Owen J. Roberts’ Samuelson shuts out Spring-Ford for marquee PAC Liberty win

ROYERSFORD >> With two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Ben Samuelson stepped off the mound.

No, he didn’t need to calm himself down. The Owen J. Roberts senior just couldn’t see his sign.

Samuelson got back on the rubber, inducing a groundball to second baseman Ryan Sayers to finish off the complete game shutout in a 1-0 Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win over Spring-Ford.

Calm and cool all day, Samuelson finally showed a little bit of emotion after the final out, tossing his glove and screaming with excitement as his teammates rushed to celebrate with him.

“I was just ecstatic,” Samuelson said. “I was so excited. I can’t believe I just threw a seven-inning game.”

“The last time I did that was when I was 12 years old at a tournament in South Carolina,” he added.

.@BenSamuelson1 tossed a complete game shutout for @OJRbaseball in a 1-0 win tonight. pic.twitter.com/TqmSjS9OvZ

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) May 2, 2019

Owen J. Roberts (6-3 Liberty, 10-3 PAC) and Spring-Ford (5-4 Liberty, 8-5 PAC) came into Wednesday’s game tied with Methacton for first place in the division with Perkiomen Valley a half game behind. The jam-packed standings have amplified the impact of each division contest. A large group of Methacton players came out to watch Wednesday’s game between the other top two Liberty teams.

Not much has separated the teams this year. After Wednesday’s win, Owen J. Roberts has won its last four Liberty games by one run, including three over the last three days. Wednesday’s loss was Spring-Ford’s second one-run defeat this week after an extra-inning loss to Boyertown on Monday.

David Bealer’s RBI single in the top of the second inning to score Josh Diamond, and Casey McGinley’s throw from left field to nail Spring-Ford’s Danny Zoller at home plate in the bottom of the fifth inning were the difference on Wednesday.

“I think our energy in the dugout has been really helpful for us,” Bealer said. “Whenever we’re hitting, we just keep the intensity at a high level and cheer on our teammates, lift everyone up after they make a mistake. Little things like that, it just separates ourself from everyone else.”

“I think we’re sort of figuring each other out, and we’re learning to rely on each other,” Wildcats coach Greg Gilbert added. “It’s not just one person or one group of kids. It’s everybody.”

Samuelson allowed five hits and struck out six batters compared to just two walks in his complete game shutout. His opposition was nearly just as effective.

Spring-Ford’s Zach Male allowed just one run on Wednesday night. He gave up six hits and struck out four batters, while walking none.

The pitching hasn’t been a problem for Spring-Ford. Starter Jake Skrocki allowed just two runs (none earned) in the extra-inning loss to Boyertown on Monday.

Spring-Ford’s bats have just gone silent. The Rams have now been shutout in two of their past three games. Matthew Collons’ two-hit day was the highlight offensively for the Rams on Wednesday.

“We’ve lost two one-run games now, and we’ve scored four runs in 28 innings,” Spring-Ford coach Jamie Scheck said. “Clearly our offense has been struggling. Our pitching has been fantastic. The last two games both pitchers deserved a better fate than what they got. Zach threw outstanding tonight. He kept us in the game, pounded the strike zone, and we couldn’t put anything across.”

Just two weeks ago, Spring-Ford looked like the league favorite, sitting at 5-1 in the PAC, including a 4-1 division mark. The Rams have since dropped four of their eight PAC games and all four of their division contests. Spring-Ford finishes its seasons with crossover games against Upper Merion and Upper Perkiomen before a matchup with Perkiomen Valley on May 8.

“At this point, we’ve taken the destiny out of our own hands, so all we can do is go out and win our next three games and take them one at a time,” Scheck said. “I don’t have an answer right now. It’s not like we don’t have talented guys. We do. We’re just not putting it together.”

The fortunes have swung the other way for Owen J. Roberts, which started out 0-2 in the division after come-from-behind losses to Methacton and Boyertown. The Wildcats have won eight games in a row since a loss to Spring-Ford on April 10.

“We worked hard in practice, bettered our hitting approach, bettered our defense, everything,” Samuelson said. “It’s really intense. We’re just hanging in there, keeping it rolling.”

Owen J. Roberts 1
Spring-Ford 0

SPRING-FORD                OWEN J

                     ab   r  h bi                       ab   r  h bi

Wilchacky     3  0   0  0    Iyoob            3  0  0  0

Simmons       2  0   1  0    Rinehimer    3  0  1  0

McNelly         3  0   0  0    Morris           3  0  0  0

McCurry         3  0   0  0    Siket            3  0  0  0

Romeu           0  0   0  0    JDiamond    3  1  1  0

Curley            3  0   0  0    Sayers         2  0  0  0

Smiley           3  0   1  0    Bealer          3  0  1  1

Male              2  0   1  0    McGinley     3  0  1  0

Kratz              2  0   0  0    Hannevig     2  0  2  0

Collons          2  0   2  0   

Totals          23  0   5  0    Totals         25  1   6 1

Owen J.Roberts                010 000 0 — 1
Spring-Ford                       000 000 0 — 0

E — Spring-Ford 1.

                                   IP     H    R   ER   BB  SO

Spring-Ford

Male (L)                        7     6     1      1      0   4

Owen J. Roberts

Samuelson (W)            7     5     0      0      2     6