Edelson’s gem leads Pottsgrove past Pottstown in PAC Frontier opener

Pottstown >> Throughout Wednesday’s outing, Pottsgrove pitcher Ethan Edelson was greeted by barks from the away team dugout every time he walked off the mound.

No, the shouts did not come from the home team Pottstown Trojans trying to rile up the opposing pitchers. Instead, the woofing came from his teammates showing their appreciation for the junior righthander, who they call ‘the Big Dog.’

Ethan Edelson pitched @PGSDAthletics to a 4-1 win over Pottstown. His final line: 7 IP 3 H 1 R 11 K 1 BB. Here he is on the performance and the big win. pic.twitter.com/JaRlJ3mFUp

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 27, 2019

Edelson dazzled in his first start of the season, striking out 11 batters and allowing just three hits and a walk in seven innings of work to lead the Falcons to a 4-1 victory over the Trojans for their first victory of the season.

“I was just kind of working on the first game for a while in the winter,” said Edelson, who is unsure where his nickname came from. “I was practicing, my team was helping me, and I was able to come out and win.”

“He was a powerhouse for the game,” Pottstown head coach Geoff Thomas said. “He’s going to have a successful year.”

Pottstown outfielder Josiah Wiggins led off the game with a single for the Trojans. Edelson retired the next nine hitters before a single by Pottstown shortstop Daulton Mullen. The Trojans’ only run came off an RBI double by Jason Eagle in the bottom of the sixth inning. Edelson struck out three of the next four batters he faced to close out the game.

Almost 70 percent of Edelson’s pitches were strikes on Wednesday. He got a first pitch strike on 13 of the 24 batters he faced, rarely falling behind in the count.

“If I get behind hitters, I have to throw fastballs kind of in the plate, and they can hit it,” Edelson said. “So I have to stay ahead in the count.”

“He was pounding the zone,” Pottsgrove head coach Jamie Nash said. “That’s the key. He was moving inside, outside, using his curveball when he needed to … He located well. No free passes makes all the difference. Getting ahead early in the counts, keeping them guessing that was the difference today.”

After going down 1-2-3 in the first inning Pottsgrove scored two runs in the top of the second. Gibson McMonagle singled home Jack Sibley and later scored on a single by Avery Spencer. McMonagle added two more runs in the third inning when his double to right field drove in Sibley and Garrett Heft.

McMonagle finished the day 2-for-3 with a run scored and three RBI. Steven Rinda, Edelson and Spencer also had two-hit days for the Falcons.

Pottstown starter Brandon Gebhard settled down after that, tossing three scoreless innings before Kevin Zvodar pitched a perfect seventh. He was helped by some strong defense behind him, including two standout plays by Mullen.

“To have a pitcher come out and do something like that is really awesome to have someone like that on your team,” Mullen said.

“Offense let us down today,” Thomas said. “I was really pleased with how our pitchers threw, and I was really pleased with our defense … When you strike out 11 times in 21 outs, you’re only making the other team make plays 10 times.”

Thomas is confident the Trojans have a bright future ahead of them this season though. If the pitching is able to keep Pottstown in ball games like it did Wednesday, all it will take is a few extra hits here or there for the team to improve on its win total from last year’s 3-16 campaign.

“I just wanna get more wins than last year,” Mullen said. “Last year wasn’t that great … We just gotta keep working, keep practicing, giving everything we can.”

“I’m proud of our guys,” Thomas said. “We’re going to be competitive. We’re going to compete.”

The Falcons finished 5-11 in the conference last year and 7-12 overall, a three-win improvement from the 2017 team. They ended last season with four straight wins before opening this year with a tie to Collegium Charter on Monday. Nash and his team feel ready to make the next jump this season: competing for the Frontier Division and making a district playoff run.

After runs by the football and boys’ basketball teams in the district and state playoffs, Edelson and his teammates now feel it’s their turn.

“We gotta step it up with the baseball,” Edelson said.

“Pottsgrove doesn’t have a ton of winning in the past, but we just have to keep our head up,” he added. “We have a good group of guys. We just gotta keep going and keep winning.”