Souderton rallies from 6-run deficit, tops North Penn in 8 innings

TOWAMENCIN >> The jubilant Souderton celebration that followed the final out was hard to picture happening with the way Tuesday afternoon began for the Indians.

“It’s electric,” Souderton senior second baseman Kaden Pasternak said. “When you have types of games like this, it’s just being down so much, you’re never out of it. Baseball is just a funny game – you’re never out of it.”

Host North Penn sent a dozen batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, the Knights scoring six runs – the last three on bases-loaded walks – to jump out a quick lead in the SOL Colonial Division baseball contest.

Souderton, however, chipped away with a run each in the second and fifth frame before breaking through in the top of the sixth, bringing home four runs to pull even.

The Knights regained the lead on Henry Wetzel’s two-out RBI double in the bottom of the inning but with two outs in the top of the seventh, Trevor Lutz dropped an RBI single into left center field to knot things at seven.

Chris McKenna’s RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth gave Souderton its first and only lead and Lutz proceeded to put down the Knights order to seal the Indians’ 8-7 victory and had North Penn its first loss.

“We’ve been struggling at the plate and today we did everything we needed to do to come back,” Souderton coach Mike Childs said. “Guys got clutch hits, good base running, we laid bunts down, that’s what I just told ‘em. So, against a really good team here, these guys are the top and they’re always a really good team, a well-disciplined team with (North Penn coach) Kevin (Manero). But yeah we’ll take this win on the road without a doubt so it was good.”

Pasternak went 2-for-4 with an RBI and scored twice, coming home for the winning run after leading off the top of the eighth with an infield single. He was safe at second as the Knights attempted to force him out on Dylan Creitz’s bunt. A balk advanced the runners to second and third Pasternak scored on McKenna’s sac fly to center.

“It all starts with runners on base,” said Pasternak, a Penn State Harrisburg commit. “When you get that first guy on and you get ‘em over. Get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get ‘em in. We did a great job.  In the sixth inning put up four, I think that’s where we got the momentum. And they were down and we took advantage of it.”

Creitz tried to score on a Jeremy Fallon fly out to right only to be thrown out at home, keeping the Knights within a run. But after his clutch hit sent the game to extras, left-hander Lutz capped his two scoreless innings on the mound with back-to-back groundouts then a strikeout to complete the Indians’ comeback.

“We were up 6-0 and we were a few miles an hour of wind away from it being 10-0 in that first inning and then we had numerous opportunities after that,” Manero said. “We played very young today after the first inning and as coaches, we know that we have a lot of work to do to prepare these guys for those kinds of battles and we’ll have to get back to work and make sure that they’re more prepared for Thursday. But there’s a lot of little things today that we didn’t do well and we gave them too much late.”

Lutz and McKenna both had two RBIs for Souderton (3-2, 2-1 division), which has won its last three after opening the season with consecutive shutout losses. Conner Klock finished 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and a run scored.

Ben Farley went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored for North Penn (4-1, 2-1). Brady Dolder was 2-for-5 with a run scored while Mario Sgro was 2-for-4.

“Our short game was not well executed and then we also started getting long,” Manero said. “In that first inning, we struck together numerous two-strike hits and put the ball in play and hit it hard with two strikes. And then the second half of the game, we started getting very long in our swings and we were swinging and missing way too much and we struck out too much. That’s really the difference between the first inning and the zeroes is contact versus strikeouts.”

Both teams have home division games 3:45 p.m. Thursday, North Penn facing Central Bucks South while Souderton takes on Central Bucks East.

Lutz earned the win, allowing no runs, one hit and no walks in two innings while striking out two.

Austin Kreyenhagen came in to pitch for Souderton with two outs and the bases loaded in the first and gave up a walk to make it 6-0 but settled in and did not give up another run until the sixth. He went 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run – earned – on four hits, walked five and struck out seven.

Nick Palovich took the loss for NP, giving up six runs – just two earned – on six hits. He walked two and struck out one. Knights starting pitcher Jake Picozzi went five innings, allowed two runs – both earned – on three hits, walked one, hit one batter and had four strikeouts.

An error and consecutive walks gave North Penn the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the first. Chase Jones’ RBI base hit made it 1-0 while Farley followed with a two-RBI single to put the Knights up three.

Dolder’s single on the next at-bat loaded the bases again. After a strikeout, James Mangine’s walk had NP leading 4-0. Farley was forced out at home on a Sgro fielder’s choice but the next two batters – Justin Egner and Kevin Brace – drew walks to extend the Knights’ advantage to 6-0.

“We put our self in a 6-0 hole in the first inning due to not throwing strikes,” Childs said. “It’s always tough to get out of that and you have an option you hang your head or you battle and we came back and we battled.”

Souderton made it 6-1 in the second as Lutz walked with two outs then scored on Klock’s RBI double to left. In the top of the fifth, Pasternak led off with a single up the middle, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch then scored on a McKenna RBI groundout.

The Indians began the fourth, loading the bases with no outs after an error, a Joey Nase single and a Joey Crecca walk. Lutz’s RBI sac fly to left cut the margin to 6-3. A Klock single packed the bases once more and a Pasternak RBI groundout plated Crecca’s pinch runner Max Mento to get Big Red within two.

Two outs and runners on second and pinch hitter Zach Pollock came through with a single to left with an error on the play bringing home both runners to tie the game 6-6.

“(Assistant) coach (Casey) Clauss he just said in one of the innings just try and choke up on the bat, get ‘em in play,” Pasternak said. “We were a little late on Picozzi but just choke up, put the ball in play that’s literally what we did.”

North Penn responded in its half of the sixth to go up 7-6. Jones led off with a walk but was forced out at second on a Farley fielder’s choice. Farley stole second and after a strikeout scored as Wetzel connected on an RBI double to left center.

But Souderton rallied again in the seventh. Ethan Warner hit a one-out single up the middle. The next batter struck out but Crecca kept the Indian alive with a walk and Lutz followed by dropping a single into left center to bring Warner’s courtesy runner Jack Wright.

Sgro started the bottom of the seventh with a base hit, went to second on a Justin Egner’s sacrifice bunt then third on a Brace fly out to center. Lutz, however, stranded Sgro there with a strikeout.

Souderton 8, North Penn 7 (8)
Souderton 010 014 11 – 8 9 2
North Penn 600 001 00 – 7 8 2
WP: Tyler Lutz 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 SO.
LP: Nick Palovich 3 IP 6 H 6 R 2 R 2 BB 1 SO.
2B: S-Conner Klock; NP-Henry Wetzel.
Souderton: Klock 2-4, RBI, R; Lutz 2 RBI; Chris McKenna 2 RBI; Kaden Pasternack 2-4, RBI, 2 R
North Penn: Brady Dolder 2-5, R;  Ben Farley 2-5, 2 RB, R; Mario Sgro 2-4.