Upper Dublin, CR North and Pennridge were winners in Wednesday’s District One AAAA second round.
#3 Upper Dublin 4, #19 Harriton 3
The Cardinals opened up a 3-0 lead in the second inning, showing no ill effects from the layoff after a first round bye, and behind the strong arm of Cole Swiger, they defeated the pesky Rams in a second round contest.
“One of the biggest things about getting the first round bye – you win your first one, and you know you’re playing at least two more (games), worst case scenario,” UD coach Ed Wall said. “It’s truly a blessing.”
In the three-run second, Max Weinberg drew a one-out walk, and Thomas Juelke followed with a single. The Cardinals got on the board when Noah Ruiz delivered an RBI double. Andrew McDermott’s sacrifice fly pushed a second run across, and Tommy Reilly’s RBI single put the Cardinals on top 3-0.
“That was huge,” Walls said of his team’s three-run burst. “Our bottom of the lineup has been doing it all year for us, and I couldn’t have been happier.
“(Max) Weinberg made a big diving play late in the game that kept the ball in the infield, and he got a big walk that started the rally. Noah had a pretty good game today – he put the ball hard in play, and that double was huge, especially since it was a two-strike hit. McDermott had some tough at-bats.”
The visiting Rams scored a pair of runs in the third, but the Cardinals tacked on a run in the bottom of the inning to make it a 4-2 game. Juelke’s RBI single plated JT Breslin, who had walked. Harriton scored a run in the sixth to pull to within one, but the Flying Cardinals held on for the win.
Juelke collected two of his team’s five hits. He also had an RBI and run scored. Leadoff batter Justin Horn reached base on all three trips to the plate.
“Justin Horn had by far the toughest at-bat – he an 11-pitch at-bat, and he ended up drawing a walk,” Wall said. “He singled and he reached on a hit by pitch. He had a pretty successful day.
“Little things like that. We were able to scrap out a couple of runs, and Cole (Swiger) did a great job out there. He went pretty deep today, and Jason Greene cut his playoff teeth with his first save of the playoffs.”
Swiger allowed five hits and three runs – only one earned – while striking out four and walking three in 5.2 innings. Greene closed it out, allowing just one hit and no runs in 1.1 innings in relief.
The Flying Cardinals (14-5, 12-2 SOL) have a date with sixth-seeded Council Rock North in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
“On Friday, we’re going against a extremely strong opponent in Council Rock North,” Wall said. “I know Matt (Schram) is going to have his team ready.
“His son (Jared Schram) is one of the best players on the team. (Matt) Hand went a bunch of innings today, so we’ll see who we get Friday. We know they’re going to be good, so we have to be ready.”
Conor McFadden will be on the hill for the Flying Cardinals.
Harriton 002 001 0 3-6-0
Upper Dublin 031 000 x 4-5-2
#7 Council Rock North 4, #22 Springfield-Delco 3
“I hate the bye.”
Matt Schram didn’t mince words after his team needed some late-game heroics to eke out a win in Wednesday’s second round contest.
“This is what happens,” Schram explained. “You get the bye, and when you first get it, you’re like, ‘Great, we got a bye.’ There’s about eight hours of happiness that you got a bye.
“Then the next day kicks in and you realize – we’re not going to play for seven days. Then on Monday when everyone else is playing, you’re kind of like, ‘Good, some teams are going home, and we haven’t even thrown a baseball yet,’ but the truth of the matter is it’s become very nerveracking. Truthfully, at this time of year, you’ve got to play. Sitting and waiting is not good.”
The Indians put up a run in the first when Matt Hand delivered an RBI single, but the Cougars knotted the score in the third and then went on top 3-1 with two runs in the fourth off mound ace Hand. They still led 3-1 heading into the sixth inning.
“We were outplayed for a while,” Schram said. “It’s the fourth or fifth inning, you know you’re losing, and you’re starting to think, ‘Where has the time gone? We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting. We’re already in the fifth inning. We’re down. We could be going home soon.”
In the top of the sixth, CJ Kilgariff relieved Hand on the mound, and the Indians – in dire need of a boost – received one when Jared Schram led off the bottom of the inning with a double into the gap in left center.
“CJ came in and shut them down, and we gained a lot of momentum, and then Jared came up and hit the double,” coach Schram said. “That was our first extra base hit, and it was a leadoff hit. I don’t even think we hit a popup to the outfield. I’m not even sure we put any balls in the outfield, so his ball into the gap kind of opened up the floodgates – okay, now we’re going to get back into it.
“We were pretty confident we were going to score one run, and if we had to be down one run heading into the seventh, that was better than being down two runs. We also knew their lefty was getting tired. Good pitching beats good hitting, but if good hitters see a pitcher three times, I like the offensive odds.”
