Faith Christian scores 8 in 4th, rolls past Jenkintown in District 1-1A semifinals

MILFORD >> JR Roberts got the Faith Christian baseball team off to a quick start, leading off the bottom of the first inning by sending a pitch over the high fence in right field for a solo home run.

“It was a 1-2 count and I was like ‘You know what, let’s just try and put it in play,’” the junior catcher said. “And it was a high fast ball, I was like ‘Yeah, let’s chase it,’ and ‘Why not?’ And just got it up in the air and the wind carried it for me.”

Three innings later, Roberts and the Lions put the finishing touches on a District 1 Class 1A semifinal victory. Already leading Jenkintown 5-1, second-seeded Faith sent 12 batters to the plate and scored eight runs in the fourth, pulling away from the No. 3 Drakes for a 13-1 five-inning win Tuesday afternoon.

“For our team, it’s been sort of a nice ride,” Roberts said. “We usually wake up a little bit early. We knew (Jenkintown’s Roan McCall) was going to be starting (at pitcher) and we just needed time to adjust to him but other than that, I think once we started getting adjusted and started finding out what he would do most of the time we ended up expecting where the pitch would be and just trying to drive the ball.”

Roberts added a ground-rule double in the fourth – the first of three doubles in a row for the Lions in the frame – as he was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Lincoln Hower went 2-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and scored twice as Faith advances to play for its fourth consecutive district title 4 p.m. Thursday against No. 1 Delco Christian.

Delco, which shut out No. 4 Plumstead Christian 5-0 in the other semifinal, handed FCA its most recent loss – the Knights taking the teams’ May 17 matchup 4-2. The Lions defeated Delco Christian for their District 1-1A crowns in 2018 and 2019.

“What we work on all year is play your best baseball at the end of the season,” Faith Christian coach Ed Curry said. “Nobody cares what you did in the beginning, nobody cares what your regular-season record is. All you got to do is qualify for districts. I mean, we were in first all year, we ended up in second – whatever. Get to districts and you start over.

“They showed up today and that’s how they’ve been coming along the whole end of the season so it was a great team win.”

Faith’s Matt Reichley was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored while Joe O’Rourke allowed just an unearned run and struck out six pitching a complete game with the sophomore right-hander going 2-for-3 with the plate with an RBI and run scored.

“Early in the season I didn’t hit my best when I pitched but now it’s all coming together,” O’Rourke said. “So just feels go to help yourself out and hit as a pitcher.”

After Roberts’ homer in the first made it 1-0, Jenkintown – which lost 7-6 to Faith April 29 – loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the second. But O’Rourke limited the Drakes to just a run on a two-out error.

“Myself, got mad so I was trying to throw more strikes,” said O’Rourke, who allowed a total of five hits and two walks. “Trying to trust the team as much as a can and go out there and make stuff happen.

Faith broke the 1-1 tie in its half of the second as Colin Moyer, who led off with a ground-rule double to left center, scored when Nathan Spicer reached on a two-out error. The Lions extended their lead to 5-1 with three runs in the third then proceeded to blow things open in the fourth.

“You got to give them credit, right, their pitcher pitched great, he hit his spots, located the ball well,” Jenkintown coach George Vafiadis said. “They hit the ball well, so they definitely earned this victory so kudos for them. And good luck to them moving forward.”

Tom Walsh was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a run scored for the Drakes, who were looking to reach its first district final since 2016.

“We have a lot of guys coming back, a lot of sophomores, a lot of juniors that are going to moving up next year and a lot of those guys showed leadership skills already,” Vafiadis said. “Even one of our freshmen, who had two hits today Tommy who just did a great job.”

After Josh Smith started the bottom of the fourth getting hit by a pitch, Roberts followed with a ground-rule double to center while Reichley doubled to left center on the next at-bat, scoring both runners for a 7-1 Faith lead. Peyton Curry made it three straight doubles when he knocked a ball off the left-center fence to plate Reichley.

“They were playing deep which I would have too and somehow we were still putting it over their head,” Ed Curry said. “So hats off to the guys. I can’t claim coaching today so that was all players.”

An RBI single by Hower up the middle made it 9-1 and ended the day on the mound for McCall. After Moyer was hit by a pitch and O’Rourke single to load the bases, Brett Kling was hit by a pitch to bring home another run.

Two more runs scored on a Spicer RBI fielder’s choice and an error on the play. Roberts drove in the eighth run of the inning for a 13-1 lead two batters later with his RBI groundout.

In the top of the second, Jenkintown loaded the bases with no outs on three straight singles by Walsh, Will Gouveia and Jack Griffin. O’Rourke struck out the next two batters before an error on Charlie Levy’s grounder to the left side of the infield scored Walsh, pulling the Drakes level. O’Rourke, however, got a strikeout to leave the bases loaded.

“To only surrender one, that’s Dirty Joe,” Ed Curry said. “He doesn’t quit, he battles, he may not have the stature but he’s got the poise. He threw a complete-game today and hats off to him because he’s the one that had to battle it out not me. But that was a key inning, it really was.”

Moyer stared the bottom of the second with a ground-rule double to left center then went to third on a groundout. After a strikeout, an error on Spicer’s grounder to the right side allowed Moyer to score for a 2-1 Faith lead.

In the top of the fourth, Reichley hit a leadoff single and Peyton Curry walked to put two on for Hower, who laced a double to right center to bring home both runners, pushing the Lions’ advantage to 4-1. Two batters later, O’Rourke made it 5-1 with an RBI single to right.