Gregg pitches Avon Grove over WC East
WEST GOSHEN- The first place Avon Grove Red Devils received a dominant starting pitching performance from their ace, Brayden Gregg, Thursday afternoon as the first place Red Devils downed West Chester East, 3-0, in a very important Ches-Mont National Division game.
Gregg struck out nine Vikings batters and allowed just one hit while walking just one Vikings (8-4 Ches-Mont, 9-4 overall) batter in a 85 pitch masterpiece.
“My velocity was real good today,” Gregg said. “And in the pen before the game I was flipping off some curves and they were all strikes so i used that a lot to keep them off balance. It is good to have something other than a fastball to get hitters out. And I settled into a rhythm and I like to work quick. No batter likes to be rushed up there but today I was able to pitch quickly.”
Avon Grove (9-2, 10-2) scored the only run they would need in the bottom of the first inning. Trevor Dosenbach led off with a double to right field off Vikings starter Matt Holgado.
After striking out Kenny Askin, Trent Dosenbach singled to put men on first and third with one out. Up stepped Natahn Schwing who ripped an RBI single to left field and it was a 1-0 Red Devils lead.
The Vikings got their only hit of the game in the top of the second inning when Brady Laird led off with a single to left field. A nice sacrifice bunt by Dante Wright moved Laird to second with one out.
Laird stole third base but Gregg fanned the next two West Chester East batters and the Red Devils still had their 1-0 advantage. Laird’s hit would be the last hit of the day for the Vikings.
“As a staff we preach to win the first pitch of the at bat,” Avon Grove coach John Bellaver said. “And Brayden did that today. He mixed his pitches well and in today’s baseball where everybody talked about launch angle and spin rate, we try to win the first pitch of every at bat and we didi that today. We have a lotto guys that played varsity baseball as sophomores and three who played as freshmen so we feel we can hold up pretty well n the Ches-Mont race.”
Holgado settled in also and he and Gregg traded throwing zeroes up on the scoreboard. Both pitchers struck out the side in the top and bottom of the fourth innings and the Red Devils still had a 1-0 lead heading to the top of the seventh inning.
Gregg had set down 12 batters in a row after the second inning heading to the seventh.
Schwing greeted Holgado in the bottom of the sixth inning with a sharp single to right center to start the inning.
Caleb Strawhecker then singled to put men on first and second with no one out. Vikings coach Corey Webb went to his bullpen and called on Matt Delacruz to quell the Avon Grove rally.
Delacruz was greeted with a pretty sacrifice bunt from Joe O’Connor to put men on second and third base with one out.
Then, things fell apart for the Vikings. Delacruz allowed the two Avon Grove runners to score, one on a passed ball and the third run on a wild pitch and the Red Devils had a commanding 3-0 lead heading to the top of the seventh inning.
Gregg retired the first two Vikings batters in the top the seventh inning. Laird then hit a grounder to third base that was bobbled and then the throw to first went awry and the Vikings had some life.
But the day belonged to Gregg as he struck out Wright to end the game with a tidy one hit gem.
“The two runs we got in the bottom of the sixth were big,” Gregg said. “I told the guys not to worry about the error because we had a 3-0 lead, not 1-0. The runs allowed me to relax a little in the seventh inning.”
Avon Grove 3, WC East 0
WC East 000 000 0-0
Avon Grove 100 002-x-3
2B-Trevor Dosenbach.
WP-Gregg. LP-Holgado.
