Plymouth Whitemarsh solidifies spot atop SOL Liberty with win over Wissahickon
WHITEMARSH >> Plymouth Whitemarsh took control of the Suburban One League Liberty Division race Friday afternoon.
The Colonials beat Wissahickon, 8-2, at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School to improve to 5-0 in league play at the halfway point of the league season.
“We’re one time through the division and we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than where we’re at right now,” PW coach Chris Manero said after his team moved two games ahead of second-place Wissahickon. “We looked at this as we’re playing well and we wanted to finish the first-time through strong.”
After five-and-a-half close innings, Plymouth Whitemarsh pulled away in the bottom of the sixth. The hosts scored four runs on no hits, taking advantage of two errors, two walks and two hit batters, to turn a 4-2 nail-biter into a comfortable 8-2 lead.
Joe Redmond started the inning by hitting a grounder to third. The throw to first was wide and he ended up on second base. After a pitching change, Anthony Viola and Joe Jaconski worked walks around a pop out to first to load the bases with one out.
Jesse Jaconski got hit by a pitch to bring a run home and Jack Hildebrand hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-2. The Jaconski brothers successfully executed a double steal and the throw to third went into left field, sending Joe home and Jesse to third. Jesse scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-2.
“You have to be patient and see how the pitcher’s going, how he’s feeling,” Joe Jaconski said. “If he’s not throwing strikes we can’t get ahead of ourselves and go get ourselves out when we have runners in scoring position. We have to just stay within ourselves and be who we are and manufacture runs and keep that score running up.”
“(PW’s) a very good team over there,” Wissahickon coach Andy Noga said. “We feel like we’re a very good team, too. It just is what it is. We’re on the back-end of a three-game week. It was a good baseball game for six innings, then it finally got away from us, but that’s baseball. That type of stuff happens.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (7-0, 5-0 SOL Liberty) was in the lead late thanks to a strong effort from starting pitcher Alex Wilkie-Viscio. The right-hander allowed one run on three hits over five innings while striking out three batters to one walk.
“He pitched last week in the non-conference game against (Archbishop) Wood and I thought he threw really well,” Manero said. “He pitched a little bit in relief this week and settled us down in a game. He needed to come out today and just throw strikes and keep guys off-balance – he was very good.”
Wiss (4-3, 3-2 SOL Liberty) got on the scoreboard first in the top of the third inning. Kasey Weiss reached with a one-out single, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a Jackson Tappen single.
The lead didn’t last long as PW responded in the bottom of the frame. Tyler Gartland singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Joe Jaconski single. Jaconski moved to second on the throw home and reached third on a groundout before scoring on a first-and-third steal to put the Colonials ahead, 2-1.
“Whenever any team goes up on you,” Manero said, “the quicker you can take control of the game back, the better you’re going to play. I think once we took that lead back, it just gave the rest of the team confidence. Nobody felt pressure.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh scored in the bottom of every inning from the third-on. Viola knocked in Dominic DiCiurcio in the fourth and Luke Gartland’s sacrifice fly plated Hildebrand in the fifth before the four-run sixth inning.
“Once we get going the wheels just start rolling and they keep going,” Joe Jaconski said. “We can score runs in bunches. When we play the game our way and play it the smart way, the right way, and steal bags, get runners moving, we’re a pretty good baseball team.”
Wissahickon had a chance to get back into the game in the top of the fifth. Trailing, 3-1, Bobby Haasz led off the inning with a double down the left-field line. After a failed pick-off attempt, Wilkie-Viscio and Jaconski tried again and were able to catch Haasz off-guard.
“That was a huge momentum swing,” Jaconski said, noting Wilkie-Viscio’s quick pickoff move. “Big leadoff double for them and that pickoff was just huge. It killed the momentum in their dugout and just fired us up. After that, I think we just took over the game from that point on. I think that was the turning point in that game.”
Michael Fath knocked in Wissahickon’s second run in the top of the sixth. His single to left field brought home Tappen, who scored from second base by sliding around the tag, to cut their deficit to two, 4-2.
Reed Bram started for the Trojans and allowed three runs over 3.2 innings. He struck out two batters to two walks and allowed three hits.
Both teams will take a break from SOL Liberty play next week with two non-league games apiece.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 8, Wissahickon 2
Wissahickon 001 001 0 – 2
Plymouth Whitemarsh 002 114 x – 8
WP: Alex Wilkie-Viscio 5 IP 3 K 1 BB 3 H 1 R
LP: Reed Bram 3.2 IP 2 K 2 BB 3 H 3 R
2B: W: Bobby Haasz. PW: Dominic DiCiurcio
