Kuehn leads Coatesville past Great Valley on the mound and at the plate
EAST WHITELAND >> On a cold windswept Great Valley baseball diamond, Coatesville received a red-hot starting pitching performance from Alex Kuehn Friday afternoon. The Coatesville junior dominated Great Valley as he went seven innings, allowing just six hits while striking out seven and not walking a batter. Kuehn also added a single and double at the plate and Coatesville had its second Ches-Mont League win in a row, 5-2, over host Great Valley.
“I was able to locate my fastball and then keep them off balance with my offspeed stuff today,” Kuehn said. “I was getting ahead of the hitters and I felt really good out there even though it was a cold day. And we have started hitting lately which is a good sign.”
Coatesville (4-3 league, 4-3 overall) opened the scoring against Great Valley (2-4, 2-4) starter Danny Carr in the top of the second inning. Kuehn led off the inning with a sharp double to right field. Joe Boccio then lofted a fly to right field for the first out with Kuehn going to third base. Harrison Susi then ripped an RBI single to center and it was a 1-0 game in favor of Coatesville.
But, it was the top of the third when the Red Raiders broke things open against Carr. Marc Garcia began by reaching on a Patriots error. Zach Kudlacik then singled to put two men on with no one out. The dangerous RJ Rickenbaugh walked to load the bases with no one out. Matt Stout then ripped a Carr fastball for a two-run double to make it a 3-0 Coatesville lead. Boccio then plated another run with a long sacrifice fly and the Red Raiders were off to the races with a 4-0 lead.
“We struggled early in the season at the plate,” said Coatesville coach Hal Ziegler. “We seem to be coming out of it lately. I think it was mostly mental with our guys. But, Alex gave us a great performance today. He was around the plate all game and throwing strikes. We made some miscues in the field which made him through some extra pitches. But, I was really happy with the way he pitched.”
The lone threat Great Valley had came in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Patriots plated two runs on three hits with Mason Segarnick and Luke Nemeth getting the RBI, but that would be the last bit of danger Kuehn was in the entire game.
The hot-hitting Red Raiders, who scored 13 runs against Bishop Shanahan Wednesday, were not done scoring. In the top of the fifth inning, Rickenbaugh led off with a long double. After Stout moved the runner to third base with a hard grounder to the right side, Kuehn helped himself again by lofting a sacrifice fly and it was 5-2 in the fifth inning.
Great Valley went down in order against Kuehn in the bottom of the sixth inning but put a runner on base via error in the bottom of the seventh inning. But, Kuehn, on his 86th pitch, got Luke Cahill to ground out to short and the surging Red Raiders had their second win in a row.
“Alex was really tough today,’ Rickenbaugh said. “He had good command of his fastball and that set up his curveball and changeup to keep them off balance. and he had great control today and threw strikes.”
Coatesville 5, Great Valley 2
Coatesville 013 010 0 – 5
Great Valley 000 200 0 – 2
2B-Rickenbaugh, Kuehn.
WP-Kuehn. LP-Carr.
