Wood’s big play, pitching helps PCL top Burlco

PHILADELPHIA >> The ball exploded off the bat of Burlington County first baseman Tyler Dearden.
It’s velocity and trajectory screamed extra bases and multiple runs. It looked like, sounded like and even felt like a game-changing moment. And it was, but only because Marquise Wood started running after the flight of the ball.
Wood, a sophomore at Roman Catholic, made an incredible charge to catch the ball and start a sequence for an inning-ending triple play in the top half of the first inning for the Philadelphia Catholic League team in the first round of the Carpenter Cup. Spurred by Wood’s huge play and stellar pitching, the PCL topped Burlco 4-3 Tuesday morning in FDR Park.
“The Philadelphia Catholic League is a real solid league. We ended up having 18 pitchers try out for the Carpenter Cup team and you can only select seven,” PCL general manager Jim DiGuiseppe Jr., also Archbishop Wood’s head coach, said. “We had some quality arms and some we couldn’t even fit on the roster. It’s something that myself, the other coaches and other players look forward to every year to come here and represent our league.”
While all of the PCL pitchers threw well, it was the triumvirate of Roman’s Aidan Welch and Archbishop Wood’s Sean Hughes and Cody Kracknell that shined brightest in their five combined innings of work. All in all, it was a good morning for Cahillite players.
Wood, who hails from Roxborough, reached base twice, scoring a run and driving in another. Welch threw two scoreless innings with a strikeout, starting shortstop Greg Grandelli had an RBI and walk and reserve Shane Flaherty was able to reach in his lone at-bat.
It was a rough start to the game for Archbishop Carroll’s James Kelly who walked the first two batters he faced to bring up Dearden. The Burlco hitter unloaded on the first pitch, setting off a remarkable sequence.
“I got a good jump on the ball, I saw it off the bat and tried to track it down,” Wood said. “I wanted to get there as quickly as I could and get it back in and luckily we were able to get all three outs. I was thinking get it back in so the runners couldn’t tag up but they were going off the bat so we were able to turn it.”
The ball, sent to deep right-center, seemed so convincing both runners were way down the basepaths and when Wood caught it, time just seemed to freeze. The Roman sophomore fired it in to a cutoff man, who relayed to second for a force out with a final throw to John Coppola at first for the third out of just the second triple play in the Carpenter Cup’s 31-year history.
“I thought I had a good bead on it then I saw Marquise and he was right next to me,” LaSalle outfielder Gregg Sywulak said. “The ball started to die because the wind was coming in hard today, he got close to it and I started telling him to get it in real quick.”
“After we started running in, I looked back and saw the runners,” Wood said. “I was confused for a second, I thought one had passed the other, I was trying to figure out what was going on. When they made the throw to second I realized we were able to get all three. We had to win after that, it seemed like it was fate.”
Wood then led off with an infield single and scored on an RBI single by Bonner-Prendie catcher Steve Furman in the bottom of the first. The PCL added two more runs in the third inning after Sywulak doubled to put men at second and third with no outs. Grandelli hit an RBI groundout then Wood hit a sac fly to bring in Sywulak.
Kelly gave up a run in the second, but was able to escape his third inning of work unscathed before turning the ball over to Welch. All five pitchers who threw Tuesday, including B-P’s Evan Raiburn in the ninth, were juniors. DiGuiseppe said that was an emphasis for the entire roster to focus on juniors and sophomores that hadn’t committed to any colleges yet.
“I just wanted to go up and if they were crowding the plate, jam them inside,” Hughes said. “I think I threw the ball inside pretty well. I threw strikes and made them put the ball in play and let the fielders make the plays.
“I can trust all the guys behind me.”
The Catholic League added a fourth run in the bottom half of the eighth when Cardinal O’Hara’s Jeff Kelin scored on an error. The run would prove critical as Burlco scored twice in the top of the ninth on two wild pitches by Raiburn before he got a pop-up to short for the final out.
Wood said it felt like team effort and while the guys were playing to represent their individual schools, it was also about showing well for the league. The team was able to have five practices prior to Tuesday’s game, so they were able to build a rapport and Sywulek said they did a lot of the fundamental things well.
The PCL will be back in action Friday as it tries to make its first trip to Citizens’ Bank Park since 2010.
“It’s just doing what we did today,” Sywulak said. “Hit the ball hard, field well, don’t walk too many guys. If we can do that, we’ll be successful.”