Hill School offense breaks out in MAPL win over Lawrenceville

POTTSTOWN >> It had plenty to celebrate.

And with good reason, too.
The Hill School derived a lot of joy from Saturday’s game with Lawrenceville School. Beating their longtime archrivals is always a joyous occasion, so the Blues were ecstatic about romping over their Mid-Atlantic Prep League guests, 14-4, and being able to close out the game in five innings on the “mercy rule.”

Just as big for the Hill was the way its offense got on track. After being shut out by two previous opponents — Perkiomen School 4-0 on April 17, Hun School 12-0 this past Wednesday — the turnaround at the plate was much to Bowen Borgeson’s liking.

“It was good to see us get runs on the board,” the Hill’s manager said, “and it was nice to see us get hits.”

The Blues didn’t hesitate to get started on either count. They struck for five runs in their first at-bat, then added eight more in the fourth — during the second of their two batarounds, with 13 batters coming to the plate — to make a mercy-rule finish a distinct possibility.

Lawrenceville put a crimp in that plan, plating four runs in the top of the fifth to reduce the Hill’s lead to nine (13-4). It proved a minor inconvenience for the home team, leadoff batter Sam Putt (walk) coming around on a pair of wild pitches to put the exclamation point on the Hill’s joyous afternoon.

“That was a heads-up play,” Borgeson said of Putt’s work on the basepaths. He went to second on the first wild pitch, then kept running as the second traveled along the third-base line with enough speed to prevent the Larries’ catcher from getting to it quickly.

Another bonus for the Hill (4-2 MAPL, 7-6 overall) came from the mound. Brandon Bastian gave the Blues a solid complete game, limiting Lawrenceville to just two of its five hits through the first four innings along with a pair of runs.

Bastian yielded just two walks on a day when a strong wind, blowing out from the home-plate side, had the potential to impact the flight of balls hit in the air.

“I came in with the same approach as any other game, keeping the ball low,” he said after dispatching the Larries on 81 pitches. “I feel it helps a lot, getting them to hit ground balls off swings.”

Lawrenceville got to Bastian to start off the fifth, Kenneth Garcia, Jake Simpson and Hawkins Sutter singling in succession. Misplays on hits by Lucas Simms and Chris Conyers, around John Burke’s groundout to shortstop, got the Larries on the scoreboard.

“They put the ball in play more,” Bastian noted, “and we got rattled. But I feel our guys were working hard behind me.”

“He stepped up and threw well for us,” Borgeson said of Bastian. “He was ready to throw. That’s as much as you can ask of any young player.”

Jack McLaughlin (3-for-4, two RBI) got the Hill off to a flying start. The Blues’ leadoff hitter hit a 1-1 pitch from Lawrenceville starting pitcher Lucas Maloney over the right-center field fence for a home run that touched off the team’s five-run first.

Tyler Chenevert (2-for-4) followed with a double while Michael Rockovich, Zach Sager and Kenneth Palmieri hit singles. Along the way, Puff drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a Hill run, and Gabe Willman plated another with a sacrifice fly to center.

In the fourth, Michael Eze drove in one run with his double to left, and Rockovich (2-for-3) plated two with a triple to right. Bastian contributed an RBI single, and Chenevert doubled in another run.

Borgeson felt his batters took advantage of the out-blowing wind on a number of their hits.
“To a certain degree,” he said. “Our guys took good swings with the jetstream, and they took good approaches on late-inning hits.

“I was happy with the way they hit.”

NOTES >> Lawrenceville called on four pitchers to contend with the Hill’s hard-hitting lineup. … A defensive highlight for the Larries was the two double plays it turned. … McLaughlin and Willman had stolen bases for the Blues.

Hill School 14
Lawrenceville School 4

LAWRENCEVILLE                              HILL SCHOOL

                     ab   r  h bi                       ab   r  h bi

Simpson p     3  1   2  0    McLghln cf   4  3  3  2

Sutter ss        2  1   1  0    Chenvrt lf     4  2  2  1

Weaver cf      3  0   1  0    Eze ss          2  2  1  1

Simms 1b      2  1   0  0    Rockvich c  3  2  2  2

Burke lf          1  0   0  1    Puff rf           1  2  2  1

Conyers 2b    3  0   0  0    Willman 3b  2  0  0  1

Wsnbrgr dh    3  0   0  0    Sager 1b      2  1  1  0

Duffy c           0  0   0  0    Bastian p     2  0  1  1

Kane 3b         2  0   0  0    No. 16 cr      0  1  0 0

Maloney p     0  0   0  0    Plmieri 2b    3  1  1  0

Mahle p         1  0   0  0   

Kilgllon p       0  0   0  0   

Garcia ph       1  1   1  0   

Totals          21  4   5  1    Totals         23 14 12 9

Lawrenceville                   000 04 — 4
Hill School                        500 81 — 14

No outs when game ended on 10-run rule.

E-Lawrenceville 3, Hill School 2. DP-Lawrenceville 2. LOB-Lawrenceville 6, Hill School 6. 2B-Chenevert 2, Eze. 3B-Rockovich. HR-McLaughlin. SB-McLaughlin, Willman. S-Rockovich. SF-Willman. 

                                   IP     H    R   ER   BB  SO

Lawrenceville School


Maloney (L)                  0     3     5      5      2     0

Mahle                        3.2     9     8      6      3     2

Kilgallon                   0.1     0     0      0      0     0

Simpson                      0     0     1      0      1     0

Hill School

Bastian (W)                  5     5     4      3      2     3