Logan Willans, Wissahickon blank Upper Moreland
LOWER GWYNEDD >> When Wissahickon has its ace Logan Willans on the mound, it knows it doesn’t need many runs to win the game.
The Trojans manufactured a few runs Tuesday afternoon and left the rest to Willans in a 3-0 Suburban One League American Conference win at Wissahickon High School.
Willans allowed just two hits over six innings. The right-hander struck out five batters, walked one and the only two runners that got into scoring position got there because of errors.
“He’s thrown three games already out of our five games,” teammate Alex Tappen said of Willans. “He’s been working deep into the seventh inning every single time. Luckily we finally got enough run support to get him a win because he’s been pitching his butt off.”
Wissahickon scored the only run it would need in the top of the first. Blake Rapoport led off with a single, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a Matt Shilling RBI single.
The Trojans (2-3, 2-1) added insurance runs in the third and fifth innings.
Rapoport and Mike Schoenleber led off the third inning with back-to-back base hits. Shilling laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners and Tappen executed a safety squeeze to score Rapoport.
Wissahickon had three successful sacrifice bunts in the game in addition to Tappen’s RBI squeeze.
“We were joking earlier,” Wissahickon coach John Bernhardt said. “We haven’t been scoring that many runs. With the offense we have that’s surprising. Runs were at a premium. Matt Shilling does a great job getting that bunt down the first base line and Alex gives himself up – probably one of the best, if not the best, hitters in the conference. Alex does his job, we get a run, makes it a whole different ballgame.”
In the fifth, Schoenleber ripped a one-out double down the left field line and scored on a Tappen RBI single.
“The beginning of the season has been slow for everyone, myself included,” Tappen said. “It started off with me putting down a bunt, which is the last thing I expected. It’s the little things that get you going. Then came back the next at-bat and had the RBI single. All my teammates, we did a fantastic job moving runners over and Mike Schoenleber is raking the ball right now – the kid’s on fire. We clicked today, it was a sight to see.”
Tappen, a Virginia commit, closed out the game on the mound. In one inning, the right-hander set Upper Moreland down 1-2-3 with two strikeouts.
The Golden Bears (4-1, 1-1) started Brandon Kohn. Kohn struck out three batters and walked one in six innings of work. He surrendered eight hits and three runs, all earned.
Upper Moreland’s offense struggled the entire game. Over the final five innings, they never sent more than three batters to the plate in a single inning.
“Willans pitched great,” Upper Moreland coach Ken Irwin said. “He threw really well and we didn’t get any timely hits. They got timely hits … They outplayed us today, it’s that simple.
“We took a lot of fastballs and when (Willans) gets ahead he’s tough. I think guys were guessing and they really struggled picking up his curveball. He pitched ahead the whole game. He walked one guy. He’s a very good pitcher.”
It’s still very early in the season, but this game gives both Wissahickon and Upper Moreland one loss in SOL American play.
“In our league, every team has one guy that can beat you by himself at pitcher,” Irwin said. “So it’s going to come down to handling those teams. Now we’re going to have to beat Wiss the second time and that puts a little more pressure on sweeping a team like Upper Dublin.”
