By Scott Huff
QUAKERTOWN – Central Bucks East shortstop Mike Damm had a good feeling about the Patriots’ SOL Continental Conference game with Quakertown when the bus rolled to a stop behind Quakertown High School.
“Nobody really said anything, but we all noticed how short the fence was here,” said Damm who slammed two homers to power CB East (6-2 conference) to a 14-7 victory over the Panthers (3-3). “We all have a mindset that we can hit homeruns, and we have confidence that we can hit any pitcher.
“Our whole lineup can hit,” added Damm. “From the top of the lineup to the bottom.”
Damm – who led off the game with a homerun and followed with another solo shot in the fifth inning – leads off for East.
And the No. 9 hitter – Ryan Pater – also blasted a two-run homer to highlight a seven-run second inning for the Patriots.
“When I go up to hit I’ve always been taught to hit line drives,” said Damm. “I’m little, but I started lifting weights and I feel that I’m a lot stronger this year.”
It is no accident that East – who swatted five homeruns last week in a 14-12 win over Pennridge – is hitting the long ball.
“It’s nice to combine our power with a nice approach to hitting,” said Central Bucks East coach Kyle Dennis. “We walk a lot and work into hitter’s counts.”
“We can’t fall behind 2-0 or 3-1 in the count against a team that can hit the way that East hits,” agreed Quakertown coach Steve Cherrybon. “The wind was blowing out today, and they got some balls into the air. They are a strong hitting team.”
East took the early lead as Damm led off the game with a homer over the left centerfield fence.
But it was a seven-run second inning that broke the game open. Pater roped his two-run shot over the left field fence, and the Pats received RBIs from Fred Slack, Matt Tenaglia, Tim Wessel, and Joe Hoy.
CB East added three more runs in the third inning to push the lead to 11-0. Tenaglia was hit by a pitch to force in a run, and Wessel delivered a two-run single.
The 11-0 score saw the exit of both starting pitchers – East’s Wessel and Quakertown’s Jason Rathgens.
“It was nice to get the big early lead,” said Dennis. “Now we can use Tim later in the week.”
“The only good thing about the score was that we could get Jason out of the game,” said Cherrybon. “We have four games this week, and we only used him into the second inning.”
Quakertown scored three runs in the third inning. Kurt Roberts stroked a three-run homer as Bill Bain and Rahtgens scored ahead of him.
East answered with a three-run fifth inning to take a 14-3 lead. Damm cranked his second homer of the game, and Hoy knocked in a run with a single. The final run came on a double play groundout.
The Panthers avoided the mercy rule with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on RBI singles by Jake Neiman and Mike Utterback.
Quakertown would score single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to conclude the scoring. Taylor Vandergrift drove in a run with an RBI single, and Nick Mann got an RBI groundout.
The Panthers received a fine outing from sophomore pitcher Tyler Coleman. Coleman threw three shutout innings and allowed five hits.
“We missed some opportunities, and they took advantage of their opportunities,” said Cherrybon as the loss snapped a three-game Quakertown winning streak. “We just have to start over tomorrow.
“We have a lot of games left, and we have to put this behind us,” said Cherrybon. “You have to deal with adversity.”
CB East will host Pennridge with the conference lead on the line tomorrow.
“Every game is a big game – this was a big game,” said Dennis. “And tomorrow is another one.”
CB EAST 1 7 3 0 3 0 0 - 14 15 1
QUAKERTOWN 0 0 3 0 2 1 1 - 7 8 2
Central Bucks East: Mike Damm ss 5 3 4 2; Ryan Sparks 2b 2 3 1 0; Matt Tenaglia 3b 2 2 1 2; Tim Wessel p-1b 4 1 2 3; Mike DiVona c 4 1 2 0; Joe Hoy dh 5 1 3 2; Keith Reis lf 5 0 1 0; Fred Slack rf 3 1 0 1; Ryan Pater cf 3 2 1 2. Totals 33 14 15 12.
Quakertown: Ben Ede cf 0 0 0 0; Nick Mann cf 4 0 0 1; Bill Bain rf 3 2 0 0; Jason Rathgens p-ss 3 1 1 0; Kurt Roberts 3b 4 2 2 3; Ty Hubicki c 2 0 0 0; Taylor Vandergrift dh 2 1 1 1; Jake Neiman dh-c 4 0 1 1; Mike Utterback 1b 1 0 1 1; Joe Mason 1b 0 1 0 0; Tyler Coleman 3b-p 2 0 0 0; Zack Slotter p 2 0 1 0. Totals 31 7 8 7.
E – {CBE – 1} {Q- 2} 2B – {CBE – Tenaglia} {Q- Slotter} HR – {CBE – Damm (2), Pater. LOB – {CBE – 10} {Q-10}.
CB East Inn H R ER BB K
Wessel 2.0 0 0 0 2 3
Hayes (W) 4.0 7 6 5 4 4
Eschleman 1.0 0 1 1 1 2
Quakertown
Rathgens (L) 1.2 6 8 4 1 0
Slotter 2.1 4 6 6 7 2
Coleman 3.0 5 0 0 2 0
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