Sun Valley storms back to beat Great Valley in extra innings

EAST WHITELAND >> Considering the dark, cold, dreary conditions on Wednesday — and the calendar still showing March — a clean, well-fought baseball game is not to be taken for granted.

And you can be sure the Sun Valley Vanguards won’t take a big league win for granted, either.

Sun Valley watched Ches-Mont League American Division rival Great Valley jump out to an early 4-0 lead, then stormed back for a 5-4 win in eight innings Wednesday afternoon.

The winning run scored for the Vanguards (1-0) in the top of the eighth inning when Ryan Koster roped an RBI single to left, scoring Jared Korenweicz, to complete the comeback win.

Korenweicz led off the inning with a double and was sacrificed to third by Vinny DeAngelo.

“We just never got down on the bench,” DeAngelo said. “We had some games cancelled so we were pretty hyped up to get out here, so being down 4-0 was nothing for us.”

DeAngelo came on in relief for Sun Valley, down 4-0, and threw three and a third innings of shutout ball to pick up the win. DeAngelo allowed the Patriots (0-1) just three hits while striking out three, closing the door on the Great Valley offense.

“I was just pumping my fastball over and over and then my curveball seemed to get going, so I was spotting it at times, and things worked out for us today,” DeAngelo said.

Things started out rosy for Great Valley and starting pitcher Brendan O’Donnell as the Patriots took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second. O’Donnell roped a long three-run triple to center field and came around to score on a Sun Valley throwing error. On the mound, the Patriots’ gifted junior did not allow the Vanguards a hit until the top of the fifth inning, and even that hit was questionable. Koster hit a sinking line drive to right center that Great Valley center fielder Dan Muck appeared to haul in, but the umpire ruled he dropped the ball at the end of his dive, and Sun Valley had life.

The Vanguards scored two runs in the fifth and added single runs in the sixth and seventh off Great Valley reliever Ryan Giandonato to tie the game and set up the Vanguards’ winning rally in the top of the eighth.

“They took advantage of our mistakes and they battled back,’ said Great Valley coach Matt Schultz. “But, we are young and our kids battled. But give Sun Valley credit, they came back from being down 4-0.”

Great Valley did not go down easily. After the Vanguards plated their run in the top of the eighth, Great Valley put pressure on the third Sun Valley pitcher of the day, Tom Jensen.

Patriot pinch hitter Dean Sioutis led off the inning with a sharp grounder behind the bag at second and was nipped at first base for the first out. Muck then struck out for the second, out but Giandonato walked, bringing the dangerous O’Donnell to the plate.

But Jensen got the Patriots’ power source to fly out to left field, and Sun Valley had a hard-earned victory.

“Vinny is just a kid that does everything the right way,” Sun Valley coach Dan Brady said. “And this team, everybody knows their role and we have great senior leadership, so being down 4-0 did not bother them. These kids really want to win baseball games and today they got a good one, but they did not make it easy with O’Donnell coming up there in the eighth.”

Sun Valley 5, Great Valley 4, eight innings
SUN VALLEY ab r h bi GREAT VALLEY ab r h bi
Wright lf 4 0 0 0 Giandonato 2b 2 1 1 0
Boyd c 2 1 0 0 O’Donnell p 3 1 2 3
Valente ss 3 0 0 0 Molloy ss 1 0 0 0
Ellis pr 0 0 0 0 Gowen c 2 0 0 0
Dualicki p 2 0 0 0 Bauschet ph 1 0 0 0
Johnston ph 1 1 1 1 Reat 1b 4 0 0 0
Korenweicz 1b 3 2 1 0 Ryan lf 2 1 0 0
DeAngelo 2b 3 0 1 1 W.Muck rf 4 0 0 0
Koster cf 4 2 2 2 Alleva 3b 2 0 0 0
Howe rf 2 0 0 0 Sioutis ph 1 0 0 0
Youhouse ph 1 0 0 0 D.Muck cf 2 1 1 1
Totals 29 5 6 4 Totals 25 4 4 4
Sun Valley 000 021 11-5
Great Valley 040 000 00-4
2B-Korenweicz. 3B-O’Donnell.
Sun Valley IP R H BB SO
Dualicki 3.2 4 3 6 4
DeAngelo, W 3.1 0 1 3 3
Jensen 1 0 0 1 1
Great Valley
O’Donnell 5.1 3 2 5 8
Giandonato, L 2.2 2 4 1 3