Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Ben Mascio throws two-hit shutout against Cheltenham
WHITEMARSH >> Plymouth Whitemarsh’s offense doesn’t need to do too much to secure a win when Ben Mascio is on the mound.
The Colonials did all of their scoring in the third inning Tuesday, pushing five runs across the plate in a 5-0 Suburban One League American Conference win over Cheltenham at Colonial Yards at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
That was more than enough for Mascio, who threw a complete game, two-hit shutout. He struck out 10 batters to one walk.
“We lost to (Cheltenham) last game, so beating them is huge,” the junior lefty said. “It was a big game for us, especially going into the second half of the season.
“They weren’t really catching up to my fastball at all, so I was just pounding fastballs, hitting corners, hitting spots.”
Mascio, who only has one loss this season against a school from Florida, didn’t get in too much trouble against the Panthers.
He allowed a one-out double in the first inning, but stranded the runner on third after a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout. He allowed a single in the fourth inning, but picked the runner off of first base. He only allowed two other baserunners — one via an error and one a walk — and neither advanced past first.
“That’s what he does,” PW coach Chris Manero said. “It’s what he’s been doing for us all season. It’s like every time he comes out he seems to come out with more and more confidence. He has a nice arsenal of a couple different pitches, pounds the strike zone and for him today was just what he does. It’s what he expects to do, which is important, and it’s what his teammates expect him to do.”
The Colonials (8-2 SOL American) posted six of their eight hits in the third inning.
Jesse Jaconski led off with a double, advanced to third on a Michael Orensky single and scored on a wild pickoff attempt. Joseph Jaconski doubled the lead with an RBI double, scoring Orensky and making it 2-0. Drew Kliesh plated Werner with a single, Kevin Reilly hit a sacrifice fly to score Jaconski and Mascio brought home Kliesh with a groundout to make it 5-0.
“We’re just stringing (hits) together at the right time,” Mascio said. “We have to keep pounding them on, though — can’t just have one big inning. We have to keep adding each inning.”
It was the second time in as many league games that the Colonials used a five-run inning to grab the win. Last week they scored five in the seventh inning to come-from-behind and beat Springfield (Montco).
“We do have a lineup that’s capable of scoring runs in bunches,” Manero said. “We have been doing that. Today I would’ve liked to have gotten some more in some spots, especially in that last inning when we had the bases loaded. I think (scoring in bunches) is a characteristic of what we’re able to do. We have some guys who have big bats and we can score quick.”
The Panthers (5-5 SOL American) starter Brennan Park did not allow much outside of the third inning. Making his first start of the season, the right-hander struck out six batters to one walk and allowed five runs on eight hits. He faced just three Colonials batters in four of the six innings he pitched.
“I thought Brennan pitched really well,” Cheltenham coach Tory Wergelis said. “He’s not our typical starter and he came in, threw strikes. He threw a lot of outs. I thought defensively we were really tight. That (fifth) inning a couple things went wrong and they strung together some hits. Obviously they’re a good hitting team. We just couldn’t recover.
“We’ve had a couple injuries and a couple guys that have been sick, unfortunately. We tapped (Park) and he stepped up. He really did a nice job. I can’t really stress enough how impressed I am by how he did against a team like that.”
Kieran Versaw-Barnes did all of the Panthers offensive damage. He was 2-for-2 with a double and also worked a walk.
“We have a great hitting team,” Wergelis said. “We have a lot of experienced guys. I don’t know if it’s a confidence issue right now or if we’re not seeing the ball clearly. They’re just not falling for us now. I keep telling the guys to keep chipping away. I basically compare it to a dam — you chip away long enough, eventually you’ll force a flood. We’re just looking to break through. Hopefully it will be next game, Thursday, against Wiss.”
