Rubin double lifts Great Valley past Unionville
EAST WHITELAND — Monday afternoon at a wind swept Great Valley High School, the Patriots used a sterling seven-inning complete game performance from ace pitcher Allen Barry and a go-ahead RBI double in the bottom of the fifth from Carter Rubin to overtake a talented Unionville squad, 4-3, in a Ches-Mont American Conference baseball clash.
Great Valley (2-0 Ches-Mont, 2-0 overall) only garnered three hits and had to come back twice in the contest, but were aided by five Unionville errors to take the victory. Unionville held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 before the Patriots comeback in the fifth inning.
“We got good pitching and good hitting and pitching and defense are our strengths but today we did not make plays,’ Unionville coach Mike Magee said. “We just kicked the ball around and could not field a ground ball. We could have won that game 3-0 instead of losing.’
Unionville (1-1 Ches-Mont, 1-1 overall) got started early as the Indians scored two runs in the top of the first off Barry. Alex Pechin doubled to begin the game and scored on a RBI single from Eric Takohshian, who had three hits on the day. A Great Valley error led to the second Unionville run.
But the Patriots came right back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game 2-2. Great Valley got a leadoff single from Jake Nonnemacher off Ryan Barrett. Then a error led to two men on with no one out. After Tom Allen flied out to right field, another Indians error led to the first Great Valley run. After Barrett walked Rubin, Ed Liberatoscioli hit an RBI grounder to second to tie the game at 2-2.
“We have a lot of young kids and a lot of question marks,’ Great Valley coach Matt Schultz said. “There is going to be a lot of teaching and learning with this team but the kids work hard and they listen and they battle and that is all that you can ask.’
With both Barry and Barrett (Unionville’s starter), sailing along the game remained tied 2-2 until the top of the fifth inning. After Barry got Takoshian to ground out to shortstop to begin the inning, Drew Jarmuz came up to the plate. With the count 2-1, Jarmuz jumped on a Barry fastball and launched a long home run to left to give the Indians a 3-2 advantage.
Great Valley responded in the bottom in the fifth. With Barrett gone via pitch count, Trevor Gardiner came in to pitch for Unionville.
Gardner did not get much more fielding support than Barrett did. Great Valley scored two runs on one hit, Rubin’s RBI double, with the Indians making two more errors to give them five for the game.
“I hit a waist high fastball right over the plate,’ Rubin said. “And we are used to being the underdog but there is no quit in this team. We have a lot of confidence when Allen is pitching. We really rely on him.’
When the carnage was over, Great Valley had a 4-3 lead and Barry was in a groove.
Great Valley had a chance to break the game open in the bottom of the sixth when they loaded the bases with no outs. But, Gardiner got out of the jam when Nonnemacher popped out to second and induced Barry to hit a fly ball to right that resulted in a double play when Jarmuz cut down a Great Valley runner at the plate for the second out.
Unionville had the top of the order up in the seventh after Barry got Tyler Raffetto to strike out for the first out. Pechin reached on a error to put a man on first with one out. Then Takoshian followed with his third hit of the game, a single to center field to put men on first and second with one out.
Jarmuz then hit a roller that Barry fielded and threw to first for the second out. The game ended when Barry got his fifth strikeout of the the day, fanning Dan Garver to end the game and give the Patriots a hard fought win.
“I had not started a game in a long time and they hit me in the first inning,’ Barry said. “But I settled down and got my curveball working by throwing on the side between innings and we came back and my teammates picked me up today.’
Notes — Barrett allowed just one hit in his four innings of work to start the game.
