Conrad, errors left D-West past D-East

UWCHLAN — Downingtown East vs. Downingtown West may not be as big as Yankees-Red Sox, Phillies-Mets, and Dodgers-Giants in the baseball world.

In the Ches-Mont League, this rivalry is as good as it gets.

With a ruckus crowd on hand, Downingtown West (13-3 Ches-Mont, 13-3 overall) prevailed behind heavy production from the bottom of the order to defeat Downingtown East (7-9, 7-9) 10-7 Monday afternoon.

East made six errors and could not come up with enough timely hits to overcome the mistakes.

“This was not our typical game,’ West head coach David Oleszek. “I didn’t think we played good defense today like we usually do and early on we left a lot of opportunities on the field offensively.

“To the guys credit even in this different type of atmosphere they started to bear down and concentrate to have a good couple middle innings and key at bats which was the difference.’

On the other side the defense, which has been has been a sore spot for East, reared its ugly head again in the first inning when a ground ball could not be corralled by third baseman Nick Amicon gave West an extra out.

Eric Small took advantage of the opportunity with a two-run double in the alley that gave West a 2-0 lead.

“It is the most important thing in baseball to not give the other team extra at-bats,’ East head coach Pete Susi said. “We have given out a bunch of extra outs and it’s the story of our season and it’s a shame; our record would be a lot different if we made the routine plays.’

To East’s credit, the Cougars came right back to take the lead 3-2 in their half of the first inning with two costly errors from West.

After a rocky first inning defensively, both teams were able to settle down in the next few innings. West pitcher Kenny Jarema did not allow another run in his five innings of work, limiting East to only five hits against him.

East starting pitcher Chase Fike went six innings and was able to keep his composure on the mound even with the poor defense behind him. The Cougars relinquished the lead in the fourth inning after an error from shortstop Jesse Alba gave West another shot to take the lead

With two outs and the bases loaded Jason Borosky came through with a two-RBI single to give West the 4-3 lead. Each team added two runs in the sixth inning but the game was blown open in the seventh where West scored five runs, in part to a bases clearing double by Doug Conrad.

“He threw me a first pitch fastball right down the middle and I just took advantage of it,’ Conrad said. “If they are going to have a lot of errors and give it to us for free you gotta take it and that’s what we did today.’

After Conrad’s big hit, he was given the ball to close out the game and keep West in first place in the Ches-Mont National Division.

Conrad allowed a few runs to score due to a misplayed ball in right field, but the bases clearing double gave West the insurance runs it needed to beat their rivals.

“Coming out in the 7th to close against our crosstown rivals in East is huge,’ Conrad said. “I am really glad we got the win.’