Gutsy decision by Giles seals win for Penncrest

SPRINGFIELD – The table was set for Penncrest’s Gavin Brown to do damage in the top of the seventh inning Monday.

With two outs and the bases loaded, the Lions were looking for some insurance against Springfield. And Brown is one of the team’s top hitters, so they liked their chances.

As Brown was in the box, standing on third base was Harry Giles. The sophomore right fielder had led off the inning with a double to deep center. What followed was a long inning of standing around. Giles had contemplated stealing third a time or two, but he wasn’t entirely sure if it was the wisest move.

Eventually, Giles reached third base. He soon picked up a bad habit from Springfield relief pitcher Matt Wysocki. Giles noticed that at no point after getting the ball from catcher Ethan Marshall did Wysocki look him back to third. He consulted with head coach Rusty Abrams, who was coaching at third.

“Whenever he would get the ball, he would turn around with his head down and walk back to the mound,” Giles said. “I thought I could take advantage of that.”

When Giles stole home, he timed the entire sequence to perfection. Marshall lofted a throw back to Wysocki as Brown worked the count to three balls and one strike. Wysocki caught the ball and started his trot back to the rubber. That’s when Giles took off. He slid in safely to give Penncrest a 6-4 lead and eventual win by the same score.

“I was confident that I could make it,” said Giles, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI single. “I have pretty decent speed. I saw him do it three times in a row, so I was ready.”

Abrams has coached long enough to know whether to trust a player in that spot. It’s a risky move, like calling for a hit on 16 at the blackjack table. Giles made his old ball coach look pretty smart.

“I don’t want to get too deep here,” Abrams said. “He was on second and gave me the OK to steal third … but he wouldn’t go. When he gets to third, I said, ‘Did you chicken out?’ and he says, ‘I don’t know.’ Then as he is on third he says, ‘Coach, he’s walking back to the mound and not looking at me.’ Then he said it again, the pitcher wasn’t paying him attention. Now, we have a good hitter up. So I said, ‘OK, are you good now? I’ve got your back if you decide to go.’ And he did. He’s only a sophomore, you know? He is really doing well, a nice little player. I have to look at a guy and see if he has the confidence. Once he got to third, I could see that he was confident.”

Josh Kalinowski closed out the seventh inning. After leadoff hitter Sean Williams worked a walk, Kalinowski induced a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Aidan Nestor. Marshall grounded out sharply to end the game.

Kalinowski entered in relief of Brown in the sixth inning after Jake Adams led off with a double with the Lions ahead 5-3. The junior lefty struck out the first two hitters he faced before Luke Jones ripped a single the other way to right field, scoring Adams. Shane Lennon walked and a wild pitch put runners on second and third with two down. Kalinowski froze slugger Matt Bean with a nasty hook for a called third strike, preserving the Lions’ lead.

“Lately it’s been my curveball more than my change up, so I lean towards throwing that,” Kalinowski said. “It’s awesome (pitching out of a tough spot). I love it.”

Gavin Wray started the game for the Lions. The hard-throwing righty battled through command issues to strike out seven over three innings. He allowed two runs on only one hit and walked five. Brown pitched three innings of relief, allowing two runs on two hits with three punchouts.

The Lions jumped out to a 5-0 lead off Williams, the Cougars’ starter. All five runs were unearned, but the Lions made the home team pay for its shaky defense. O’Donnell laced an RBI single in the first and the Lions sent eight hitters to the plate in the third, scoring four runs. Giles had an RBI knock and Wray hit a jam shot to shallow left to drive home two runs.

Springfield’s Colin Treude was excellent in relief of Williams. Making his first varsity appearance, the junior got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth with three consecutive strikeouts. He finished with six Ks in three-plus innings.

“I only expected him to give me an inning and he was out there for three. He just threw strikes and had good pace and they didn’t put many good swings on him,” Springfield coach Brian Francis said. “That was definitely a positive.”

The Cougars (0-4) are still learning how to limit their mistakes. They are a young and growing team with many first-year varsity players.

“You’ve got to play, you know?” Francis said. “We’ll keep plugging along and hopefully we can turn it around. I talked to the guys about learning to play with the lead and keeping the game simple. We’re really close and hopefully we’ll figure it out soon.”

Elsewhere in the Central League:

Garnet Valley 3, Upper Darby 1 >> Chris Schaller was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI and Mark Zuppo added a run-scoring knock for the Jaguars.

GV starter Shane McDermott recorded eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings to get the win. He allowed only three hits and an unearned run. Joe Anzalone got the last two outs via strikeout to earn the save.

Upper Darby ace Chris Zupito was a tough-luck loser. The All-Delco fanned nine hitters and gave up three runs on four hits over 5.2 innings. Ben Beasley had an RBI hit and Drew Kessler was 2-for-4 with a double.

In the Catholic League:

Archbishop Carroll 12, Devon Prep 1 >> Jayln Tidwell had a pair of RBIs and two runs scored for the Patriots. Winning pitcher James Brown piled up seven strikeouts.

Father Judge 11, Cardinal O’Hara 5 >> Tim Ramirez, Jake Cornibe and Nate Evert all had multi-hit games for the Lions.