Pennridge overcomes early errors, holds off CB East’s late rally
PERKASIE >> When Joe Robinson hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield with two outs in the fifth inning, the only option left was to hustle.
“I’m just thinking ‘I hit that ball, all right I got to run,’” Robinson said. “Little do I know Andrew (Fantaskey) comes home, scores a run, I get there safe by a step maybe half a step.”
Pennridge’s senior catcher busted down the line, touching the first base just before Central Bucks East first baseman Jake Grube could apply a tag. It gave Robinson an infield single and Fantaskey the time to dash home from second.
“That’s just baseball for you and that’s why I love the game,” Robinson said. “Cause you could be hitting bombs but you could be hitting them right to people. But you could be hitting little dinkers like that and end up putting your team ahead.”
Robinson’s short RBI base hit broke a 1-1 tie and an inning later in Monday afternoon’s Suburban One League Continental Conference contest, the Rams tacked on a pair of runs. The insurance came in handy as the visiting Patriots made a comeback push in the seventh, but Pennridge held on to claim a 4-3 victory at Second Street Park.
“Had a lot of extra outs gave up at the beginning of the game, didn’t look too good but Ian (Kacergis) got us back and kept us in the game. Made it 1-0 game for a little while,” Robinson said. “The end of the game there, put our back against the wall a little bit, see how we handle it and we handled it well. So, still ended up getting the win, that’s all that matters.”
#BASEBALL: End 5 @PennridgeHS 2, @cbebaseball 1. Rams take back the lead as Robinson beats out 2-out infield single to score Fantaskey. pic.twitter.com/d5fdsvaXUS
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) April 10, 2017
Pennridge (3-1, 2-0 conference) had five errors through the first three frames, but Central Bucks East could not take advantage of the defensive mistakes, mainly due to a solid outing from right-hander Kacergis.
The DeSales University commit allowed just an earned run on three hits over five-plus innings, did not give up a walk and struck out six.
“I feel like my slider was working pretty well,” Kacergis said. “Had a good feeling on that in the beginning of the game. If I was down in the count I knew I had a good feeling with that, so I just go and throw that, try to get back even.”
Kacergis’ toughest jam came in the second after two errors gave East runners on the corners with no outs. The righty, however, picked up back-to-back strikeouts and a fly out to shortstop, keeping the game – which was played with just one umpire until the top of the fifth – scoreless.
“We’re lucky, we gave the five outs in the second or third inning and Kacergis still battles his tail off for us,” Pennridge coach Tom Nuneviller said. “He’s good, he’s very good. It’s a tough way to play if you give teams five outs. We have to clean that up a little bit, but we battled.”
A leadoff single by Grant Meiers in the top of the sixth ended Kacergis’ day, but Andrew Mayhew took over on the mound and proceeded to retire the next three Patriots.
The Rams extended their lead to 4-1 in their half of the sixth on an RBI single by Ray Knight – the freshman’s first varsity hit – and an RBI ground out from Jimmy Petrik.
In the seventh, consecutive two-out RBI singles from C.J. Gillmer and Colin Sheehan made it in a one-run contest but Mayhew sealed the win and picked up the save with a strike out of Meiers.
“That’s a game that we kind of gave a little bit away,” CB East coach Kyle Dennis said. “But I thought in situations where after we gave something away, we responded with something. Our pitcher (Tyler Quinlan) came back and responded very well.”
Quinlan took the loss, giving up four runs – all earned – on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked three, hit one batter and struck out five.
“Tyler, what I told him when I went out there, was I was just unbelievably impressed with how he carried himself, his body language, his poise, all the things that are really hard to teach a high school kid to do,” Dennis said. “When you face adversity, you have choices to get really ticked off about it and let it affect the rest of it and you take a breath and you get right back to work.”
Gillmer had the only multi-hit day, finishing 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for East.
Robinson drove in two runs for Pennridge, which begins a stretch of three straight non-conference games Tuesday hosting Upper Perkiomen at 3:45 p.m.
“Get the win, that’s the most important thing but we got to focus on closing the game better and making the plays and not giving them extra outs,” Kacergis said. “Once we learn how to do that, we’ll be much better.”
Central Bucks East visits Abington 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.
In the first, Pennridge had runners on the corners and one out, but Quinlan struck out Kyle Yoder and a great diving stop and throw from shortstop Matt Ernst prevented at least one Rams run.
Pennridge posted the opening run in the third. Mayhew led off with a double to left, Fantaskey reached on a bunt single and Kolby Rush drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Robinson was then hit by a pitch to plate Mayhew.
East, however, got out of the third down just 1-0 thanks to a Quinlan strikeout of Yoder and Gillmer snagging a Kacergis liner and doubling off Rush at second.
The Patriots tied it 1-1 in the top of the fifth. Cameron Komonchak hit a two-out single, stole second and scored when Gillmer dropped a double into right field.
Pennridge regained the lead in the bottom of the frame, Robinson’s RBI infield single bringing home Fantaskey, who drew a one-out walk and stole second.
Yoder began the bottom of the sixth with a single. Oliver Jervis walked with one out and on the next at-bat, Knight’s single plated Yoder for a 3-1 lead. A balk moved Jervis to third and Knight to second with Jervis scoring on Petrik’s ground out to first.
In the seventh, Ernst drew a one-out walk went to second when Komonchak ground out and scored East’s second run on Gillmer’s RBI single. Gillmer took second on a wild pitch and came home to make it 4-3 on Sheehan’s RBI base hit. But on the next at-bat, Mayhew struck out Meiers.
Top Photo: Pennridge’s Joe Robinson steals second base in the Rams’ game against Central Bucks East on Monday, April 10, 2017. (Debby High/For Digital First Media)
