Burg, Pysher lead Pottsgrove baseball to PAC win over Pottstown
LOWER POTTSGROVE >> The crosstown baseball rivalry between Pottsgrove and Pottstown on Tuesday afternoon started out as a wild one, with nine runs scored in the first inning and a half.
But Falcon sophomore Carter Burg came to the mound and shut down a rally that had given the Trojans the lead and went on to pitch 4 2/3’s innings of one-hit shutout ball in a 15-5 Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division win shortened to six innings by the 10-run rule.
Burg also went 3-for-4 and knocked in four runs while Glen Pysher had two hits, including a game-tying double for host Pottsgrove (2-1 PAC Frontier, 2-2 PAC, 3-3 overall). Pottstown (0-1, 0-3, 2-4), hurt itself with seven errors that lead to eight unearned runs.
“I wanted to stop the rally, make sure that we can keep moving forward in the game,” said Burg, who struck out nine and walked none. “Shut them down and keep the team moving.”
Pottsgrove led 4-1 after one, but the Trojans tied it in the second on a two-run single by Gabe Hicks and another run scored on an error. But Burg got a grounder to third and a strikeout to end the inning to keep Pottstown’s lead at just 5-4.
Then Dylan Penot picked up an infield single to shortstop to open the Falcons’ second, advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Ricky Scott and scored on a two-out double to left-center by Pysher to tie it up. Burg singled to right to knock in a run and Koda Browne scored on the front end of a double steal to make it 7-5 after two innings.
Pottsgrove broke the game open with seven runs in the fourth with the help of several Trojans errors and walks.
The Falcons had been shut out by Boyertown on Friday and lost to Pope John Paul II, 6-3 on Monday.
“This game, we just had better at bats,” Pysher said. “We were taking pitches, finding our pitch, finding a way to score runs. Coach (Jamie Nash) tells us to get better at bats. If we get two strikes, fight it off and get it into the gap.”
“The beginning of the season, our first game, we struck out way too many times,” Nash said. “We have to not strike out, not pop out. Those are easy plays. We have to put the ball hard on the ground.”
And the Falcons did put the ball in play in the big fourth and the Trojans had trouble fielding it.
“This is the third game in a row now,” Pottstown coach Chris Petro said. “We played Phoenixville and Spring-Ford and they are excellent teams. But we had 10 errors and gave up 27 runs and only 10 of them were earned.”
Pysher went 2-for-2, also drew a walk and was hit by a pitch and his double was the only extra-base hit of his team’s eight safeties.
“Bubba (Pysher) has been hit by pitches five times this year,” Nash said. “He’ll do what it takes to get on base. I’d like to see him get the bat going. Hopefully this is the jump start. He’s also the catcher and he keeps the pitchers in check.”
Pottstown threatened to cut into the lead in the fifth with two men on and one out, but Burg fanned two in a row.
Though that is not what he normally tries to do.
“Usually I stick to the game plan of keeping control around the zone,” Burg said. “Let the fielders make the plays. I can rely on the team and when I’m on the mound, they can rely on me.”
“Carter is a sophomore, but he definitely has the maturity of the older guys,” Nash said. “He comes to every practice and he worked hard at winter workouts and it paid off today.”
Both teams will now have some time to work on things over the school break.
“We just need to cut down on walks, the guys have to make routine plays and we’ll win some games,” Pysher said.
“We need to work on some things,” Burg added. “But we definitely know we can score some runs.”
And the Trojans will have time to work on their defense.
“We took a punch and we came back,” Petro said concerning his team’s second-inning rally. “I’m very proud of them. But it’s very frustrating. What let us down again was the defense. We’re not mentally prepared before each pitch. You’ve got to have a plan. We’ve got nine guys who can pitch and we can swing the bats. We’ve got to shore up the defense.”
Pottsgrove 15, Pottstown 5
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pottstown | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| Pottsgrove | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 1 |
| Pottstown | Pottsgrove | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Hicks | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Penot | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Draucker | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Scott | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Colvin | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Tyson | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Murphy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Pysher | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Pallay | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Browne | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Gilmore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Burg | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Mackewicz | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Van Bramer | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Simons | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Radomicki | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bunning | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | McGinley | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Corbin | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Kumpf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Derstine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Roskos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Roach | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Lofton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 22 | 5 | 4 | 2 | Totals | 29 | 15 | 8 | 8 |
|
2B — Mackewicz, Pysher
|
|||||||||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||||
| Pottstown | |||||||||
| Mackewicz | 0.2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Colvin | 2.1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Draucker | 0.2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Corbin | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Roach | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Pottsgrove | |||||||||
| Bainbridge | 1.1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | |||
| Burg | 4.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
