Coyle allows 1 hit, Pennrige shuts out Souderton
PERKASIE >> After striking out in his first two appearances at the plate Wednesday afternoon, Ryan Gordon made sure to try something different on his third trip in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“I think I came up that approach trying to think less,” Pennridge’s senior designated hitter said. “I was pressing too hard on the first two at-bats. I was just trying to shoot my hands, hit whatever was thrown at me.”
With Kyle Yoder on first after a one-out single, Gordon’s process this time worked, knocking a pitch into the right-center field gap for a RBI double, pushing the Rams’ advantage to 2-0.
“Definitely gave us a lot of momentum, cause we were sitting at 1-0 for a while,” Gordon said. “Leaving guys on base, it was good to get them across. I think it opened things up a little bit.”
Pennridge proceeded to added two more runs in the Suburban One League Continental Conference contest, which was more than enough for senior Nate Coyle. The right-hander gave up just one hit and struck out six in a complete-game effort as the Rams shutout the Indians 4-0 at Kulp Park.
“I just had to go out there and perform,” Coyle said. “We lost two days ago (to Central Bucks South), just had to come back, fighting. Coach always says minimize losing streaks, maximize winning streaks. Keep doing that the rest of the reason.”
#BASEBALL: @kyleyo11's RBI single gives @PennridgeHS a 4-0 lead over Souderton B6. Yoder went 3-for-3 with 2 RBIs. pic.twitter.com/xsfF7lGfRB
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) April 14, 2016
Yoder reached bases four times and finished 3-for-3 with a pair RBI singles for Pennridge (5-3, 3-1 conference), which jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first but stranded six runners before getting on the scoreboard again in the fifth.
“Ryan Gordon got that big hit for us to get us going. Nate Coyle, boy, can’t really start without talking about him,” Rams coach Tom Nuneviller said. “He did a terrific job. He just went out and pitched his backside off today.”
Coyle started and ended the game with strikeouts, walked just two Indians and snagged a Brandon Glass liner to begin a double play that ended the top of the second.
“Fastball outside on a lot of them was working really well,” said Coyle, who was making his first start this season. “Curveball could have been a little better, Change-up’s working really nice today.”
His only trouble came in the fifth, giving up a one-out walk to Aaron Gulibon with Blake Gular collecting Souderton’s with an infield single on the next at-bat. Coyle, however, ended Big Red’s chances with a fly out to the shortstop and a strike out.
“We have some guys with some swing issues right now. Lot of upper-cutting, lots of pop ups to the infield, outfield,” Souderton coach Mike Childs said. “And defense. Routine defensive plays. We start off the bat with an overthrow. We’re sitting back on the ball and we overthrow to first. Stuff we work on all the time.”
Starting pitcher Gulibon took the loss for the Indians (2-3, 2-2), giving up three runs — all earned — on six hits in five innings. The left-hander struck out eight and walked one.
“We ride him for a little bit, as long as he can ride. He’s a kid that doesn’t want to come out,” said Childs of Gulibon. “Situation where we switched to somebody else, we got to give other arms a try. No sense running him into the ground when you’re down. We just got to generate offense for him.”
Both teams are on the road for SOL Continental games Thursday. Souderton visits conference leader Central Bucks South at 3:30 p.m. while Pennridge travels to North Penn for a 3:45 p.m. matchup.
“Everyone’s going to beat up on each other so you got to get your wins whenever you can,” Nuneviller said. “So, today was a big win for us.”
#BASEBALL: @PennridgeHS' Nate Coyle gets a strikeout to finish his CG 1-hitter in the 4-0 win over Souderton. pic.twitter.com/NLOFclprbz
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) April 14, 2016
Mitch McLeod led off the bottom the first inning with a single up the middle. After going to second on Dan Long’s ground out, McLeod scored on a Yoder RBI single.
In the third, the Rams loaded the bases with one out when Joe Robinson reached on a fielder’s choice. Gulibon, however, struck out the next batter and Souderton caught Dan Long trying to steal home.
“You can see we’re hitting the ball, we’re seeing it, we’re playing well. It’s just a matter of getting guys across base,” Gordon said. “I just think it wasn’t falling for us early on.”
Pennridge eventually tacked on two runs in the fifth. Yoder lined a one-out single up the middle then scored from first on Gordon’s double to right-center. Robinson’s RBI single on the next at-bat made it 3-0.
The Rams collected a fourth run in the sixth. Luke Nuneviller was hit by a pitch, while Riley Hager walked, putting two runners on with no outs. Souderton caught Luke Nuneviller in a rundown, but he made it back to second safely with Hager returning to first. After a strike out and a foul pop-out to first, Yoder drove in Luke Nuneviller with his third single of the day.
“Pennridge is too good a team where if you make too many mistakes, it’s going to come back and bite you,” Childs said. “They hit the ball. They put the ball in play. They did what they had to do and they play defense. We hit the ball hard when we did hit it and they play defense.”
