Archbishop Wood rallies past La Salle with six-run 6th

SPRINGFIELD >> Michael Trommer put a charge into a ball in the top of the sixth inning but was not fully certain it was enough to leave the confines of Ward Field.

“I knew I got it but I didn’t know if it was going to go all the way,” the Archbishop Wood baseball senior said. “It definitely felt good.”

Trommer’s intuition proved correct, as his shot sailed over the fence in right-center field for a two-run home run, giving the Vikings a 6-5 lead over host La Salle.

“So I’m like I’m sitting fastball here, I see it and pull my hands in and just went,” Trommer said.

Trommer’s blast was part of a six-run sixth, turning Wood’s 5-3 deficit at the start of the frame into 9-5 advantage as the Vikings went on to knock off the defending PIAA-6A and Philadelphia Catholic League champ Explorers 10-6 in the league opener for both teams Monday afternoon.

“First couple innings we had runners left on base and I guess later in the game getting those key hits,” Trommer said. “Pitchers leaving balls right where we could get it and we capitalized on it.”

Archbishop Wood loaded the bases in the second, third and fourth frames  and came away with three runs but also left eight runners on base – the missed chances coming back to hurt Wood when La Salle plated three in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-3 lead.

But Wood answered by sending 11 batters to the plate in the sixth, five collecting hits and eight reaching base as the Vikings took the lead for good and snapped La Salle’s 19-game winning streak in Catholic League competition. Wood lost twice to the Explorers last season, including 3-2 in eight innings in the PCL final.

“Coming into the season we knew we had them first game,” said Trommer, a Bucknell commit. “We’ve been preparing all winter, coming out here and beat them after they beat us twice last year definitely feels good.”

Trommer collected three RBIs and scored twice and also pitched the first 4 2/3 innings for the Vikings (3-1, 1-0 league), who won their third straight. Sean Slowinski was 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a run scored. Pat McKinney and Braden Kelly both had two RBIs while Aiden Myers scored twice.

“I was so impressed with our resiliency today,” Wood coach Jim DiGuiseppe Jr. said. “We were just a resilient group and you talk about the ups and downs of the game and we kept playing, we kept playing and I’m proud of our guys, this is a tough place to come in and win and we certainly did that today.”

Aidan Bretschneider was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for La Salle (2-2, 0-1), which last lost in PCL play on May 15, 2019 when it fell 1-0 to Archbishop Ryan. 

The Explorers bounced back with three playoff wins to claim that year’s league title. After the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19, La Salle went 16-0 against the PCL in 2021 – 13-0 in the regular season then three more victories in the postseason for its third consecutive league championship.

Brian Baquero finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored for the Explorers Monday while Tahir Parker went 2-for-3 with an RBI double in the first.

“Today we didn’t deserve to win,” La Salle assistant coach Chris Massella said. “I felt offensively and defensively we gave away too many bases, right, at inopportune times. They took advantage of us, they’re a pretty good team. Hope to see them again.”

Joey Gale began Wood’s half of the sixth with a walk, stole second then scored on McKinney’s double to center to cut the Explorers’ lead to 5-4. Trommer followed his two-run homer to right-center to put the Vikings out in front 6-5.

Myers singled the next at-bat then came home on Slowinski’s RBI double. After Brian Klumpp reached on an error Kelly made it 9-5 Vikings with his two-RBI single to right center.

“One thing we talked about with our guys was we had opportunities early that we didn’t capitalize on but we did in the mid and late innings,” Jim DiGuiseppe Jr. said “We took advantages of our opportunities and we capitalized on them. Quite honestly, that’s how you win games.”

Wood went up 10-5 in the top of the seventh as Trommer scored on a wild pitch. La Salle began the bottom of the seventh with consecutive singles but only scored a run on Tim Schuler’s RBI sacrifice fly.

“We’re going through the process of learning,” Massella said. “I think we have to look at each game like that right now, it’s a process and again be better at the end of the year than we are right now.”

Both teams host league contests 4 p.m. Wednesday – La Salle taking on Father Judge while Archbishop Wood faces Archbishop Ryan.

Connor Woodson pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to earn the win for the Vikings. He gave up one run – earned –on three hits, struck out two and did not walk a batter. Trommer allowed five runs – all earned – on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked one, hit two batters and struck out four.

“I came out feeling good, especially second, third (innings) I really locked in, found something,” Trommer said. “But then after that long inning I came out kind of shaky, kind of all over the place.”

Emmett McLaughlin took the loss for La Salle, giving up four runs – all earned – on three hits in 1 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one. Explorers starting pitching Connor Crabtree went 3 1/3 innings, allowed three runs – all earned – on three hits, walked eight and struck out four.

La Salle took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Kevin Kell RBI single then a Parker RBI double two batters later.

The Vikings cut the margin to 2-1 in the top of the second as they loaded the bases with one out and Myers came home on Dariel Tiburcio’s RBI groundout.

Wood grabbed its first lead in the top of the fourth as back-to-back bases-loaded walks by McKinney and Trommer made it 3-2.

Parker led off the bottom of the fourth by getting hit by a pitch then stole second. After a Dominic Martin walk, Jake Overton singled up the middle to score Parker and tie the game.

AJ Owad was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Jephson Hadson-Taylor, who put La Salle up 4-3 with an RBI sac fly to bring home Martin. Bretschneider’s RBI single to right center put the Explorers up two.