deHaan pitches Spring-Ford baseball past Perkiomen Valley

GRATERFORD >> Spring-Ford pitcher Mike deHaan doesn’t throw the baseball past many batters, nor does he try to, allowing his fielders to take care of the outs instead. And that was the scenario on Wednesday afternoon at Perkiomen Valley as the senior right-hander struck out only one in six innings, but also allowed only four hits and a single run in a 7-3 Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win.

On the other hand, the Rams (2-0 Liberty, 3-0 PAC, 4-1 overall) collected 14 hits, including five in a row during a five-run third inning that gave them a 6-0 lead. Nick Flores and Gage Swanger each had three hits for Spring-Ford. Mike Poruban led the Vikings (0-2, 2-1, 4-2) with two hits and two RBI and Perkiomen Valley catcher Chris Gorla threw out three Rams on steal attempts.

“Just throw strikes,” deHaan said. “That was the biggest thing. I’m not going to overpower kids. Get the ball on the ground or in the air.”

“That’s Michael,” Spring-Ford coach Rick Harrison said. “From a coaching standpoint, he’s the perfect pitcher for us. He works fast, throws strikes and controls the running game. He does a lot of good things. He locates his pitches and puts the ball in play. He’s just pretty efficient.”

Spring-Ford scored one in the first on an error, a steal, a balk and an infield hit to short by Dylan Broderick. Then David Ruckman, Nick Moyer, Flores and Broderick hit consecutive singles with one away in the third and Brian Korchock followed with a double.

“It’s a lot better pitching out there when you have the lead,” deHaan said. “Much more comfortable.”
“Offensively, we had really good at bats, only striking out once today,” Harrison said. “Pretty competitive at bats.”

Perkiomen Valley scored in the third on a one-out double by J.T. Brady, a balk and a grounder to short by Poruban. Spring-Ford made it 7-1 in the sixth on a single and steal by Flores and back-to-back bunts by Ryan Cecconi and Jared Leighton.

The Rams might have scored more runs, if not for the play of senior catcher Gorla, who threw out 50 percent of runners on steal attempts.

“Chris, behind the plate, did a fantastic job keeping us in the game,” Vikings coach Ryan Hinkle said. “He does a great job of managing the game.”

Kevin Fitzpatrick allowed only one run in 2 2/3’s innings in relief for Perkiomen Valley to keep his team somewhat within range. But deHaan got a grounder to first and another to short to end the sixth after allowing back-to-back walks with one out and keep the score at 7-1.

Aidan Autovino drilled a double to start the Vikings’ seventh and came around on a groundout and a wild pitch and another run scored on a two-out single by Poruban. But the Vikings got no more and wound up with just six hits for the day.

“They hit the ball where we weren’t and we hit the ball where they were,” Hinkle said. “They had one big crooked number inning. They strung four or five hits in a row. We needed an inning like that.”

deHaan got six outs on the ground and nine in the air and picked off a runner and catcher Cecconi threw out one on a steal try. Shortstop Moyer had two putouts and five assists, making strong throws to first on difficult plays throughout the contest.

“When I pitch, the majority of balls go to short,” deHaan said. “Moyer does a good job out there. We’re a very fundamentally sound team.”

“Our defense was pretty tight today,” Harrison said. “The middle infield did a really nice job, especially Nick Moyer. He plays the game very controlled.”

The Rams had begun the week with a 4-3 win over defending PAC champion Owen J. Roberts on Monday.

“We take the season in segments,” Harrison said. “We had a 2-0 week. You’ve got to be happy about that.”

Spring-Ford 7, Perkiomen Valley 3