Bishop Shanahan walks off downingtown East on three run homer from Eric MacCluen
DOWNINGTOWN>> The Bishop Shanahan boys baseball team may have done more than win a walk off ball game Wednesday afternoon against Downingtown East.
The host Eagles came back from a four run early deficit and when Eric MacCluen drilled a two out Dylan Hanson pitch over the left field fence, the Eagles stunned the Cougars 8-7, in a thrilling Ches-Mont National Division game.
“He threw me a fastball that was low and inside and that is where I like it,” MacCluen said. It was a cookie and I got a good piece of it and the ball went out. Today, we fought back and in the last couple of games we started out good early then fell behind and we got beat. We have to give everything we have because we do not have a perfect team. We really wanted to come back in this game.”
The Eagles (2-2 Ches-Mont, 2-3 overall) touched Hanson for three runs in the bottom of the first inning.
The big hits were an RBI single from Andrew Noone and a ringing two run double by Pete Demaio and the Eagles had an early 3-0 lead after one inning.
The lead did not last long however. The Cougars (3-3, 3-3) touched Eagles sophomore pitcher Jake Scott for five runs in the top of the second inning.
Back to back homers sparked the uprising. Conor Kelly poled a long three run homer and the next batter, Jake Reichlin, smashed a solo shot. The homers came after a RBI single on a bunt from Jamy Jenkins and the Cougars had a 5-3 lead.
Scott was touched for two more runs in the top of the fourth inning when Nick Mullen ripped a two run double and it looked like the Cougars, with Hanson on the mound, were home free with a 7-3 lead.
Connor Hill replaced Scott on the mound and did not allow the Cougars any runs in the next three and two thirds innings of work. Hill’s relief performance allowed the Eagles a chance to come back in the contest.
“Yes, Connor was really good for us today,” Bishop Shanahan coach Brian Boyko said. “I wanted to see both Jake, who is a sophomore and Connor, who is a junior, pitch against a strong lineup and they did well today. Connor was almost pitching backwards like we had the lead. And the kids taught me something today. They really showed a lot of fight to come back.
“Sometimes, high school teams that get behind just tend to quit. And these kids today just said they were not going to lose this game. Connor kept us in the game by throwing strikes and Eric really hit that last one. This was a good day for us.”
The Eagles scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and could have had more except for some bad base running on their part.
After those single runs, the teams headed to the bottom fo the seventh with the Cougars holding a 7-5 lead.
Hanson started the bottom of the seventh inning by striking out Chase Riccardo for the first out. Jack O’Day singled to left field to put a man on first with one out. Logan Kapcynski made the second Eagles out by flying out to left field.
Noone walked to put men on first and second with two out and on his 100th pitch, Hanson threw a fastball that MacCluien crushed and the Eagles exploded off their bench with a come from behind 8-7 win.
“This league is very tough,” Boyko said. “And these kids decided they were not out of this game today.”
Bishop Shanahan 8, Downingtown East 7
Downingtown East 050 200 0-7
Bishop Shanahan 300 0113-8
2B-Mullen. Demaio. HR-Kelly, Rechlin, MacCluen
WP-Hill. LP-Hanson.
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