Kacergis, Long help Pennridge upset No. 1 Interboro in District 1-AAAA 2nd round

GLENOLDEN >> Interboro entered Wednesday’s District-1 AAAA second round game undefeated at 19-0 and the No.1 seed in the playoffs. Pennridge didn’t seem to care about the credentials of the Bucs as the Rams wasted no time jumping on them and used a stellar pitching performance from Ian Kacergis to hand Interboro its first and only loss of the season 3-0.

“When you drop any playoff game it hurts a lot, I mean you can see the emotion here with our guys,” Interboro coach Anthony DiNicola said. “I have 13 seniors that gave everything they had. And that’s why it hurts just because of what great kids these Interboro kids are.”

Right out of the chute, Dan Long led the game off with a triple and scored when the next batter Andrew Fantaskey grounded out to third base. This would be the first, but not the last time, Long had an impact on the game.

“It gave me extra confidence coming in,” Kacergis said. “Dan getting that triple, getting a little miscue in the outfield, it helped me a lot to give me a lot more confidence.”

When Kacergis took to the mound he was already working with a 1-0 lead and it was pretty much all he needed. He kept the Interboro offense off balance all day as he finished the game allowing five hits, no runs, one walk and six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings of work.

“I was just trying to go out to give our team the best chance to win,” the junior right-hander said. “My guys know the plays behind me. I didn’t strike a lot of guys out which I don’t usually do so plays were out there and they just had to make them and they did.”

Dueling with Kacergis was Interboro pitcher Jason Lincoln. While Kacergis overshadowed the righty’s performance, Lincoln tossed a stellar 4 1/3 innings, allowing only two hits.

The last batter that Lincoln faced was nine-hole hitter Mitch McLeod, who walked to load the bases. John Polillo came in relief for Lincoln with a very tough task— base loaded, one out with Long at the dish. Long walked to score Luke Nuneviller, who led off the inning with a double. The next hitter, Fantaskey, hit a sacrifice fly to score Riley Huger to give Kacergis and the Rams some breathing room.

Interboro would get a couple runners on in the sixth and seventh innings but could not get the timely hits to get some runs across. CJ Cardell, the Bucs leadoff hitter, started the sixth inning with a single, but was thrown out by Nuneviller attempting to stretch a single into a double to try and give the Bucs a spark.

“We were aggressive on the bases all year,” DiNicola said. “We got thrown out going to third in the first inning. That’s the way we play the game. That worked for us 19 other times this year. That’s the way it is.”

Fittingly, Long saved the game for Pennridge as Kacergis tried to come back out for the seventh inning but was quickly hooked after allowing a lead off single. Up next for the Rams a date with No.9 seeded Marple Newtown in the quarterfinals Friday. The Tigers defeated No. 8 Coatesville 7-5.