Hand – the lone Indian player with two hits – followed with a single to center, putting Indian runners on first and third with none out.
“They made a pitching change,” Schram said. “I was a little surprised because he really was effective.
“They put a righty in, and he actually struggled with his command. His first three pitches to Seth (Leuz) were balls.”
Leuz singled to center on a 3-1 pitch, plating a run that made it a one-run game. Hand stole third base, and 
with one out, Tyler Nowmos laid down a safety squeeze bunt that plated Hand with the equalizer. Nowmos was safe at first on an error, and when Juliano Kovalcik singled, the Indians had the bases loaded with one out. After another pitching change, Jackson Parker lofted a sacrifice fly to left field that brought home the go-ahead run.
Kilgariff closed it out, and the defending district champions lived to see another day.
“This win is big,” Schram said. “If you compare it to the run we had last year – we were the 15th seed, so we played on that Monday. The second game of the tournament was against Wisssahickon.
“We had to travel to Wissahickon – they had the bye, so that was their first game, and we went in and beat them 6-0. I bet statistically those who have byes like we did don’t do real well.
“This is one – we got away with one. We were fortunate enough to squeak out a win, and now we’re on the same page as everyone else. Now we have a game under our belts. Hopefully, we’ll be able to execute a little better. We didn’t play very well – we didn’t do very well defensively, which has not been an issue at all.”
Kilgariff, who earned the win, allowed just two hits in two scoreless innings. He fanned a pair and did not walk a batter.
“He’s a bulldog, he’s a warrior,” Schram said. “When he first came out there today, we were down 3-1. We weren’t in that losing mode, but we were in survival mode.
“He came out and lit us on fire. He was excited, he faced four batters, made eight or nine pitches, ran off the field and kind of said, ‘Here we go. Let’s do it.’”
Council Rock North (17-3, 11-3 SOL) will travel to third-seeded Upper Dublin on Friday for an all-SOL quarterfinal game.
Springfield-Delco 001 200 0 3-8-1
Council Rock North 199 993 x 4-5-1
# 17 Pennridge 3, # 1 Interboro 0
Pennridge (11-5) had more runs than hits in its second round PIAA Quad-A Distrtict One playoff game with top-seeded Interboro (15-1).
“We stopped on the way home for something to eat, and we looked at the (score)book and saw that we only had two hits,” said Pennridge head coach Tom Nuneviller. “We were surprised – we hit some balls hard but right at people.
“Going against a No.1 seed is always tough – especially at their place – and they played some good baseball,” added Nuneviller. “But we played a clean game defensively, got some really good pitching, and were able to capitalize on the few mistakes that they made.”
Pennridge scored a run in the first inning that was generated on a triple off the bat of senior Dan Long, and the Rams added a pair of runs in the fifth inning as a Luke Nuneviller double was featured in that inning. The Long three-bagger and the Nuneviller two-bagger were the only hits Pennridge would get – or need.
Junior starting pitcher Ian Karcergis was superb for the Rams as he held the Buc bats in check over six scoreless innings. Karcergis struck out six hitters. Long came on in relief in the seventh and was electric, striking out all three Interboro hitters he faced.
“Ian threw a great game and kept them off balance,” said Nuneviller. “And Dan came on in the seventh inning and does what Dan does.”
Pennridge will advance to the quarterfinal round against # 9 Marple Newtown. The Lions have defeated both # 24 North Penn (2-1) and # 8 Coatesville (7-5) to earn its quarterfinal date with the Rams.
“We could come back with Andrew (Mayhew) or Nate (Coyle) on Friday,” said Nuneviller. “And we have done a good job of limiting the amount of pitches that Dan (Long) has thrown.
“We’re back on the bus for another long bus ride,” added Nuneviller as his Rams have traveled long distance in wins over both Interboro and Garnet Valley (3-2). “So far – so good.”
Pennridge 1-0-0-0-2-0-0 3-2-1
Interboro 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0-6-1
# 5 Boyertown 4, # 12 Pennsbury 3
Pennsbury (11-5) saw its season come to an agonizing close in a second round PIAA Quad-A District loss against Boyertown (16-3).
“We were very disappointed in the loss, but we gave ourselves a chance to win the game in the seventh inning,” said Pennsbury head coach Joe Pesci. “We got good pitching from Zach Conley, played good defense without making an error, but we left too many runners on base. We had opportunities – but we didn’t get the clutch hit late in the game.”
Pennsbury rallied from a 2-1 deficit to take a 3-2 lead – but the Pioneer Athletic Conference champions came up with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to secure the win.
“They scored four runs and only one of them came on a hit,” said Pesci. “They scored on a sacrifice fly, a double steal, and a wild pitch. We only made a few mistakes, but they capitalized on every one of them.
