Check out the recaps for SOL baseball teams in action Friday.
SOL American Conference
Hatboro-Horsham 3, Upper Dublin 0
There's a wealth of arms, and then there's what the Hatters are working with. After 17 games, the Hatters’ pitching staff boasts a 0.99 earned run average. In 13 league games, the number is an even more miniscule 0.30.
“It’s been something else,” coach Pete Moore said. “We’ve given up eight total runs in 13 games.
“I’ve had really good pitchers. I’ve had Division One pitchers that have gone to Penn and Delaware and St. Joe’s and Seton Hall, but I’ve never had a staff that’s done what this staff has done as a group. It’s just incredible.
“At every level of baseball, it just comes down to, if your pitchers can throw and if you play good defense, you’re going to win games. We’ve been fortunate to have guys that can dominate the strike zone, and it’s really paid off.”
Alex Crim made sure things kept rolling, pitching Hatboro-Horsham to its fifth straight shutout, scattering seven hits over his seven innings of work. The junior, who is the third man up in the Hatter's rotation, also struck out eight batters and threw 65 of his 95 pitches for strikes.
“I’ve been telling people about this kid we threw today pretty much all year – he’s in a situation where he’s not getting as many innings as he would anywhere else just because of what Edge (Brian Edgington) and (Colin) Kennedy have been doing,” Moore said. “He’s a number one for a lot of people. Today was his first opportunity to get a league start. He went out and threw a shutout for us in a win that clinched at least a share of the league title.”
The Hatters can clinch sole possession of their first conference crown since 2012 when they travel to Cheltenham on Tuesday.
“Clinching a share of the tile is exciting,” Moore said. “We take a lot of pride in knowing that 2017 will hang on the baseball banner in the gym at Hatboro-Horsham forever.
“I have been coaching for 16 years, and that’s only the second time that we can say that. However, this group is greedy. They aren’t interested in sharing a title. We want to win it outright on Tuesday.”
Eric Jester provided enough offense with a two-run double in the fourth inning while the Hatters tacked on an extra run in the fifth, thanks to Ryan O'Donnell. Colin Kennedy went 3-for-4 while Shaun Thomas racked up two hits.
Justin Horn took the loss for the Flying Cardinals and was one of three players to record two hits offensively along with Jason O'Gara and Joey Monaghan
Hatboro-Horsham (13-4, 11-2 SOL) will travel to Cheltenham on Tuesday, and Upper Dublin (5-12, 3-10) will be on the road at Abington on Monday for a non-league game.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 000 210 0 – 3 7 1
UPPER DUBLIN 000 000 0 – 0 7 2
Wissahickon 5, Upper Moreland 3
The Trojans and Golden Bears met not only as teams fighting for standing in the American, but also looking to aid their respective causes in the District I 5A power rankings.
Upper Moreland struck quickly with three runs in the top half of the first, thanks to some highlights by Dawson Ruggles. Ruggles provided an RBI single and later stole home after a Tommy Jacob RBI single to get the Bears off to a hot start.
The home-standing Trojans, who celebrated their Senior Day, responded with a four-spot in the bottom of the first. Trey France had the big hit with a two-run double while Steven Loden and Matt Shilling each knocked in a run.
That was all the support Quinn Rovner needed. After the tough start, Rovner, who threw 75 pitches in the complete game win, locked down and allowed just one hit over the final six innings as he pitched Wissahickon to its eighth win in the last 10 games.
Shilling ended up 3-for-4 at the plate. Trey France was 1-for-4 with a double, and Andrew Seitz was 1-for-2 with a walk and double. Steven Loden was 1-for-1 with two walks and a double. Shilling, France and Loden all contributed RBIs.
Wissahickon (11-8, 8-5 SOL) will travel to Springfield Township on Tuesday, and Upper Moreland (11-5, 8-4) will host Cheltenham on Monday.
UPPER MORELAND 300 000 0 – 3 5 3
WISSAHICKON 400 010 x – 5 8 2
Plymouth Whitemarsh 7, Cheltenham 3
Dillion Famous had himself a ballgame on Friday.
The Colonials pitcher went the distance on the bump, throwing 89 pitches and striking out nine in a five-hit effort and helped himself out by going 2-for-2 at the plate with three runs driven in and a run scored.
Kevin Reilly was the other big bat for PW, driving in three runs in a 2-for-4 afternoon.
Cheltenham struck first with two runs in the first, with Lukas Nakkula driving in a run. PW came back hard in the second inning, plating four runs on a two-run double by Famous and a two-run single by Reilly.
