Breslin caps SOL American/Continental’s comeback in Carpenter Cup quarters

PHILADELPHIA >> Standing at the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs, the bases loaded and the game tied at 4-4, Suburban One American/Continental’s JT Breslin admitted he felt the pressure of the situation.

“A little nervous. There’s always a little bit of nerves,” the Upper Dublin junior said. “But I got through it.”

And he came up with the hit that sent his side to Citizens Bank Park.

Breslin’s two-RBI double down the third-base line capped off a four-run rally in the frame and gave American/Continental a 6-4 victory over Lehigh Valley in the Carpenter Cup Classic quarterfinals Friday afternoon at FDR Park.

“Went up 2-0 and then I got my pitch which was little inside, it was a fastball. And I was able to get around on it,” Breslin said.

SOL A/C scored a run in both the first and second innings and held a 2-0 advantage until Lehigh Valley used four straight doubles in the top of the eight to grab a 4-2 lead.

But American/Continental quickly responded, sending nine to the plate and posted a four spot of its own in the bottom of the inning, earning a place in the semifinals against Delaware County – an 11-2 winner over Inter-Ac/Independents – 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Phillies’ stadium.

“It speaks to the type of kid we have. It’s not all about them, it’s about the team and wanting to keep playing,” said SOL American/Continental head coach Ed Wall, the head coach at Upper Dublin. “That’s one of the things that I talked about from our first practice is ‘Listen, the more we play like a team, the more looks we’re going to have, which is our ultimate goal. Yeah, we’re here for a tournament to play in front of a lot of college scouts, but if we don’t play like a team, it’s going to be one-and-done, guys.’”

Breslin was 2-for-3 while Central Bucks South Eric Gross was 2-for-2 with an RBI.

“We just wanted to play at the Bank, that was the whole goal playing in this game,” Breslin said. “And we got that done.”

Hatboro-Horsham’s Colin Kennedy pitched the final 1 1/3 innings to pick up the win for SOL American/Continental. He gave up no runs, two hits and a walk.

Kennedy came in with two outs in the eighth and a runner on first. He gave up a single to Matt Mellinger before getting Evan Marushak to fly out to center field.

In the ninth, a one-out single by Tyler Bruno – who went 2-for-3 –  and a two-out walk by Jared Burcin brought the go-ahead run to the plate in Ivan Solis. Kennedy, however, got Solis to fly out to left to end the contest.

“It’s really cool,” said Souderton’s Aaron Gulibon of SOL A/C heading to Citizens Bank Park. “I know Blake (Gular has) been here a couple years and the team hasn’t been able to make it. But it’s really cool, a really good feeling to know that we made it.”

Braeden Duff took the loss for Lehigh Valley, allowing two runs – both earned – on two hits in 1/3 innings.

Springfield-Montco’s Nick Pave, Souderton’s Gulibon, Pennridge’s Andrew Mayhew and Dan Klepchick of Central Bucks South combined to hold Lehigh Valley to three hits and no runs over the first seven innings.

Gulibon threw three innings – the third through the fifth – giving up one hits, hitting two batters and striking out two.

“The curveball wasn’t really working so I was just trying to spot up with the fastball and that was my main priority,” Gulibon said. “And it got my through the first two and into the third my last at-bat was a tough one and went to the changeup and it got me out of it.”

Eric Cichocki led off the top of the eighth with a double to left center. Cichocki scored as Bruno doubled to right and reached third on an error the next at-bat. Back-to-back RBI doubles to the left center gap by Sammy Kraihanzel and Burcin gave Lehigh Valley a 3-2 lead.

Burcin advanced to third on a Solis ground out then came home on a wild pitch to extend LV’s advantage to 4-2.

American/Continental’s comeback began with Upper Dublin’s Cole Swiger hitting a one-out single and sliding safely into second on a fielder’s choice by Cameron Komonchak of Central Bucks East. Duff took over the mound for Michael Jenkins and hit Central Bucks West’s Thomas Phillips to load the bases.

Wissahickon’s Alex Tappen cut the deficit to 4-3 as his RBI ground out plated Swiger. An RBI single through the right side of the infield by CB East’s Colin Sheehan scored Komonchak to tie things 4-4.

Upper Dublin’s Justin Horn was hit by a pitch to load the bases again for Breslin, who put SOL A/C up by ripping a double down the line to plate both Phillips and Sheehan.

SOL American/Continental took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. After two-out singles from Souderton teammates Thylar Summarell, Gross hit an RBI single to left to bring home Summarell.

CB West’s Steven Gebre made it 2-0 in the second as his sacrifice fly to left center scored Pennridge’s Luke Nuneviller. Nuneviller was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the inning, stole second with an error on the play allowing him to reach third.