Kight’s voice, bat let the Lions roar
MIDDLETOWN — A little of the luster came off of the anticipated pitchers’ duel between Penncrest’s Rob Brown and Radnor’s Sean Corelli Thursday when Brown returned to the dugout in the middle of the third having surrendered two runs without a hit.
To designated hitter Tyler Kight, one of the loudest of a passel of vocal leaders in the Lions dugout, that regrettable deficit was nothing to worry about.
“Just be mentally tough,’ Kight recounted telling his guys. “We came to play baseball. It’s a long game. We get seven innings to play, so we give it our all for all seven innings.’
Kight backed up the talk, providing a two-run double in the fifth that broke open the game, a rather unsightly 6-2 Central League win for Penncrest.
Kight’s double dunked in down the right-field line with the bases loaded to complete a three-run outburst in the fifth, the second straight 3-spot to chase Corelli and erase the deficit.
For all the talk in the preseason of the strength of Penncrest’s veteran core, Thursday was a chance to put in into action. An error, a walk, three stolen bases and an RBI groundout by Corelli translated into two runs in the third, before Brown had surrendered his first hit of the afternoon. Circling the wagons didn’t cause the Lions any panic.
“We’re comfortable with each other,’ Brown said. “I think our chemistry, there’s no deficit too big for us that we can’t overcome. We just keep grinding out at-bats, and we know eventually with our talent, we’re going to get something started.’
Both rallies started simply. Nate Sides and Steve Moppert singled with one out in the fourth, the first two hits of the afternoon. Three errors followed, cashed in when pinch-hitter Colin Birzes roped an RBI single to right and Mike Lansberry hit a sac fly to shallow center that plated Kight with the go-ahead run despite a sliding catch from Radnor’s Connor Zielinski.
The fifth-inning rally started with two outs when Billy McCarthy sat back on a Corelli breaking ball and punched it over the second baseman’s head for a single. Three walks followed, one drawn by Moppert forcing home McCarthy, before Kight’s double.
“It was an outside fastball,’ Kight said. “We’ve been working a lot on that pitch. (Assistant coach Rusty) Abrams has been working with all of our guys, so that’s a big thing for us. I just stayed back on it and hit it to right field.’
The rest was up to Brown. The big lefty hit his spots well all afternoon in cold, drizzly conditions hardly friendly to the hurlers. He rebounded from the third-inning hiccup to surrender just two hits on the day — a fourth-inning single by Jack Deshan and a sixth-inning base knock by John Lord. He needed 109 pitches to go the distance.
“You’ve got to have a short-term memory, stay stoic, don’t let the other team know you’re rattled, know your emotions at all,’ Brown said. “I knew my lineup, they were going to pick me up the next inning like they did.’
Where Penncrest (3-1, 3-1) found an answer to adversity, Radnor (2-2, 1-1) couldn’t. Four errors didn’t help, and a power pitcher like Brown isn’t the kind of arm you want to play from behind against.
“He was definitely working the zone well,’ Corelli said. “He’s an excellent pitcher. You’ve always got to be ready facing someone like that.’
Given the conditions, Brown didn’t try to do too much, and he let Radnor’s hitters get themselves out. He recorded 11 of the outs on the ground, the Raiders frequently topping off on balls low in the zone. The final out, a hotshot comebacker by Garrett McGurl that Brown snared, epitomized the effort for Kight and the team.
“We’re together all the time, and we have great chemistry,’ Kight said. “So just staying together and being mentally tough, that’s our thing.’
