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By Scott Huff
HARLEYSVILLE – At 5-foot, 8-inches and 155 pounds, Pennridge sophomore Dylan Tice does not have an intimidating physical presence. But the diminutive second baseman/pitcher has done it all this season for the Rams.
“Dylan is a flat out player,” said Pennridge head coach Tom Nuneviller after the Rams shutout host Souderton 8-0. “He may be only a sophomore, but he plays with the confidence of someone who has played three or four years of varsity baseball.”
Tice performed a superlative trifecta as he made significant plays at the plate, in the field, and on the mound.
“I will do whatever it takes to get a win,” said Tice who collected three hits – drove home two runs – pitched two shutout innings in relief to gain the victory – and made a terrific throw from second base on a relay to nail an Indian runner at third base. “I knew that we weren’t supposed to be at the top of our division, but we thought we had a shot.
“We had some success at Deep Run and Pennridge Connie Mack, and we knew that we would all play together at this level,” added Tice. “This year has been a lot of fun.”
The enjoyment of the 2009 baseball season has continued for the Rams who are now 9-1 in the SOL Continental Conference and in first place.
“Right now we are in front, and we can’t afford to stumble,” said Nuneviller. “This is a tough league, and a lot of the other teams have been beating each other up.
“We have a stretch here of four games in three days,” added Nuneviller as the Rams travel to Hatboro-Horsham tomorrow and host a ‘double header’ on Saturday with a 10 a.m. start against the Hatters and a 1 p.m. date with Quakertown. “It was nice that we could get this game in, and even nicer that we were able to win it.”
The Pennridge win game with the same formula that the Rams have followed for most of the season. Good pitching, good defense, and timely hitting.
The Rams broke open a scoreless tie with a four-run second inning. Eric Kammler opened with a single and was forced at second on a ground out by Ray Puskar. Puskar advanced to second on an infield single by Dan Wolfe and the bases became loaded when Tim Eversole was also safe on an infield single.
The first runs of the game were scored when both Puskar and Wolfe scored when Pete Leatherman was safe on an error. The third and fourth runs of the game were scored by Eversole and Leatherman after Tice blasted a two-run double.
“That inning was big,” said Souderton coach Michael Childs. “We’ve been struggling, especially when we fall behind. This has not been a team that has shown that it can battle back.
“We knew that there would be a learning process with the players we had coming back,” added Childs. “But it seems like we are still running up hill.”
The climb became steeper in the third inning as the Rams tacked on another pair of runs. These runs came courtesy of a two-run home run rocket launched off the bat of Puskar over the 365-foot sign in left centerfield.
“Ray has done a great job all season for us at third base,” said Nuneviller. “He has made plays both in the field and at the plate.”
Pennridge scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to round out the scoring. Brad Herrmann singled home Leatherman with the seventh run of the game, and Eversole had an RBI to score Puskar with the eighth run.
Somewhat lost in the 12-hit Ram offensive explosion was a fine job turned in by the Pennridge pitching staff.
Starter Kyle Myers yielded three hits and tossed three shutout innings, Tice fired two shutout frames, and Ryan Trauger completed the three-hit shutout with a pair of hitless innings.
The Pennridge defense was flawless – and made a few stellar plays to compliment the pitching. Puskar and Tice earned some notice with fine plays in the field.
“We haven’t played in a week because of all the rain, but you couldn’t tell,” said Nuneviller. “The pitching did the job, the hitting did the job, and the defense did the job.
“And when you do all of those things, you can expect good things to happen,” added Nuneviller. “Like winning baseball games.”
Pennridge 0 4 2 1 1 0 0 - 8 12 0
Souderton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 2
Pennridge: Dylan Tice 2b 4 0 3 2; Ryan Metzger lf 4 0 0 0; Brad Herrmann cf 4 0 1 1; Eric Kammler ss 3 1 1 0; Ray Puskar 3b 3 3 2 2; Cody Zickler ph 1 0 1 0; Dan Wolfe c 2 1 1 0; Brad Hess ph 1 0 1 0; Tim Eversole dh 3 1 1 1; Ryan Trauger p 1 0 0 0; Pete Leatherman 4 2 1 0; Kyle Peters 1b 3 0 0 0. Totals 34 8 12 6.
Souderton: Sean Leo cf 2 0 1 0; Alex Shepardson ph 1 0 0 0; Keith Moyer 2b 3 0 0 0; Jeff Casperson c 3 0 0 0; Brett Moyer p 2 0 0 0; Matt Mortka ph 1 0 0 0; Erik Schmidt 3b 2 0 1 0; KC Carey ph 0 0 0 0; Tim Maloney dh 2 0 0 0; Denis Passarella ph 0 0 0 0; Cory Capaldi ss 2 0 1 0; Connor Brokenshire p 1 0 0 0; Dylan Derstine lf 1 0 0 0; Brian Falencki ph 1 0 0 0; Brenden Barnes 1b 1 0 0 0; Clinton Yoder ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 24 0 3 0.
2b – {P-} Tice; {S-} Schmidt. HR – {P-} Puskar.
Pennridge INN H R ER K W
Kyle Myers 3.0 3 0 0 2 1
Dylan Tice (W) 2.0 0 0 0 3 0
Ryan Trauger 2.0 0 0 0 3 2
Souderton
Brett Moyer (L) 5.0 9 8 4 2 1
Brokenshire 2.0 3 0 0 3 0
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