SOL American-Continental Wins Carpenter Cup Opener

The SOL American-Continental defeated Chester County 6-5 in 11 innings in an opening round Carpenter Cup game Wednesday.

By Scott Huff

Philadelphia – There was little chance that Upper Dublin junior catcher Thomas Juelke or Pennridge sophomore pitcher Andrew Mayhew woke up Wednesday morning thinking that they would be the pivotal players in their Carpenter Cup debuts. 

But key players they were as the Suburban One League American/Continental Conference advanced to the 2015 Cup quarterfinals with a thrilling 6-5 victory in 11 innings over Chester County.

The SOL American/Continental will meet Delaware County on Friday (6/19/15) at 12:30 p.m. back on the well-manicured Urban Youth Academy Showcase Field.  A quarterfinal victory over Delaware County would propel the SOL A/C into a semifinal contest to be played at Citizen’s Bank Park on Monday at 1 p.m.

That anticipated quarterfinal contest would not have been played, however, without the timely exploits of both Juelke and Mayhew.  The pair of underclassmen played with the poise and character of their older teammates during those critical moments of the game and never flinched under pressure with the game on the line.

“That has been the story of Thomas Juelke all season,” said SOL American-Continental head coach Ed Wall (Upper Dublin) who coached Juelke all season as members of the SOL American Co-Champion Cardinals.  “He is the perpetual workhorse.  He always seems to make an impact on the game late in the game.”

Juelke indeed made a huge impact from behind the plate in the victory.  He showcased his rifle arm in gunning down not one – but two – Chester County runners in the ninth and 10th innings thus erasing the potential winning runs.

“He has a great release – a very quick release,” said Wall.  “He has thrown out base runners to help us win some games this year.”

Juelke not only made his presence felt with his magnificent defense – it was his last appearance at the plate the created the winning run.  Juelke roped a double down the left field line and eventually scored what proved to be the game-winner on an infield groundout off the bat of Alex Peterson (North Penn) in the 11th inning.

“I just went up to the plate with the idea of doing what I have done all season,” said Juelke.  “I just trying to put the ball in play and not do too much with any pitch.”

Juelke found himself a brand new batterymate in the critical final three innings in Mayhew.  Juelke and Mayhew had never met prior to the Carpenter Cup tryouts.

“We (Upper Dublin) never played Pennridge (Mayhew) and I didn’t really know anything about him,” said Juelke.  “But the more the game went along – the better chemistry we had.”

Wall had never seen Mayhew pitch either – but after tryouts he knew that he wanted the diminutive sophomore on the 25-man roster.

“We knew what we were getting in Mayhew,” said Wall.  “His stuff is tough to handle - he has that hard breaking ball that is tough to hit.  He is what I call a swing and miss pitcher.

“I have a lot of respect for (Pennridge head coach) Tom Nunneviller,” added Wall.  “And if he has the confidence to start a sophomore in the first round of a (PIAA Quad-A) district playoff game – I have the confidence to pitch him in a tie game - late in the game.”

“I was a little surprised that I ended up throwing three innings, but all I wanted to do was to go out there and win the game,” said Mayhew, who was brilliant as he allowed just one hit and walked just a single batter to go along with four strikeouts.  “I tried out for the team – and I really thought my chances of making the team were slim with me being a sophomore.

“I had never thrown to him (Juelke) before, but it was nice to be able to throw to a good catcher,” added Mayhew.  “I threw to a good catcher at Pennridge (Joe Unangst), and it is always important to be able to throw to someone good.”

The SOL A/C took a 2-0 lead in the first inning.  Sophomore Justin Horn (Upper Dublin) singled to open the inning – but was picked off.  Junior Mason Nadeau (North Penn) followed with a single and stole second base and moved to third base as senior Zach Metz (Plymouth Whitemarsh) singled.  Metz then stole second putting runners on second and third base.  Junior Dutch Reardon (Plymouth Whitemarsh) delivered a clutch two-run single to score both Nadeau and Metz.

Chester County answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, but the SOL A/C took a 4-3 lead in the top of the second inning.  Junior Steven Bell (Upper Dublin) opened the inning with a single – moved to second on a wild pitch – and moved to third base on another wild pitch.  Gabe Hofferman (Cheltenham) walked.  Bell and Hofferman executed a double steal with Bell scoring on a steal of home.  Horn delivered his second hit of the game with an RBI single that scored Hofferman.

Chester County scored a single run in the second and another run in the fourth to go on top 5-4, but the SOL A/C tied the game at 5-5 with a single run in the seventh inning.  Junior Cole Swiger (Upper Dublin) opened the inning with a walk and stole second base.  Junior Conor McFadden (Upper Dublin) moved Swiger to third base on a fielder’s choice – and Swiger scored the tying run on an RBI groundout off the bat of senior Kevin Barron (Hatboro-Horsham).

The SOL A/C won the game with a single run in the 11th inning.  With one out, Juelke doubled and moved to third on an error.  Dan Long (Pennridge) hit a single that failed to score Juelke – however – Juelke would score moments later on an RBI groundout off the bat of Alex Peterson (North Penn).

“It would be great if we can win on Friday and get a chance to play across the street,” said Mayhew in reference to Citizen’s Bank Park – home of the Philadelphia Phillies.  “Playing in that atmosphere would be special.”

“Every kid that has played baseball dreams of playing baseball in a pro stadium,” said Juelke.  “And if we can win Friday we can live that dream.”

And the clutch play of both Juelke and Mayhew against Chester County will help make that dream hopefully become a reality – not only for the both of them – but for the 23 exceptional players on the SOL American/Continental Conference roster.

Carpenter Cup Extra Innings…There have been a number of Major League players that have played in the Carpenter Cup…that impressive list includes Mike Trout, Mike Piazza, Ben Davis, and Tyler Buchholz among others…the last SOL A/C player to hit a homerun was Tyler Kirkpatrick in 2013…the SOL A/C has hit 18 homeruns over the years which ranks fourth among all ‘franchises’…the overall mark of the SOL American/Continental Conference is now 16-10.