Hatboro-Horsham rallies from 4 down in 7th, tops Plymouth Whitemarsh on walk-off in 8th

HORSHAM >> Battling through a hip injury, Cole Fisher was not at his best on the mound as Hatboro-Horsham’s starting pitcher gave up four runs to Plymouth Whitemarsh in his third and last inning Thursday afternoon.

The senior had also come up empty in his first three place appearances in the SOL Liberty baseball contest. But in the bottom of the seventh after the Hatters cut a 5-1 deficit in half, Fisher found a way to turn around a disappointing day – hitting a two-strike, two-out single to score two runs and pull Hatboro-Horsham even.

“Just to be that frustrated and I had to keep my composure, so this team kept me there,” Fisher said. “Cause there was times where I almost lost it, I’m going to be honest. But my boys had my back and I knew it had to be me cause I almost let them down. We always have each other’s backs and that single felt amazing.”

An inning later, the Hatters completed their comeback as Noah Schlosser, who had gone 0-for-3, belted a RBI double to deep left center field for a thrilling 6-5 walk-off win to give Hatboro-Horsham its 13^th straight victory.

“I was hoping it would go over the fence but I might have prematurely bat-flipped but I’ll take the double and I’ll take the win,” Schlosser said. “It was a great game overall. Just to come back in the seventh inning like that it’s just absolutely amazing. It’s not something you see every day.”

Hatboro-Horsham’s offense was quiet through six frames – the Hatters (14-2, 13-0 division) collecting four hits while scoring just once when catcher Zach Greenberg reached on a two-out error in the fifth. The visiting Colonials (11-5, 8-5), however, regained the four-run lead in the sixth on a Michael Miller RBI sacrifice fly.

But Nick Katherine led off the bottom of the seventh with a dribbler down the third-base line for a single with Logan Fischer following with a base hit. After a strikeout, Greenberg’s single to right loaded the bases for Trey Porter, who drew a walk to bring home Katherine. Fischer scored on Jack Elwell’s groundout to the shortstop to make it 5-3.

With two outs and runners on second and third, Fisher knocked a single into left center, bringing home Kyle Dittus – Greenberg’s courtesy runner – and Porter to knot the game at five.

“I actually was taking ‘til I had a strike cause we were all taking ‘til we had a strike but once I got to two strikes I was just looking single,” Fisher said. “Anything close I just got to put a barrel on it. And I trust my hands enough, kept my hands back and just put it over the shortstop’s head and that’s all I had to do.”

The next at-bat, PW got an out at second on a fielder’s choice to end the inning but in the top of the eighth HH right-hander Ryan Toporowski put the Colonials down in order. The bottom of the inning, Katherine connected on a one-out double to right with Fischer beating out a single to the shortstop.

That brought up Schlosser, who capped the rally with his shot out to left center field for a double to plate Katherine and send the Hatters storming onto the field to celebrate.

“I saw first-pitch curveball so got a 1-0 count, I was ready for a fastball to come and I was sitting back on it,” Schlosser said. “Just wanted to hit a line drive, I wasn’t going for anything crazy. Just managed to get a hold of it and got the job done.”

Katherine and Fischer both finished 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored while Toporowski pitched five innings of relief to earn the win as the Hatters moved closer to claiming their first SOL title since 2017.

“It’s a great win for us in a lot of ways,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Pete Moore said. “We haven’t faced a lot of adversity this year so for us to get down and have to come back from it is good. You want that little kick in the butt sometimes but you don’t want the loss so that part worked out great for us. Just the fight and the tenacity in our guys to always feel like they’re in it, is special.”

Jesse Jaconski was 3-for-4 with a run scored while Miller went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs for Plymouth Whitemarsh, which lost to HH by a run for the second time the second after falling 3-2 in their meeting April 6. Luke Caucci finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

“We can look at the runs they scored in the end but I think we also have to look at some of the guys we left on base,” PW coach Chris Manero said. “We did play well, I thought we did (have) a really good approach at the plate today. For six innings I thought we played outstanding but we can still look back at the opportunities where we could of expanded that lead and that would of probably changed things later on.

“And that’s always baseball, it’s not necessarily the last inning but you got to look at everything else you did.”

Toporowski gave up one run – earned – on four hits, walked three and struck out five after taking over for Fisher in the fourth. Fisher allowed four runs – three earned – on six hits and a walk while striking out three.

Dylan Robinson took the loss for the Colonials, giving up a run – earned – on three hits in one-third of an inning. PW starter Lincoln Sharpe went five-plus innings, the left-hander allowing an one run – unearned – on four hits, walked one and struck out three.

“We gave him his first start and I mean we could not of asked for anything more from him,” said Manero of Sharpe. “He was excellent. I think he was excited to pitch. He went out there with a lot of confidence.”

Both teams play again at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. PW, 12^th in the District 1-6A rankings, visits Upper Dublin at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. Hatboro-Horsham, first in the 1-6A rankings, hosts Abington.

After two scoreless innings Thursday, Plymouth Whitemarsh took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third.

Gavin Rocks led off by reaching on an error with Jaconski ripping a double to left, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Luke Gartland singled to left center to score Rocks with Miller’s double down the third-base line bringing Jaconski.

Two batters later, Caucci’s one-out, two-RBI double to left put PW up four.

The Hatters scored their first run in the fifth as Fischer hit a one-out double to left center, went to third on a Schlosser groundout then came home after a two-out error on Greenberg’s grounder.

PW took a 5-1 lead in the sixth. Colin Brady started the inning with a bunt single and advanced to second on a Rocks sacrifice bunt. Jaconski was intentionally walked while Gartland drew a walk to load the bases for Miller, who hit a sac fly to right to score Brady.

Hatboro-Horsham 6, Plymouth Whitemarsh 5 (8)
Plymouth Whitemarsh 004 001 00 – 5 10 1
Hatboro-Horsham 000 010 41 – 6 11 2
WP: Ryan Toporowski 5 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 5 SO.
LP: Dylan Robinson 0.1 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 0 BB 0 SO.
2B: PW-Luke Caucci, Jesse Jaconski, Michael Miller; HH-Luke Fischer, Nick Katherine, Noah Schlosser.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Caucci 2-4, 2 R; Jaconski 3-4, R; Miller 2-2, 2 RBI.
Hatboro-Horsham: Fischer 3-4, 2 R; Katherine 3-4, 2 R; Cole Fisher 2 RBI.