Hill outlasts Blair 15-14 in rollercoaster MAPL game
POTTSTOWN >> It went from elation to deflation, back to elation and back to deflation.
But The Hill School got one final moment of elation Wednesday … the one that counted most in a 15-14 extra-inning win over Blair Academy.
In a game with more ups and downs than a supercharged yo-yo, the Blues battled back from the low moments to claim the ultimate high of victory over their Mid-Atlantic Prep League guests. In the process, they ended a three-game slide and came away with a ton of momentum.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence that a 1-5 team doesn’t deserve to have,” head coach Chris Drowne said after the dust settled.
In keeping with the overview of the contest — loose play on the field, timely hits at the plate, solid pitching efforts undone by the first two conditions — the scenario of the winning run was a microcosm of the afternoon’s proceedings.
Luke Allain, Hill’s third pitcher and eventual winner, reached base when his hit to third was misplayed to start the eighth inning. Jack Hogan then drew a full-count walk, and Max Putt smacked a line drive that got knocked down by Blair reliever Kyle Walker. Walker opted to go to third on the force, but his relay was mishandled and went into foul territory, enabling Allain to bring the game to a happy conclusion for the Hill.
Hill players celebrate 15-14 extra-inning win over Blair Academy. #BuxMontbaseball https://t.co/sQTQ7E6Yp5
— Jeff Stover (@MercuryXstover) April 20, 2016
“Even when they got way up on us,” Drowne said of Blair, which erased six- and four-run Hill leads during regulation time, “the kids never doubted they were in over their heads.”
Not after the Blues, who jumped on Blair for six runs in their first at-bat, saw their guests plate nine in the top of the third on the way to a 10-7 lead after four. And not even in the seventh, when the locals saw a 14-10 lead erased by the Buccaneers when they needed just two outs to nail down the win.
Nick Chroscinski, a prominent face in the Hill’s two big run-scoring frames, emerged a big part of a 16-hit offense, going 3-for-5 with a double, three RBI and two runs scored. He had an RBI single in the first, and his two-bagger in the fifth scored the second and third runs of the Blues’ surge to a 10-10 tie.
“I think this speaks a lot to our character,” the Hill’s senior first baseman said. “Whatever happens, we have faith we can win.
“It starts with the coaching staff. They’re always positive. It trickles down to the players … we don’t get on each other.”
In addition to Chroscinski, Putt, starting pitcher Charlie Hogan (2-for-5, two RBI) and Jeff Armstrong (3-for-5) had RBI basehits in the first. That staked Hogan to a comfortable lead until the third, when Blair went on a run that featured seven hits, two wild pitches and an error at the plate — all of which finished Hogan’s day on the mound and brought Jack Baughman in from shortstop to the mound.
Baughman stopped the Bucs’ surge and yielded just one run over the next three frames, scattering four hits and working out of tight spots in the fourth and sixth. He was in position to get the win after his Hill mates went up 12-10 off a three-run fifth, then added two more in the sixth.
“He was pitching on pure adrenaline,” Drowne said of Baughman.
But those hopes were derailed in the seventh when Blair pulled even with one out. The Buccaneers took advantage of two Hill misplays to load the bases, then got an RBI single from Jack rauch and three-run double from Jose Martinez.
“We had a couple kicks out there,” Drowne noted. “You can’t give a lineup like theirs five outs in an inning.”
Allain closed off the Blair run, then worked a 1-2-3 eighth. With three strikeouts in his 1-2/3 inning stint, he was the beneficiary of the Blues’ eighth-inning heroics.
“Luke did well,” Drowne said. “He was our last rested arm, and he threw like he was rested.”
Danny Monzo had another 3-for-5 day at the plate for the Hill. Batting out of the leadoff spot, he had a double among his base hits an RBI sacrifice fly in the third.
On the day, the Hill saw its 16 hits off Blair’s four pitchers spread between eight players,
“We have a lot of discipline at the plate,” Chroscinski said. “Whoever they brought in, we had confidence we could hit them.”
That confidence overruled any issues the pitching staff had.
“We have a swing of 12 games in 17 days,” Drowne said, “and we’re in the middle of that. A couple of our pitchers had to extend themselves.”
NOTES >> Drowne felt the Blair defense, normally known for its tight play in the field, was uncharacteristic in the commission of its five errors. “It’s unusual they made that many,” he said. “But part of it was we were hitting the ball hard. We didn’t have a dead third in our lineup.”
