District 1-5A Baseball: Marple Newtown’s Mathes, Brennan toss no-no in 6-inning win over Phoenixville
PHOENIXVILLE >> Justin Brennan had about two hours to think about what pitches he was going to throw.
With the bases loaded, two outs and Brennan about to relieve Marple Newtown starter Owen Mathes, the fifth-seeded Tigers’ District 1-5A quarterfinal with fourth-seeded Phoenixville was delayed due to lightning.
When play resumed after the delay, Brennan needed three pitches to retire Phantoms’ pinch-hitter Drew Kingsbury and preserve a 3-2 lead.
Not long after, one batter into the top of the seventh, the game was called due to darkness, clinching a Marple Newtown win and spot in the semifinals.
“We talk about having some grit, you gotta have a little grit to you, all year,” Marple Newtown coach Ryan Zimmerman said. “You gotta have a little swagger, and that’s what he’s got. We’ve relied on (Brennan) all year to close some games for us, and that’s why we went to him.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Phoenixville-Marple Newtown District 1-5A Baseball
Drew Kingsbury smokes a liner but it’s knocked down by Ryan Straub for the out at first. pic.twitter.com/sgCTyoJUnf
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) May 26, 2021
Though aware of the rule that the games were deemed official after five innings, the Phantoms were holding out hope they’d have one last chance to bat on Thursday when they departed the field.
“It was just an unfortunate situation,” Phoenixville coach Geoff Thomas said. “I read the rules for the district, for the PIAA, so I was aware but I was hoping that we were going to be able to come back and get the final frame in, get a base hit with Kingsbury in. It was just unfortunate.”
Mathes picked up the win for the Tigers (13-5), who will play Strath Haven in Friday’s Class 5A semis. He tossed 5.2 no-hit innings, allowing two unearned runs on four walks and three errors while striking out six.
He allowed just one base runner via error in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, shutting down the Phantoms in order in three of those frames.
“(Mathes) struggled a little bit in our final outing, but other than that, he’s been pretty lights out all year,” Zimmerman said.
The Phantoms (12-5) went up 1-0 on an RBI by Justin Geiger in the bottom of the first, but Marple responded with three runs in bottom of the second off Phoenixville starter Jason Bilotti.
Jimmy O’Brien drove in a run after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Marple nine-hitter Brian Joslin came up next and drove in a pair of runs with a single.
“A senior comes through in the clutch,” Zimmmerman said. “It was a big play.”
Dillon Can, Greg Impriano and Jason Anderson had the only other hits of Bilotti as he kept the Tigers scoreless after the second.
He gave no earned runs in six innings, allowing four hits, walking two and striking out one.
“The three runs in the second is not something that we’re really used to have happening,” Thomas said. “Jason Bilotti really battled back from that inning. He didn’t do anything wrong, but he dealt with that and kept us in the ball game.”
Mathes was on cruise control until a two-out error in the bottom of the sixth and three straight walks forced in Phoenixville’s JJ Allen for the Phantoms’ first run since the first inning.
After the long delay, Brennan got Kingsbury to hit a liner to second baseman Ryan Straub, who knocked the hard-hit ball down and threw to first to escape the jam.
Can led off the top of the seventh with a liner to left field before the umpires deemed it too dark to finish, ending the Phantoms’ season wishing they could have had one last chance to bat.
“I’ll meet with our players at 3:30 tomorrow to talk with them about the ruling and the official reasoning,” Thomas said. “And just have a little bit of closure because we had a successful year. 13-5 is nothing to shoot a stick at, and I’m very proud of our guys. They dealt with adversity… and I’m just so proud about how they dealt with that adversity.”
Marple, the 2017 District 1 Class 5A champion, will play in its fourth straight semifinal.
“We have high standards,” Zimmerman said. “Marple program’s always has high standards for the kids and the kids understand it. We’re proud of the way we worked. We’re a young team. We had one player with varsity experience with this COVID issue, so I’m really proud of the way we learned and preserved through things. Obviously we showed some mistakes at times with them being young but they always battle back. I’m really happy for them.”
