New faces help Wissahickon top Plymouth Whitemarsh
LOWER GWYNEDD >> It was not exactly how Wissahickon drew it up, but the Trojans baseball team picked up a Suburban One League American Conference win, 7-4, over Plymouth Whitemarsh at home Monday afternoon.
The Trojans’ three main offensive bats – Blake Rapoport, Alex Tappen and Matt Shilling – went a combined 2-for-9 in the win.
“That’s the first time this year those three guys had two hits between the three of them,” Wissahickon coach John Bernhardt said. “And we put up seven runs. It was good to see guys picking up the slack behind them.”
It was the guys further down the batting lineup that got it done. Jeremy Spittle went 2-for-3 with two RBI from the five-spot and Andrew Seitz had an RBI single in the second inning to get the scoring started from the nine-hole.
Wissahickon also continued using small ball. It used a safety squeeze to score one run and a sacrifice bunt to set up a four-run fifth inning.
“We’re executing it to a tee,” Bernhardt said. “Spittle laid down another dynamite bunt – he put that thing right down the third base line. It’s the little stuff. Matt (Shilling) had a really nice bunt to move guys over. You can see – when you put the ball in play and stuff like that, teams will make mistakes.”
The Colonials scored all four of their runs in the final three innings.
John Pecharo, Justin Gelfand, Adam McKinlay and Drew Kliesh each knocked runners home.
“All game we had guys making contact,” PW coach Chris Manero said. “The guys said they felt comfortable, but we couldn’t put anything together and then it’s always tougher to play from behind. We waited until we were behind to start hitting the ball a little bit, and then it’s a matter of playing catchup. That’s a lot harder to do.”
Throughout the entire game, PW struggled with runners in scoring position. It left runners on second and third in the third, first and second in the fourth, first and third in the fifth and the bases loaded –with the tying run on first – to end the game in the seventh inning.
“We had a lot of missed opportunities today,” Manero said. “We left a ton of guys on base in scoring position … That was the difference maker. In a three-run game, that’s everything there.”
Shilling picked up the win for the Trojans. The right-hander threw four shutout innings. He allowed just one hit while striking out six batters and walking three.
Tappen came on in relief and allowed three runs on two hits in two innings.
Freshman Quinn Rovner closed the game out. He allowed one run in one inning and – with the tying run on first and winning run at the plate – tallied his only strikeout to end it.
“I thought defensively and pitching we could have done a lot better,” Bernhardt said. “We booted some balls around. Alex (Tappen) – he was kind of gassed. You could tell he’s a little tired. Matt (Shilling) threw the ball great. The first four innings he was very good. He was dynamite – the best I’ve seen him throw all year.”
PW’s Jake Kuruc started and threw five innings. He surrendered seven runs on six hits while striking out two batters and walking two.
Pecharo threw a scoreless sixth inning for the Colonials. He allowed just one hit, forced two pop ups and one groundout.
