Sabath strikes out 13, Christopher Dock shuts out Holy Ghost Prep

TOWAMENCIN >> Being his birthday, Tuesday was already a good day for Christopher Dock’s Dan Sabath.

But it got even better when the junior right-hander threw a pitch that got Holy Ghost Prep’s Nolan Jones — ranked as the 16th best MLB Draft prospect by Baseball America — to swing and miss for the second out of top of the first inning.

“It was big moment for me,” Sabath said. “I was really happy, he’s a great hitter and it’s difficult to throw to him.”

Sabath put Jones down swinging again in the third and finished the Bicentennial Athletic League contest with 13 strikeouts in a six-hit, complete-game effort. Dock gave him all the offense he needed with three runs in the third, then added a couple of insurance runs in the sixth as the Pioneers stayed perfect on the season with a 5-0 victory over the Firebirds.

“I have Danny for four years and we start doing velocity program two years and we start getting a little bit more into concentration the strike zone, his slider, working in the small things,” Christopher Dock coach Ed Melendez said. “He was on, he was on. I’m really happy for him.”

Justin Burkholder was 2-for-3 with a run scored for the Pioneers (12-0, 10-0 BAL Presidents) while Rashid Saint-Fleur hit an RBI double to right to break the scoreless tie in the third. A Nolan Bolton RBI sacrifice fly and a Elias Gehman RBI single put Dock up 3-0.

“We definitely caught up, because we usually face guys around mid-70s, so to jump up from mid-70s to like 80s is kind of tough,” Saint-Fleur said. “Once we got there we were fine.”

Sabath, meanwhile, did not give up a walk while five of the six hits he allowed were singles. The only extra-base hit for Holy Ghost Prep was a two-out double by Peyton Birch in the fourth, but Sabath struck out the next batter.

“The slider was really working today. And the fastball when I needed to,” Sabath said.

After a stellar afternoon on the mound, Sabath did not have any big plans later to celebrate his birthday.

“Just probably dinner with family,” he said.

Birch took the loss for the Firebirds, giving up five runs — three earned — on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked four.

Rainy conditions caused postponements throughout the area Tuesday, but Dock and HGP got their game in with an infield that was far from perfect but did not factor in to the final result.

“It was questionable, but I find at noontime seven players on the field and they tell me coach we want to play,” Melendez said. “(I) said of course, let’s play.”

Christopher Dock’s next game is at home Thursday when it takes on MaST Charter at 3:45 p.m.

“We have the material, we have the talent. So, it’s just basically go one game at a time and display the abilities and play the game,” Melendez said. “So that’s the focus and the mentality right now we have.”

After stranding two runners in the bottom of the second, Dock broke through with a three-spot in the third. Tim DiLoreto led off with a single, while Tyler Alderfer drew a walk to put two on with no outs. On the next at-bat, Saint-Fleur knocked an opposite field double down the right field line, plating DiLoreto for a 1-0 lead.

“I was just looking to put the ball in play so we could get that run across,” Saint-Fleur said. “That definitely (built) us up. And the intensity went from down low to up high.”

Andrew Walters was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Bolton, who doubled the Pioneers’ advantage when his sacrifice fly to right scored Alderfer. After a ground out, Gehman’s single scored Saint-Fleur to make it 3-0, but Walters was thrown at home to end the inning.

Holy Ghost Prep got leadoff singles in both the fifth and sixth yet could not get a base runners into scoring position.

In the fifth, Sean Kerrigan collected a base hit before Sabath picked up a strikeout and two fly outs to the infield.

Jones started the sixth getting an infield fly ball to drop just inside of the third base line, but Sabath got Sean Hayes to hit into a 5-4-3 double play. A fly out completed HGP’s half of the frame.

The Pioneers tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-0. Burkholder collected his second single of the game with one out while a two-out walk by DiLoreto finished Brice’s day on the mound. Alderfer drew a walk to loaded the bases for Saint-Fleur, who struck out, but a dropped third strike allowed Burkholder to score.

“I actually didn’t see it, I just kept hearing people say, ‘Run, run, run,” Saint-Fleur said. “And I just ran and I was just safe and was surprised. Guess the catcher couldn’t find it or something.”

With the bases still loaded, Walters was hit by a pitch to bring home DiLoreto.