“There were a lot of question marks when the season began with us losing 13 seniors,” added Pesci. “The only seniors we had back were Zach Conley and Bryen Kilbough, and with the way the underclassmen played this year we are super excited about next year.”
That impressive list of underclassmen for the Falcons includes Billy Bechtel, Tyrone Hodges, Dave Murphy, Josh Tesarck, Ryan McCarty, Nick Price, and Brian Nagy.
“Our entire starting outfield are juniors,” said Pesci. “And we had eight different pitchers with wins counting the non-league games.
“To win 15 games and to be able to beat a team in districts with this young team makes me incredibly proud.”
Pennsbury 0-1-0-2-0-0-0 3-6-0
Boyertown 1-1-0-2-0-0-x 4-6-4
# 2 Downingtown West 7, # 18 Neshaminy 1
Neshaminy (10-6) saw its season come to an abrupt end in a second round PIAA Quad-A District playoff loss against Ches-Mont champion Downingtown West (18-2).
“Last year we had a very difficult year,” said Neshaminy head coach Chris Tenaglia in reference to his 4-10 SOL National Conference Redskins. “Even though we lost, this was a nice way for our seniors to go out.
“We got back into the district playoffs with a good league season, and we won a district playoff game against a good program in Owen J Roberts,” added Tenaglia. “Seniors like Matt Gruzda, Billy Ritchey, Mike Burns, and Billy Meyer grew up together and are extremely close, and it was great to see them have the success we had this year.”
Downingtown West, though, was too much for Neshaminy to handle.
“In order to be the best, you have to beat the best, and Downingtown West is one of the best teams in the district,” said Tenaglia. “They seemed to do everything the right way.”
Neshaminy took a brief 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Ritchey. The Redskins could manage just three hits in the game as Gruzda and Brian Nicholas also singled for NHS.
“This senior class gave our underclassmen an experience at playing playoff baseball,” said Tenaglia. “Now those players know the intensity level of the playoffs and will be better prepared for next season.”
Neshaminy 1-0-0-0-0-0-0 1-3-3
Downingtown West 5-1-1-0-0-0-x 7-8-1
# 4 Perkiomen Valley 6, # 13 Wissahickon 5
Wissahickon (11-5) saw its season come to an excruciating end in a second round PIAA Quad-A District playoff loss to Pioneer Athletic Conference co-champion Perkiomen Valley (16-3). PV trailed the Trojans 5-3 going into the last of the seventh inning but scored three runs to escape with the victory.
“We took the lead scoring two runs in the top of the seventh,” said Wissahickon head coach John Bernhardt. “Alex Tappen hit a solo homerun, and Andrew Seitz had an RBI single.
“We got an out – they came back with some hits to tie the score at 5-5 – we got a second out – and with the bases loaded they hit a grounder that took a tough hop that ended the game,” added Bernhart. “It was a tough ending to a long day.
“But really, I have no complaints about how we played the game, or how we played all season,” added Bernhart. “With this being my first year as head coach, it took some time for the players and me to feel each other out.
“The one thing I can say about this team is that they gave me everything they had for every game,” continued the coach. “The end of the season was an emotional one.
“We have six starters back next year,” added Bernhardt. “We can build off a very successful season.”
Matt Shilling (2-for-3, one run) and Connor Freeston (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) were the lone Trojans with multiple hits. Blake Rapoport contributed a double.
Wissahickon 0-0-0-0-3-0-2 5-8-3
Perkiomen Valley 0-2-1-0-0-0-3 6-8-3
#10 Spring-Ford 10, #7 Central Bucks South 2
The Rams saved mound ace Conor Larkin for Wednesday’s game against the Titans, and Larkin delivered, allowing just six hits and two runs (one earned) while walking none and striking out 10 in six overpowering innings.
In the top of the first, the Rams scored all the runs Larkin would need with four runs in the first. The Titans answered with two runs in the second, but the Rams scored three runs in the fourth and added two more in the next inning on their way to the decisive win.
Despite the outcome, coach Brian Klumpp had nothing but good things to say about his SOL Continental Conference champion squad.
“I am so proud of this group of kids,” the Titans’ first-year coach said. “They accepted me and my staff from day one and really bought into what we were teaching.
“They really seemed to trust our process. The kids worked hard every day, and it paid off, going from a 6-8 team in the conference to 11-3 Continental Conference champions. The team played the game the right way. They won a lot of games and had a ton of fun doing it. I don’t know much about CB South and the baseball program before I took over in September, but I am happy to be a Titan.”
The Titans (11-3 SOL) closed out the season with a 14-5 record.
Spring-Ford 400 321 0 10
Central Bucks South 020 000 0 2
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