“That was big,” coach Chris Manero said of his team’s four-run second. “We had runners on first and second with nobody out to start the inning, and our freshman, Jack Magnum, came up and laid down what looked like a great bunt, but he got called out for stepping on home plate.
“Whereas it looked like the inning could get away from us, we came back with Matt Mitchell hitting a single and Dillon hitting a ball down the left field line to drive in a couple of runs. That was big because we’d fallen behind 2-0 with Dillon pitching, and for him to come up in that inning and get those two runs back himself – I think that set the tone because on the mound he was fantastic the rest of the way. It was good to see him do that.”
Luke Amoroso did plenty of damage for PW as well, going 3-for-4 and scoring two runs.
“He’s a senior who has really kind of struggled this year, and the last couple of games he’s been his old self again,” Manero said. “It’s exciting to see him get his hits now.”
Mitchell had two hits, including a double, an RBI and scored two runs.
The Panthers cut the lead to 4-3 in the third, but couldn't must anything else against Famous. Jacob Petrisko put in six innings of work, allowing all seven runs but only four of them earned.
Nakkula led the Panthers with two hits while Jack McHugh drove in a run.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (8-7, 7-6 SOL) will host Quakertown on Tuesday, and Cheltenham (2-14, 2-11) will travel to Upper Moreland on Monday for a 7 p.m. game.
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 040 120 0 – 7 11 2
CHELTENHAM 201 000 0 – 3 5 2
Quakertown 8, Springfield 3
The Panthers jumped out to a five-run lead after the first inning of play.
After Springfield cut the lead to 5-3 in the top half of the third keyed by Nick Pave's RBI double, Quakertown responded with an RBI single from Nate Barnes and an RBI double from Evan Hurst.
Six different Panthers – Jacob Reed (2-for-4, double, run), Brian Robison (2-for-3, double, run), Dennis Pierce (2-for-4, RBI), Justin Guidos (2-for-3, two RBIs), Nathaniel Barnes (2-for-3, RBI, run) and Evan Hurst (2-for-3, double, RBI) – had two hits as Quakertown pounded out 14 hits as a team. Vik Morelock drove in a pair of runs.
Pave went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored for Springfield, which had just five hits.
Quakertown (12-5, 10-3 SOL) will host William Tennent on Monday at 7 p.m., and Springfield (8-9, 5-8) will host Wissahickon on Tuesday.
SPRINGFIELD 003 000 0 – 3 5 3
QUAKERTOWN 502 010 x – 8 14 1
SOL CONTINENTAL
Pennridge 2, William Tennent 1
The Rams have had a rough go in SOL Continental play this season, but senior Andrew Mayhew gave them a sterling performance Friday afternoon.
Mayhew, a Millersville recruit, struck out 14 Panthers en route to a complete-game victory. He gave up just three hits and took a shutout into the sixth inning before Tennent scored an unearned run.
“We have not played well the entire season defensively,” coach Tom Nuneviller said. “We’ve made a ton of errors. The pitchers have done a really nice job, and we haven’t supported them.
“Andrew was a determined young man today on the mound. He had a look on his face. He really wanted it today. At the end of the sixth inning, I went over and said, ‘How are you feeling?’ He said, ‘Don’t take me out.’ He wanted to stay in, he wanted to finish the job, and he did a whale of a job.
So effective was Mayhew that Nuneviller could recount the seven outs his fielders had to make behind their ace.
“They hit a couple balls hard,” the Rams’ coach said. “(Nick) Cataldi hit a line drive to center that our center fielder made a nice play.
“Somebody hit a line drive that Sean Yoder jumped for and caught at short. Someone else hit one to right that Jake Siwert made nice catch on coming in. Yoder made a nice backhand play and threw a kid out across the diamond, and there was another groundout to Yoder at short, and one or two back to Mayhew.”
A two-run fourth inning proved enough offense with the way Mayhew was throwing. Colby Rush and Joe Robinson provided the RBI for Pennridge with Rush delivering an RBI single and Robinson a sacrifice fly to deep right.
Sean Yoder and Jim Petrick each went 2-for-3 with two singles and a run scored for the Rams.
The win brought to a welcome end an eight-game losing streak for the Rams.
“We absolutely needed this win,” Nuneviller said.
Chris Sliwka put forth another strong pitching effort for Tennent, going all seven innings to absorb a hard-luck loss.
Matt Hartenstine’s 2-for-3 effort led the Panthers at the plate.
