TOWAMENCIN — Chase Jones said he is not looking to hit home runs. But with enough good contact and a favorable wind, the North Penn junior second baseman sent a pitch out past the fence in left-center field Thursday afternoon.
“I don’t think I got it fully but I never try to hit a home run,” Jones said. “I’m always line drive and I got it and it just kept going with the wind. So felt good.”
Jones belted his two-run blast with two outs in the bottom of the third inning, extending the Knights’ advantage over visiting Pennridge to 3-0.
Kevin Brace added two more runs in the fourth with his second double of the contest and that was more than enough offense for starting pitcher Trevor Lugara. The junior left-hander allowed just two hits in throwing a shutout as North Penn earned a 5-0 victory in the Suburban One League Colonial Division opener for both sides.
“Definitely all started on the mound today,” Knights coach Kevin Manero said. “Trevor was crisp, efficient, worked quickly, set the tone, pace of the game. And I think that kind of kept us in check and then we came up with some big hits when we needed them.”
Lugara gave up just a pair of singles, struck out eight and did not allow a walk in his first start after earning all-division first team honors last season.
“The fastball was really working,” Lugara said. “I was just trying to get it in the zone and make sure nothing gets around home, no one scores.”
The lefty’s lone bit of trouble came in the top of the fifth after the Rams (1-1, 0-1 division) put their first two batters on base – Noah Keating reaching on an error while Ryder Olson’s comebacker deflected off Lugara for an infield single. Lugara, however, followed with a strikeout, a fly to center then another strikeout to strand both runners.
“I felt good today,” Lugara said. “I mean, everything was really working besides that one inning, couple things went both ways but overall I felt good, everyone had my back.”
Lugara proceeded to retire Pennridge in order in both the sixth and seventh. The Rams had just three baserunners, the only one before the fifth coming when Connor Murray hit a one-out single in the third.
“You just got to tip your hat to him, he threw a pretty good game,” Pennridge first-year coach Danny Long said. “And we’ll go back to the drawing board offensively and fine tune some things.”
Brace, batting first in the Knights’ lineup, finished 3-for-3 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Jones went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
“We were pretty tenacious, we swung at strikes, didn’t swing at balls, kind of settled in, got our timing down a little bit,” Manero said. “I think when we tacked on the two runs in the fourth inning those back-to-back innings were good for us to separate a little bit.”
North Penn (2-0, 1-0), which last season reached the PIAA-6A semifinals for the second time in three years, began its 2024 campaign in Vero Beach, Florida picking up a 7-2 win over Franklin Regional Sunday. The Knights have another non-league game Friday hosting Hazleton 4 p.m. Friday.
“I think we just need to play games,” Manero said. “A lot of guys were on this team last year and we had a nice run but we know that we’re starting from square one now and I think that’s the best thing for us, is just to get back at it, play games. We practice all offseason, it’s like you can only take so many reps in the cage, you can only simulate so many things.
“We just need to go play baseball and kind of get a little feel for our identity and get a little confidence and just hopefully carry that from one game to the next.”
Pennridge starting pitcher Olson took the loss, giving up three runs – all earned – on six hits in three innings. He struck out three and did not walk a batter. Connor Smith pitched the other three innings, allowing two runs – one earned – on three hits with one walk and one strikeout.
“I thought both our pitches did a great job of filling up the zone,” Long said. “We’ve been harping on make these hitters beat us as opposed to walks and hit by pitches, all those free 90s that we preach. And I thought they did a really good job and just a couple pitches we missed out over the heart of the plate but they did well.”
Long had an outstanding athletic career at Pennridge, graduating in 2016 as the school’s leading scorer in basketball with 1,359 points – a mark surpassed by Sean Yoder in 2019 – while as a senior helped the Rams baseball team win the District 1-4A title.
Long played baseball in college at Monmouth University and was an assistant with the Rams the past two seasons. He takes over a program that has not had a winning year since that 2016 squad went 18-8. The Rams finished last season 2-18.
“I just want these kids to be prideful – prideful of Pennridge baseball and what that means,” Long said. “You know for me I was blessed with a great experience my four years with Coach (Tom) Nuneviller. I just want these kids to experience that the same way.”
Pennridge visits Souderton for an SOL Colonial game 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.
North Penn grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Brace led off dropping a ball inside the left-field line for a double then scored two batters later on Ben Farley’s one-out double to center.
Brace began the Knights’ half of the third with a single, stole second then went to third on a Farley one-out groundout. Jones followed with his two-run homer to left center for a 3-0 lead.
“Just want to tack on some runs for our pitcher Trevor, cause you know he’s always going to have his stuff,” Jones said. “And he’s always been that guy for us so as an offense we know we always have to be there for him.”
North Penn made it 5-0 with two runs in the fourth. After Mason Coyne reached on a one-out error, Jeremiah Criger collected a single. The next at-bat, Brace connected on a two-RBI double to left but ended up out as he tried for a triple.
North Penn 5, Pennridge 0
Pennridge 000 000 0 – 0 2 1
North Penn 102 200 x – 5 9 1
WP: Trevor Lugara 7 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 8 SO.
LP: Ryder Olson 3 IP 6 H 3 R 3 ER 0 BB 3 SO.
2B: NP-Kevin Brace 2, Ben Farley; HR: NP-Chase Jones.
North Penn: Brace 3-3, 2 RBI, 2 R; Jones 2-3, 2 RBI, R.
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