Boyertown’s Yesavage no-hits Phoenixville for 2-0 Bears victory

BOYERTOWN >> He gave Boyertown more than it may have expected … and Phoenixville more than it could contend with.

Trey Yesavage gave the Bears a career performance Thursday when they hosted Phoenixville in a Pioneer Athletic Conference divisional crossover game. The sophomore pitcher hurled a no-hitter while the Boyertown bats and gloves gave him sufficient support in a 2-0 victory over the Phantoms at Bear Stadium.

Dealing with the first no-no of his life, Yesavage didn’t have any prevailing superstitions or issues overthinking the situation. What he had was a curve ball that served as his cash-in pitch toward his eight strikeouts, and enough self-control to not be flustered by Phoenixville’s attempts to undo his pitching performance.

“It didn’t affect me,” Yesavage said after capping Boyertown’s four-games-in-four-days run. “I did what I usually do.”

Accustomed to duty as a spot starter or in short relief, Yesavage came up big for the Bears (9-5 PAC, 11-6 overall). He weathered a four-walk outing and Phoenixville (10-4, 12-4) mounting threats in the fifth and seventh to help Boyertown go 3-1 this week.

“He’s been used to throwing in the vicinity of 60 pitches a game,” Bears manager Todd Moyer said of Yesavage (4-1), who wrapped up the complete game in 96 pitches. “To go that long … he kept it together. He faced a couple good hitters out there.

“Having four games in four days, we didn’t expect him to do the job he did. He showed a lot of maturity.”

Phoenixville’s pitcher, Luke Bagley, turned in his own solid mound effort. The Phantom senior was a model of control in not issuing any walks, scattering six hits and yielding just one earned run and throwing just 64 pitches over six Boyertown at-bats.

But the offensive support wasn’t there. Phoenixville had just six batters reach base, none getting past second base, and was undone by the Bears’ near-perfect (one error) defense.

“Our pitcher pitched a hell of a game,” Phantom interim manager Dave Cimina said. “To pitch a game like that, and get no run support …

“We were hitting the ball well,” he added, “but they (Bears) played great defense behind their pitcher.”

Phoenixville, managing just one baserunner through the first four — Brandon Fink drew a leadoff walk in the third — saw Dylan Clark start off the fifth with a walk and reach second off Justin Blakey’s one-out grounder. But a 4-6-3 double play ended the threat.

In the seventh, the Phantoms got runners on first and second off an Ethan O’Donnell fielder’s choice play — Trip Shoemaker (walk) erased at second — and a walk to Clark. But Yesavage got Devon Goryl and Blakey to make the final two outs to preserve his no-hitter.

“After I walked the second batter, I wasn’t sure I could pitch more,” Yesavage said. “But when I got two outs, I did the best I could.”

Boyertown’s eventual game-winning run came in the first. Leadoff batter Chris Davis (2-for-3) bunted his way to first base, stole second, then came around off sacrifice hits by Derick Basile (bunt) and Billy Coleman (fly to center).

Caleb Harrison got the Bears insurance in the fifth, leading off with a single and reaching second on a throwing error on the play. Yesavage bunted safely to move Harrison to third, where he was replaced on the basepaths by pinch-runner Sean Sutterby.

One out later, Colin Maloney’s fly ball to right field gave Sutterby the avenue to score.

“It’s always a good thing to get more runs,” Yesavage said. “The defense helped, too.”

Phoenixville (7-2 PAC Frontier) came into the day one-half game behind Pottsgrove (7-1) in the PAC Frontier Division (they face off next Wednesday at Pottsgrove). With that in mind, Cimina has a simple solution for getting his players back on track.

“Relax,” he said. “Saturday, we’re going to go indoors and hit and hit. We have one of the best hitting teams in the PAC, so we want to have a relaxed team.”

Conversely, Boyertown finds itself with more of a challenge to its post-season life. The Bears, currently fifth in the Liberty Division at 4-5, beat Spring-Ford Monday (3-2) and Perkiomen Valley Wednesday (4-1) but lost to Owen J. Roberts Tuesday (7-6).

“We had a couple bad games together we could have won,” Moyer said. “We’re looking to get the team in the (PAC) tournament at the end.

“This was a nicely played game. We had a pitcher throw strikes, and the team played the way it used to. It was a nice day at the ballpark.”

NOTES >> The last no-hitter rung up by a Boyertown pitcher came on April 17, 2014, when Tyler Bauman hurled the Bears to a 5-0 victory at Pottsgrove. … Shayn Horrocks, who singled in the first, also hit safely for Boyertown. … The game was completed in a brisk 1:21.