Stalker homers, collects 4 hits as Council Rock North tops Noth Penn

TOWAMENCIN >> Austin Stalker was a triple shy of the cycle on a windy Thursday afternoon but that was about the only thing that did not go right at the plate for Council Rock North’s senior shortstop.

“I wish I had the triple, it would have been cool for the showcase,” he said. “But it was a heck of a day for me so it was cool.”

Stalker collected the Suburban One League baseball crossover contest’s opening hit with a one-out double to right field in the top of the first inning. The Radford commit added a pair of singles before capping a 4-for-4 performance against host North Penn with a two-run home run to left in the sixth.

“I’ve been working my counts a little bit,” he said. “And today it was just more like if I see it I’m going to drive it and take advantage of the counts I’ve been seeing.”

Stalker helped the Indians rack up a total of 14 hits in the Suburban One League crossover contest and score two runs in four consecutive innings to pull away from the Knights and halt CR North’s two-game skid with a 9-3 victory.

“Our energy the last couple games was off and then today it was a good-energy day back for us,” Stalker said. “We were up the whole time, had each other’s backs and we were ready to put some balls in play and take advantage of it.

North Penn pulled even 1-1 when Ben Farley scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the second but Rock North responded with the next four runs.

A Mario Sgro RBI single had the Knights down 5-2 in the fourth only for the Indians to use bunts to plate two in the fifth while Stalker’s two-run blast made it 9-2.

“We got to play better baseball, we’re just not playing good baseball right now,” North Penn coach Kevin Manero said. “We had two big wins last week, kind of punished the baseball a little bit last week and this week, well, I guess we have to do a better job of working on making adjustments and we need to work harder on getting our guys ready to hit. Cause we’re not ready right now and today we got beat in every facet of the game.”

Brian Curry was 3-for-4 with a trio of singles, an RBI and a run scored, Nolan Riesenberger went 2-for-3 with an RBI and scored twice while Shane Anhalt was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored for Council Rock North (9-3, 7-3 SOL Patriot).

Indians starter pitcher Jadon Tang earned the win in a solid five-inning effort, the left-hander giving up two runs — both earned — on six hits, walking two and striking out eight.

“My curveball was pretty good today,” said Tang, who struck out the side in the bottom of the third. “My two-seam was kind of getting hit so had to work on my four-seam, working in, curveball out.”

Stalker had three RBIs and scored twice while Will Scibona had two runs scored for Rock North, which is hoping Tuesday’s victory gets them back on track. The Indians started the season 7-0 before dropping three of its last four — falling 12-1 at Central Bucks East Monday then losing 4-3 to Central Bucks West at home Tuesday.

“Last two games have been pretty rough for us,” Tang said. “We’ve been hot with the bat but just defensively and errors so we needed a bounce-back game today and I got my boys’ backs and they got my back so we took care of business today, got everything done.”

For North Penn (5-5, 3-5 SOL Colonial), since opening the year 3-1 the Knights have lost two then won two and now have a two-game losing streak heading into Friday’s visit to CB West at 3:45 p.m.

Council Rock North’s next game is 3:45 p.m. Monday hosting Pennridge.

“We have looked like a very good baseball team sometimes and a very bad baseball team other days,” Manero said. “And that’s part of having some young guys in the lineup. It’s part of having not all three facets of the game working at the same time. But like you said, we’re halfway through the season. It means we have a lot of baseball left to play and things can charge around here very quickly.”

Sgro was 2-for-3 with two RBIs while Brian Neal went 2-for-3 with two runs scored for the Knights. Jack Picozzi finished 2-for-3 with a double and Ben Farley was 2-for-4 with a run scored.

NP starting pitcher Trevor Lugara took the loss, the freshman lefty allowing seven runs — six earned — on 12 hits in 4 1/3 innings. He had no walks, hit one batter and struck out one.

“He still threw a lot of strikes today which he does and that’s what we want him to keep doing,” said Manero of Lugara. “Left a couple pitches out over the plate. He competed — I mean, he’s always going to compete. He’s a tough kid and we’re going to get a lot of really good innings out of him for the next four years.”

CR North took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Stalker hit a one-out double to right then scored as Quinn Erlandsen followed with an RBI double to right.

A Pat Breen single and two walks had the bases loaded with two outs for North Penn in the bottom of the first but Tang escaped the jam unscathed with a fly out to right.

The Knights did get a run in the second to knot things 1-1. Farley led off with a single, went to third on a hit-and-run as Sgro singled with one out then scored on a wild pitch.

Rock North started the top of the third with three consecutive singles to load the bases. After a strikeout, Anhalt’s RBI single made it 2-1 while Tang was hit by a pitch on the next at-bat to bring home another run.

The Indians extended their lead to 5-1 in the top of the fourth. Riesenberger connected on an RBI single to left center then scored from second two batters later on Stalker’s two-out RBI single through the right side of the infield.

“Our approach is see a pitch early, drive it and if you get on base know your teammate’s going to hit you in,” Stalker said.

In the bottom of the fourth, Sgro dropped a two-out single into center, bringing home Neal from third to make it 5-2.

Rock North, however, responded by going up 7-2 in the fifth. Anhalt and Tang started the inning with back-to-back singles with a Lukas Muller sacrifice bunt putting runners on second and third.

Curry’s bunt down the first-base line stayed fair to bring in Anhalt. Dominic Wagner followed with another bunt, the Knights attempting to get the out at home but an error allowed Tang to score.

In the top of the sixth, after Scibona led off with a walk Stalker put the Indians up 9-2 with his two-run blast over the left-field fence.

“I hit it and I was looking for it, I thought it just got over his head,” Stalker said. “I was trying for three and then the second baseman goes ‘It’s gone.’”

In the bottom of the sixth, Sgro’s bases-loaded groundout scored Neal to make it 9-3.