Stephen Vogl, Abington walk-off over Souderton

ABINGTON >> Both Abington and Souderton wanted to get as many players on the field as possible in Tuesday’s Suburban One League cross-conference matchup at Abington Senior High School.

They both achieved that goal, with each side sending at least 15 batters to the plate and four pitchers to the mound.

In addition to getting everyone some experience, the teams battled in a tight, contested game.

It was the Ghosts who came away with the win, overcoming a three-run deficit in the sixth inning and walking off with a 4-3 win on a Stephen Vogl RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“I saw the infield was in,” Vogl said. “I knew if I got something in the air there was a good chance we were going to get the run in. I just tried to get a good pitch and lift it.”

Joe DiMaria worked a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh. Henry Tyler followed with a single, which was bobbled by the right fielder to allow DiMario to get to third and Tyler to second. Griffin Wittenberg was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Vogl, who played the first four innings before being subbed out, re-entered the game and jumped on the first pitch he saw, singling up the middle to score DiMaria and give the Ghosts the win.

“I knew I could get the job done,” Vogl said. “I have confidence in my hitting. I know if I need to put the bat on the ball, I’ll put the bat on the ball.”

“(Vogl) stepped up to the plate today,” Abington coach Jon Morrissette said. “He’s a guy that likes to go for the long ball. I said we just need a line drive single, not a home run, and he went in there and did exactly what he was told to do.”

The Ghosts erased a three-run deficit in the sixth inning. Kevin Worek reached with a one-out single before Wittenburg and Ryan Daniels worked back-to-back walks to load the bases. Sonny Stevenson knocked in two runs with a single and — two batters later — Connor Hall tied the game at three with a base hit.

The Indians did all of their scoring in the top of the fourth inning. Erik Ritchie and Moses Clemens started the inning with back-to-back singles and Frank Pollock was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jordan Morales broke the scoreless tie with a sacrifice fly to center field and two batters later Hogan Despain ripped a two-run single to give Souderton a 3-0 lead.

The Ghosts used seven pitcher while Souderton used four.

DiMaria, Worek, Bobby Curry, Ryan Van Buren, Justin Cunnane and Tyler all threw scoreless innings for Abington. Jamie Burkhart allowed the three runs in the fourth.

“The message today was seven pitchers, 17 batters and everybody contributed,” Morrissette said. “We have seven pitchers strong, we’ve got a lineup of 17 guys that really are all fighting for positions. Right now it’s just a team effort.”

Luke Taylor and Ritchie each threw two scoreless innings for Abington. Brian Reiner followed with a scoreless fifth before allowing three in the sixth. Conlan Wall took the loss, allowing the walk-off single in the seventh.

“Our goal is to work hard here in non-league games to get better for league games,” Souderton coach Mike Childs said. “Obviously we got everybody up. Almost everybody gets at-bats. (Monday) we had 21 batters get at-bats. That’s the goal. Am I upset that we lost? So-so. It’s early in the season. It’s still a little chilly yet. (Abington) battled hard til the end. We have to learn from this. We learned something today.

“Our goal is met to an extent. We got guys in the game, but overall we didn’t do what we had to do. We still missed some signs early in the game. There were some good things — the pitchers did pretty well, the defense did OK. You always want to win a game, but I’m not super upset we lost that game.”