Ches-Mont Baseball: Downingtown East outlasts Oxford

By Peter DiGiovanni
pdgiovanni07@gmail.com
@PeteDLN onTwitter
UWCHLAN >> Wednesday afternoon at Downingtown East High School, the host Cougars and the Oxford baseball teams combined for 19 runs, 23 hits and the used nine pitchers combined as East defeated the Hornets, 10-9, in a very wild affair.

Downingtown East catcher Andrew Dewese ended the game by driving a Danny Wyatt pitch to the base of the left-field fence, scoring Nick Mullen with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“They had their infield in, so I wanted to get something the air to get the run home,” Dewese said. “We just kept fighting and fighting. I think we are a very resilient team. We may not have a lot of Division 1 guys, but we will fight and compete with any team.”

Downingtown East (2-0, Ches-Mont, 3-0 overall) took an early 2-0 lead on the Hornets (0-1, 0-1) as Brayden McClain roped a two-run single in the bottom of the first. Dewese knocked around Oxford pitching for three doubles for the game and Nick Mullen added a solo home run for the Cougars.

For most of the rest of the game, Downingtown East trailed the hard-hitting Hornets. Oxford knocked out starter Dylan Hanson in the third. Landen Rozich led the hit parade by roping an RBI double in the second inning and an RBI single in the third as they built a 7-4 lead.

The teams were deep into their bullpens as Oxford held a 9-7 lead going to the bottom of the sixth inning. Rozich was in to pitch now for the Hornets and got the first out when he induced Dewese to pop out to second base.

Alex Lehman reached second when his high fly ball to right field was dropped. Rozich got James Lamb to ground out to first base for the second out and it looked like Oxford would get out of the inning with its two-run lead intact.

But, McClain lofted a long fly ball to deep left field that was dropped, sending two runners charging across the plate and the game was tied at 9-9 going to the top of the seventh.
Downingtown East reliever Mike Devenney, who had come in for Nate Kabatt in the sixth, retired the three  batters he faced and we went to the bottom of the seventh all tied.

“Oxford can really hit the ball well,” Downingtown East coach Pete Susi said. “I thought Nate Kabatt did a good job keeping us in the game with some good innings and Mike Devenney did a great job to get the win.”

Oxford went to its sixth pitcher of the game as Danny Wyatt came in and walked leadoff hitter Nick Mullen to start the seventh. Mullen went to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Ryan Grissom. Then, Dewese ended the wild affair by driving a fastball to deep left and the Cougars had come all the way back.

“This is a very tight group,” Susi said. “They really pull for each other and there were a few times they could have quit today, but they kept at it and came back.”

Downingtown East 10, Oxford 9
Oxford            052 101 0-9
Downingtown East  220 122 1-10
WP-Devenney. LP-Wyatt.
2B-Dewese 3, Reichlin, Matuuszeski, Rozich. HR-Mullen.