane missed all of last season with an arm injury.
“And he had command issues in some appearances at the beginning of this season,” Manero said. “But his last appearance in relief he looked good. We wanted to give him a chance. Here’s a guy who didn’t pitch as much as we would have hoped this season. We were blown away by how good he was.”
Kissane gave up three hits and one earned run in seven innings. 
Now let’s move to the batter’s box.
In the bottom of the second, senior Connor Burke singled to left to put PW up 1-0. In the bottom of the third, senior Matt Gatta doubled to right to put the Colonials up 2-1.
Fourth-year Jacob Laudenbach walked three times.
The irony for PW? A junior, Noah Goldstein worked a walk-off walk (Baseball!). A freshman, Drew Kliesh, scored the winning run.
“I guess that’s how it works,” Manero said, laughing.
But the day still belonged to the seniors.
“They are a true pleasure to work with every day. They have been in the program four years and done everything that’s been asked,” Manero said. “I’m sure they wish they played more. But they have handled the situation well. And they take advantage when they get chances to contribute.”
The seniors are also role models for the younger players.
“They have embraced the younger guys and shown them what to expect,” Manero said. “That’s been important this year, what they are doing as role models. We hope it will pay dividends in the future.”
Wissahickon was no pushover either. The Trojans came in 8-3 in league play and needed this game. They are No. 20 in the District One Class AAAA Power Rankings, and 26 teams make the playoffs.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (5-10, 4-8 SOL) will not make the playoffs. But they can build momentum for 2017 by beating Cheltenham Thursday and Norristown next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-1-1-0-0-0-1 3
Wissahickon 1-0-0-1-0-0-0 2
SOL National
Harry S. Truman 5, Council Rock North 2
That is not a typo.
“It was a good day for us. We caught them in a good spot. They were playing for the third day in a row,” Harry S. Truman coach Tim Monaghan said. “But we had a lot of confidence going into the game because of how well we played them the first time. We were in control a majority of that game. So we had more confidence than you would think when you look at the records.”
On April 6, Truman led Council Rock North 4-0 after four innings, before losing 14-5.
On Wednesday, in the fourth, the Tigers scored two runs to open a 3-1 lead. Kyle Goodwin reached on an error as both runs scored.
Truman plated two insurance runs in the late innings. The Tigers banged out eight hits. RJ Snyder had two and an RBI. Nate Erhard and Cameron Culver also had one RBI each.
“We have struggled to hit the ball all season,” Monaghan said. “This was probably our best offensive day in the league in a while.”
Truman starter Brian Aicher gave up one earned in seven innings. He threw 66 strikes and 35 balls.
“You can’t ask for much more against a team like North,” Monaghan said. “He gave us a chance to compete.”
Truman won its second straight game. Monaghan said his players are gaining confidence.
“When you’re struggling, you seem to not get those breaks. The benefit of a close call. Or balls you hit don’t find open space,” Monaghan said. “When things get negative, you focus on the one play we didn’t make, the one pitch we didn’t execute. Now the kids are expecting a positive thing instead of saying, ‘What’s the next bad thing?’”
Monaghan also said Truman showed its youth during its nine-game league losing streak.
“The kids are learning to win at this level,” the Tigers’ coach said. “It’s easy for a sophomore to miss a ground ball and the next time he’s still thinking about that ground ball. Kids are learning to forget about that.”
Three of Truman’s starting infielders are sophomores. The other is a junior.
Like Wissahickon, Council Rock North could have really used a win. The Indians are still trying to wrap up a league title and a high playoff seed.
“It wasn’t like they gave it to us. We beat them,” Monaghan said. “Council Rock North is a very well-coached team. This was our playoff game. Between the two games against them, (North coach) Matt (Schram) would probably say we played them as hard as anybody.”
Harry S. Truman (5-11, 3-9 SOL) plays Neshaminy Thursday. Council Rock North (15-2, 10-2 SOL) takes on Abington Thursday.
Harry S. Truman 1-0-0-2-0-1-1 5
Council Rock North 0-0-1-0-1-0-0 2
Neshaminy 11, William Tennent 1
Neshaminy ended a two-game losing streak in convincing fashion.
The top three batters and starter Jerry Scavone led the Redskins.
Neshaminy’s first three batters—Corey Joyce, Matt Grudza, and Mike Burns—hit 8-for-11, drove in eight runs, and scored six. Joyce had three hits and three runs scored. Grudza had four RBIs.
The Redskins scored five runs in the third, two in the fourth, and four in the fifth.
Scavone gave up one run in five innings and threw just 57 pitches. The righty improved to 2-0 with a 1.05 ERA. He has walked two in 20 innings.
Neshaminy is two games behind Pennsbury for second place. William Tennent dropped to 6-6 in league play, likely ending its playoff hopes.
The Redskins (9-8, 7-5 SOL) battle Harry S. Truman Thursday. The Panthers (8-8, 6-6 SOL) bus to Bensalem.
Neshaminy 0-0-5-2-4 11
William Tennent 0-0-0-1-0 1
SOL Continental
Central Bucks West 8, Central Bucks East 7
Central Bucks West earned its seventh win overall and sixth in league play, all by one run.
“And they all count, right?” CB West coach Brad Tracy said.
Indubitably.
The Bucks won Wednesday’s game with offense. Their wins have either been slugfests or pitcher’s duels.
“We are still trying to get all three phases of the game working together,” Tracy said. “We have three league games still to do that. Hopefully it happens tomorrow.”
But Tracy was pleased with his offense.
“Our at-bats were better,” the Bucks’ coach said. “We looked at more pitches. But we were aggressive in the right situations.”
In the top of the sixth, CB West scored four runs to take a 7-3 lead. Nick Evans singled to center, scoring Thomas Philipps and Drew Sypawka. Then Trevor D’Arcy singled home Devin Bradley. Finally, Matt Peralta singled to center, plating Evans.
In the bottom, Central Bucks East scored three runs to make it 7-6. Grant Meiers laced an RBI single to center. Andrew Collins ripped a two-run single to right.
Each team scored one run in the seventh.
Philipps had two hits, two RBIs, two runs scored, and one walk for the Bucks.
“He’s seeing the ball real well. Even balls he fouls off are hard,” Tracy said. “He has confidence. When he walks into the box, he knows he will hit it hard somewhere.”
Philipps now has 13 RBIs in 2016.
“He’s definitely the guy in the middle of the order who is very dangerous,” Tracy said.
CB West (7-8, 6-5 SOL) travels to Pennridge Thursday. CB East (6-10, 1-10 SOL) plays North Penn Monday at 3:45.
Central Bucks West 0-0-3-0-0-4-1 8
Central Bucks East 2-0-0-0-1-3-1 7
Pennridge 4, Hatboro-Horsham 1
Pennridge ended a two-game league losing streak.
Starter Ian Kacergis struck out six in six innings. He allowed eight hits. But Hatboro-Horsham left seven men on base.
Dan Long closed the game in the seventh, striking out two. Long also scored two runs and drove in one.
In the bottom of the fifth, Jason Souder and Joe Robinson barreled RBI singles to put the Rams up 3-1.
In the sixth, Luke Nuneviller’s RBI single made it 4-1.
The Rams (11-7, 7-5 SOL) are still in a strong position to make the playoffs. They may need to win out, starting Thursday against CB West.
Hatboro-Horsham (7-9, 5-7 SOL) will play spoiler for the last week of the season. The Hatters take on Central Bucks South Friday.
Pennridge 1-0-0-0-2-1-X 4
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0-0-0-1-0-0 1
About the Author
