Wissahickon rallies past Hatboro-Horsham

In it’s fourth straight game in four days, the Hatboro-Horsham High School baseball team suffered a tough 5-2 loss to Wissahickon High School despite having a great start.

In his first career start, Freshman Jimmy Tooley had a no-hitter through 3.1 innings before giving up the first his with one out in the fourth inning.

After shutting down the Trojans in the first four innings, Hatter Jake Bianchini gave Hatboro-Horsham a 1-0 lead when he scored on a passed ball.

In the next play, the Hatters scored their second run when Shane Carpenter reached first base on an error from Trojan shortstop Steve Loden.

After a painless fifth inning, the Trojans finally responded with a late rally in the top of the sixth inning.

After a leadoff walk and a base hit to start the inning, the no. nine hitter Eddie Fortescue earned a base hit to left field to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Hatters.

The Trojans later tied the game at 2-2 in the next at bat when Tyler Caso scored JT Culp on a fielders choice. Caso was tagged out at first trying to advance to second base on the play.

After an intentional walk, it looked like the ball was going to be caught in the infield, but windy conditions forced the popped up ball to go over to third base and hit the ground to give Wissahickon the 3-2 lead.

In the next play, Trojan Andrew Booth hit a line drive to centerfield and right at Hatter Jake Mayson.

However, windy conditions was again an issue when a huge gust of wind pushed the ball to the side of Mayson thus increasing the Trojan lead to 4-2.

Finally, Michael Steitz gave the Trojans their fifth run with a two-out base hit to left field.

After a quick bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh, the Hatters got back-to-back base hits with two outs, but the rally ended with a line drive from Anthony Bruno to Trojan pitcher Quinn Rovner.

Fortescue, who was the last batter in the Wissahickon lineup, had the best performance offensively going 2-for-3 with a walk and one RBI.

“As long as we’re winning games, I’m happy being in the bottom of the lineup,” said Fortescue. “I mostly get what I like and what I want to hit and I just want to win.”

Wissahickon head coach Andy Noga was thrilled with his team’s performance despite being down for most of the game.

“We knew that we had to grind out some wins this year and this was just one of them,” said Noga. “Hatboro-Horsham is a well-coached team but I trust our guys especially when our offense is one of our stronger points.”

Hatboro-Horsham head coach Pete Moore was thrilled with his team despite a tough loss, especially to Tooley on his first career start.

“We played four league games in four days,” said Moore. “All we wanted for Tooley was to give him a win in his first varsity start and he gave us a chance to do that.”

Tooley threw 4.1 innings giving up only one hit and zero earned runs.

Rovner was given the win on the mound after throwing for a complete game victory striking out seven Hatters.

Hatter Matt Brown was given the loss after throwing for 1.2 innings surrendering three earned runs and four hits.

The Wissahickon High School baseball team will travel to Quakertown Friday with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

The Hatboro-Horsham Hatters will play their fifth straight game in as many days when they travel to Central Bucks East Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:45 p.m.