Pennridge (6-12, 4-7 SOL) will host North Penn on Tuesday, and William Tennent (7-8, 5-6) will be on the road at Quakertown.
PENNRIDGE 000 200 0 – 2 8 3
WILLIAM TENNENT 000 001 0 – 1 3 0
Central Bucks West 6, Souderton 3
The Bucks used a big fifth inning to rally and defeat the Indians.
“We’ve been so close the last couple weeks,” coach Brad Tracy said. “We lost a lot of one-run games.
“We’ve been right there, and we’re truly five hits away from being towards the top of our conference. It was nice for them to pull it together.”
Trailing 3-0 entering the top half of the fifth, CB West loaded the bases against Souderton pitcher Thylar Summarell, who had allowed just two hits, struck out seven and pitched around doubles by Rhys Nicholas in the second and another by Matt Cooper in the fourth.
Blaise Heacox started things off with a line drive single to center.
“We had the bottom of the order coming up, and Blaise Heacox led off with a really good at-bat and had a nice hard single, and people built on that,” Tracy said.
Heacox single was followed by a four-pitch walk to Nicholas. Pinch hitter Chris Heller followed with a walk that loaded the bases. Steven Gebre narrowly missed a grand slam, hitting a ground rule double that made it a 3-2 game. The Bucks kept it going against reliever Aaron Groller, getting an RBI single from Thomas Philipps, a sacrifice fly by Matt Cooper and a single by Trevor D'Arcy.
“We’ve had guys on base all year long, and we just can’t get that big hit, and today we did,” Tracy said. “It was back-to-back-to-back, and it was a real nice win for us against a real good team.”
Souderton had jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead when Summarell launched a two-run home run in the top half of the first. The Indians added one in the fourth on Derek Freed's RBI single.
Aaron Worthington allowed four hits and three runs (two earned) while striking out three and walking none in five innings to earn his first win of the season. Jake Boehm threw two scoreless innings to record the save.
Both teams collected six hits and neither side had a player with multiple hits. D'Arcy and Gebre both had two RBI for the Bucks while Summarell drove in two for the Indians.
Central Bucks West (6-10, 4-7 SOL) will host North Penn on Monday, and Souderton (12-7, 7-4) will be on the road at William Tennent on Tuesday.
SOUDERTON 200 100 0 – 3 6 1
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 000 060 x – 6 6 2
SOL National
Pennsbury 14, Council Rock North 3
Ryan McCarty's big afternoon at the plate jumpstarted a slow-starting Falcons offense.
McCarty drove in four runs as part of a 3-for-4 day while Pennsbury scored 14 unanswered runs after falling behind 3-0 in the second inning. The Falcons didn't score until the third, but they broke out in a big way with eight runs in the inning.
Justin Massielo started things off with a sacrifice fly, followed by a two-run single from McCarty. North pitchers walked in three more runs and the last two came in on an error as the Falcons seized control of the game.
Pennsbury tacked on three runs in the fourth and fifth to end the game early. Nick Price picked up the win for Pennsbury, throwing 42 of 66 pitches for strikes. The hurler also chipped in offensively, driving in two runs. Josh Tesarck also had a pair of RBIs while Vaughn Ward and Justin Massielo both had one RBI for the Falcons, who held a 10-5 advantage.
Pennsbury (13-6, 9-2 SOL) will travel to Pennsbury on Monday. Council Rock North (8-9) closed out conference play with a 6-6 record.
PENNSBURY 008 33 – 14 10 1
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 030 00 – 3 5 6
Neshaminy 6, Harry S Truman 1
Evan Matthews led the way for Neshaminy, throwing a complete game.
Matthews had a shutout until the seventh inning and had Truman off-balance all day, allowing just four hits and striking out eight batters on 82 pitches.
Zach Tredway put Neshaminy on the board with a third inning sacrifice fly, and the Redskins broke the game open with a three-run fifth inning. Brian Nicholas hit a two-run double, part of his 2-for-3, three RBI afternoon, and Eddie Parry launched a home run to stretch the lead to 4-0.
Treadway scored twice, Ben Raab and Owen Foraker had two hits and Corey Joyce doubled for Neshaminy.
Neshaminy (15-3, 9-2 SOL) will host Council Rock South on Tuesday, and Harry S Truman (2-13, 1-10) will host Pennsbury on Monday.
NESHAMINY 001 030 2 – 6 10 1
HARRY S TRUMAN 000 000 1 – 1 4 0
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