Matt Hand pitches Council Rock North baseball to fifth straight win
NEWTOWN – Council Rock North righthander Matt Hand has two starts facing Suburban One National League foes. After a 10 strikeout, 6-inning performance against archrival Pennsbury, he has two wins.
Yesterday (Tuesday, March 5) in frigid temperatures on the Indians’ home field, Hand held the Falcon offense to just three hits, while walking only two batters to help North (5-0, 2-0: SOL) to a 2-0 win. Rock is rolling early with a 5-0 overall start.
“This was a huge game for us,” said Hand. “We’ve been fortunate to have some early non-league games that we’ve been able to play but this is by far the best competition we’ve faced.”
“We know that we’re big rivals in the league and that it was important for us to get this win, early on.
“I think it sends a message out to other teams that we mean business this year and that we’re really trying hard to get it done again.”
On March 31 at William Tennent, Hand tossed a two-hit shutout, helping the Indians to a 13-0 win over the Panthers. In the two games combined, Matt has 19 strikeouts in 10 innings of work.
“I feel great,” said Hand. “I think I’ve gained a couple miles-per-hour on my fastball and I’m starting to locate my off-speed pitches for strikes.”
Hand attributes his current dominance on the hill to a preseason spent focusing on getting ahead of the hitters.
“I feel if I can get ahead of the hitters with my fastball and my off-speed pitches, I have the ability to set hitters up, inside or outside.”
Senior lefthander Zach Conley sustained the loss for the Falcons (2-2, 1-1: SOL), after giving up two runs on five hits, two walks and one strikeout in four innings of work.
Meanwhile, Hand, the senior righty headed to Lehigh, held Pennsbury’s top three hitters hitless. Falcon infielders Ryan McCarty and Billy Bethel and catcher Josh Tesarck went a combined 0-for-10 in the game. Cleanup hitter Dave Murphy was the only Pennsbury player to record more than a single hit. He also was the only batter in the game to hit for an extra base when he led the top of the fourth inning off with a double.
“I made a mistake pitch on that,” said Hand. “I left a curveball hanging right down the middle; I think he was just sitting on it.”
Unfortunately for the Falcons, second base is exactly where Murphy would remain. After fanning Tyrone Hodges, Hand got Justin Massielo and Justin Ward to hit fly ball outs.
“I didn’t really change my approach at all. I still try to get ahead of hitters and keep my looks consistent.
“I think I worked my fastball a little bit more that inning. Today, I was a little more comfortable with my fastball because I was having trouble locating my off-speeds in the beginning.”
CR North senior Tyler Nowmos provided the offense, stroking a two-run single up the middle that scored a pair of pinch runners, on second and third in place for catcher Jared Schram (walk) and Hand (bunt single).
“(Nowmos) had a huge at-bat there,” said Hand. “He kind of fell behind early; I think he had two strikes on him. But (Zach Conley) left a fastball up and his hands are so quick, he was able to get to it and just shoot it right up the middle.
“That was huge for us.”
In addition to their two league wins, the Indians have outpaced Souderton (10-4), Olney Charter (14-4) and Devon Prep (11-3). A 5-0 record is always a good way to start a season but it’s even more impressive when you consider what the Indians had to replace coming into it.
In addition to pitcher/outfielder Brandon McIlwain who left early to start his college baseball career at South Carolina, the Rock had to find replacements for outfielder Cole German (Charleston Southern), third baseman J.R. Hicks, along with pitchers Noah Hartwell, Cole Hofmann (PA College of Tech), Tim Casey (Chestnut Hill) and Nick Roda (Arcadia).
“This is uncharted waters for us,” said head coach Matt Schram. “We haven’t started a season this quick since my first year here.”
If he could find any fault at all with his team on this day it was that North left five runners in scoring position.
“Runners left on base with less than two outs. That’s something we just addressed over there in the huddle. We have to be able to capitalize. If there’s less than two outs, we should score a run.”
Scoring runs in the four previous wins to this certainly wasn’t a problem with the Indians averaging a dozen in each. Most of the production is coming from the 3-, 4- and 5-slots occupied by Jared Schram, Hand and senior outfielder Seth Leuz. Jared (2), Matt (2) and Seth (3) led a 12-hit attack in a 13-0 win at William Tennent. Senior Juliano Kovalcik hit a home run in the contest and Schram, Hand and Leuz accounted for a pair of RBI, each.
Schram and sophomore shortstop Cavan Tully stroked three hits apiece in an 11-3 triumph at Devon Prep. Freshman pitcher Tyler Marlow registered four strikeouts in four innings
Sophomore Gavin Ferrandino recorded wins at Souderton and at home against Olney. Ferrandino fanned five batters in three innings of work against Olney and also tossed a pair of shutout innings against Souderton.
Schram (2), Hand (3) and Leuz (2) accounted for seven hits combined against Olney. Sophomore Matt Shenot chipped in with two hits at Souderton.
NOTES: CR North senior C.J. Kilgariff (1 walk, 2 strikeouts) came on and tossed a scoreless inning in the seventh. Pennsbury junior Alec Wilson (2 hits, 3 strikeouts) tossed two scoreless frames in the contest. Seth Leuz hit 2-for-2 with a sac bunt to push the runners into scoring position in the fourth.
Council Rock North 7, Pennsbury 0
(April 5 at CR North)
Pennsbury 000 000 0 – 0 3 0
CR North 000 200 X – 2 7 0
WP — Matt Hand (2-0) 6IP, 0R, 3H, 2BB, 10SO, 1HB
LP — Zach Conley (0-1) 4IP, 2R, 5H, 2BB, 1SO, 0HB
DOUBLES: P — Dave Murphy
RBI: CRN — Tyler Nowmos 2
MULTIPLE HITS: P — Dave Murphy 2-for-3; CRN — Matt Hand 2-for-3. Seth Leuz 2-for-2.
