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WHITEMARSH >> Entering the regular season finale, Wissahickon hadn’t won a game in which it allowed more than two runs. Head coach Andy Noga knew that had to change if the Trojans want to make noise in the District 1-6A playoffs, which start next week.
The offense proved it can carry its weight against Plymouth Whitemarsh Tuesday. Wissahickon scored eight runs, including two in the top of the seventh, to beat PW, 8-7, at Colonial Yards.
“Our pitching and defense has carried us all year,” Noga said. “(Starter) Gavin (Malloy) didn’t come out with his best stuff today and we didn’t really play clean defense today to start the game… but we’ve talked all year about our offense having the pitcher’s back. It’s going to have to happen sooner or later, we’re going to have to win an 8-7 or 9-8 type of game. We made the pitching change to Adam (Hajdak), I said to the guys on the pitching mound, ‘What better time than right now, the last league game of the regular season, for our offense to have their back.’ I’m really, really proud of our guys having that approach, that team type of approach, having each other’s back offensively, defensively and on the mound.”
“A lot of small ball, get gritty at the plate, work counts, a whole lot of bunting,” Wiss shortstop Finn Olszewski credited for the offensive success. “We passed the torch around the whole lineup to keep it going.”
Wissahickon (11-5) also played spoiler with the victory. Plymouth Whitemarsh (13-3) would have won a share of the Suburban One League Liberty Division championship with a win, but instead finishes a game behind Quakertown (14-2) at the top of the standings.
“PW is one of our biggest rivals,” Olszewski said. “They beat us over the last couple years. It feels great to come out here, get a win and spoil their championship.”
“We didn’t want to let them win a league championship or a co-championship on our watch,” Noga said. “(PW coach) Chris (Manero) does a phenomenal job over there, but we really wanted to get this victory today to give ourselves every opportunity to potentially get that bye.”
Wiss entered the game as the No. 10 team in District 1-6A, where the top eight seeds earn a first-round bye in the playoffs. The seeding meeting is Thursday night and everything is official Friday at noon.
“It means a whole lot for the program,” Olszewski said of the win ahead of districts next week. “We need this momentum. We had a slow start to the season and towards the middle, but we’ve gotten hot recently. It really does mean a lot and we’re going to carry this into the playoffs, hopefully.”
The Trojans entered the top of the seventh inning trailing, 7-6. Justin Miller led off the final frame with a single up the middle before Olszewski stepped to the plate looking to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Olszewski stepped out of the box after a couple pitches and was given the sign to swing away. He ripped a single down the third base line.
“Finn is one of our senior players and we have a ton of trust in Finn,” Noga said. “He’s been up since he was a freshman, so four years of varsity baseball. Colin Kennedy, one of our assistant coaches, and Eric Beideman, another one of our assistant coaches, were sitting on either side of me and they were saying we should take off the bunt and give Finn the swing away sign. They had a good feeling about it and I’ve always been told to go with my gut since I’ve been a head coach. I went with a gut decision following our assistant coaches’ lead and it worked out for Finn. There’s nobody better for it to happen to than Finn.”
“As soon as I see coach take off the bunt I’m like, ‘I’m swinging at this,'” Olszewski said. “I got a good pitch to hit right down the middle, a little bit in. I just turned on it, put it down the third base line.”
Thomas Puerzer worked a walk to load the bases with no outs and, after a strikeout, Brayden Ryan tied the game, 7-7, with a single to right field.
Mark Selverian followed with a dribbler, rolling a few feet in front of batter’s box. The ball was bobbled, allowing Olszewski to score and give the Trojans an 8-7 lead, their first advantage since 2-0 in the top of the first inning.
Hajdak allowed a pair of Colonials hitters to reach base in the bottom of the seventh, but tallied his third strikeout of the game to strand the tying runner on second and winning run on first. The right-hander allowed one run on four hits and one walk in 4 2/3 innings.
“All my pitches were working well for me,” Hajdak said. “My curveball felt like it had some good break. My changeup felt like I was locating it right where I wanted to. My fastball, sinker combination, I felt like I was putting it on both sides of the plate where I wanted it to.”
Wiss put up two runs in the top of the first by working walks and running the bases. Josh Palutis walked, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Hajdak’s groundout. Olszewski scored on a first-and-third play when Jarrett Federer got in a rundown long enough to allow him to cross the plate from third.
Hajdak added another RBI in the third inning when he singled home Miller. That trimmed a two-run deficit in half, 4-3.
The first three batters reached base in the top of the fourth for Wissahickon to knock PW’s starter out of the game. Miller plated one run on a sacrifice fly, Jonnie Klinger scored on a first-and-third steal and Palutis tied the game, 6-6, when he stole third and kept running on a dropped third strike. When the throw went to first, Palutis darted home and beat the ball to the plate.
The Colonials, who scored four runs in the first inning and two in the third, broke the 6-6 tie with back-to-back one-out doubles in the fourth. Chase Olszyk got the inning going with a two-bagger before Gavin Moore matched him and knocked in courtesy runner Ryan Moore.
Colin Brady had a pair of RBIs for PW while Chase Fisher and Johnny Giordano each knocked in one run across the first three innings.
Cooper Jones took the loss for the Colonials. He allowed two runs on three hits in four innings. He struck out five batters to one walk. Jones retired the first nine batters he faced before the seventh inning.
Plymouth Whitemarsh will be one of the top seeds in the District 1-6A playoffs and host a second-round game next Wednesday after earning a first-round bye.
“We lost a game today, but the message (to the team) is we didn’t lose the season,” Manero said. “We’re in a great spot. We had a great regular season. I told them this game meant so much because of how they played to get here to this point. They have to find a way to learn from this game and come back and get their confidence back as well. We haven’t played any games like this this year. Most of our games have been pitching dominated, close games, really solid defense. Today was just different. Maybe they just needed to be in this situation. Obviously it would have been nice to be in this situation and come out with a win, but it was essentially our first playoff game. Only difference is we get to play more.”
Wissahickon 8, Plymouth Whitemarsh 7
Wissahickon 201 300 2 – 8
Plymouth Whitemarsh 402 100 0 – 7
WP: Adam Hajdak 4.2 IP 3 K 1 BB 4 H 1 R
LP: Cooper Jones 4 IP 5 K 1 BB 3 H 2 R
2B: PW: Johnny Giordano, Chase Olszyk, Gavin Moore.
