The Hatboro-Horsham Hatters won their first playoff game of 2017 by a score of 5-4 over the visiting Avon Grove Red Devils.

The Hatters struck first in the bottom of the 2nd inning when a 2-out Brian Edgington single scored Ryan O’Donnell who had singled and advanced to second on a passed ball.

The Red Devils then put up a big inning in the top of the 3rd inning when they scored 3 runs. The opened the inning with four straight singles to cut the lead to tie the game at 1-1. After a fielder’s choice and a strikeout it looked like Hatters starting pitcher Brian Edgington had a chance to escape having limited the damage to just one run, but Avon Grove’s catcher, Tommy Jacobs, singled to left field scoring two more runs to give the Red Devils a 3-1 lead.

The Hatters answered back with an even bigger bottom of the 3rd inning. With two outs, Eddie Schultz, who had singled, stole second base and scored on a Colin Kennedy single to centerfield, cutting the lead to 3-2. Drew Passerini then singled to give the Hatters 1st and 2nd with two outs for senior third baseman Ryan O’Donnell. O’Donnell crushed a 3-run homerun to give the Hatters a 5-3 lead.

The score remained the same until the top of the 7th inning. With one out and runners on first and second, Red Devil centerfielder Andrew Brady hit a double down the left field line to cut the lead to 5-4 and it gave Avon Grove runners at second and third with one out.

At that point, the Hatters made a pitching change and brought in senior Colin Kennedy. Kennedy got the next two batters on a hump back liner to Edgington, who had moved over to first base, and a ground out to Edgington.

The win allows the Hatters to advance to the District 1 Quarterfinals on Friday against Perkiomen Valley, who was a 2-1 winner on Wednesday over Garnet Valley. The game will be played at Hatboro-Horsham at a time to be determined, likely either 12:00 or 1:00 PM due to the Hatboro-Horsham Senior Prom on Friday night. The winner of Friday’s game will advance to the District semi-final on Tuesday, May 31st and will qualify for the PIAA State Playoffs. The loser will be part of a 4-team playback to earn the 5th and final state playoff spot from District 1 and would also play on Tuesday, May 31st.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
AVNG 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 4 9 0
HTBR 0 1 4 0 0 0 X 5 8 0


Avon Grovemore stats

EDIT
Lineup AB R H RBI BB K
Andrew Brady
4 1 2 2 0 0
Pat Campbell
4 0 0 0 0 0
Shane Kelleher
4 0 0 0 0 3
Tom Jacobs
3 0 1 2 0 1
Riley Davis
0 0 0 0 0 0
Matt Greenjack
2 0 0 0 1 1
Bryce Carey
3 0 0 0 0 0
Ryan Arrell
3 2 3 0 0 0
Bryce Porter
2 0 1 0 0 0
Zack Long
1 0 0 0 0 1
Matt Pettoruto
3 1 2 0 0 0
Alex Ei
- - - - - -
Ryan Gerenser
- - - - - -
Totals 29 4 9 4 1 6
Batting2B: Andrew Brady
TB: Matt Pettoruto 2, Andrew Brady 3, Tom Jacobs, Ryan Arrell 3, Bryce Porter
RBI: Andrew Brady 2, Tom Jacobs 2
FC: Pat Campbell
GIDP: Bryce Porter
TotalsTeam QAB: 17 (56.67%)
Matt Pettoruto, Pat Campbell 4, Bryce Carey 3, Shane Kelleher, Andrew Brady 2, Matt Greenjack, Tom Jacobs, Ryan Arrell 3, Bryce Porter

Team LOB: 5

Hatboro-Horshammore stats

EDIT
Lineup AB R H RBI BB K
Eddie Schultz
2 1 0 0 1 1
Shaun Thomas
3 0 0 0 0 0
Colin Kennedy
3 1 1 1 0 0
Drew Passerini
3 1 1 0 0 0
Ryan O'Donnell
3 2 2 3 0 0
Eric Jester
3 0 1 0 0 1
Brian Edgington
3 0 2 1 0 0
Jake Mayson
0 0 0 0 0 0
Jake Bianchini
3 0 0 0 0 0
Ryan Long
2 0 1 0 0 0
Shane Carpenter
- - - - - -
Totals 25 5 8 5 1 2
BattingHR: Ryan O'Donnell
TB: Brian Edgington 2, Eric Jester, Colin Kennedy, Ryan Long, Ryan O'Donnell 5, Drew Passerini