Bears stay alive with win over Quakertown
After a 5-3 loss Friday night to Post 625, Boyertown regroups with 6-3 win Saturday
BOYERTOWN >> It was the kind of response Rick Moatz was seeking Saturday.
After seeing his team upended on the first day of the Pa. Region 2 Tournament, Moatz got a much different outcome from his Boyertown American Legion baseball team. The Bears stayed alive in the double-elimination competition by dispatching Quakertown, 6-3.
Boyertown remains one of the six clubs still in the regional field. They did so by reversing one unpleasant condition from their 5-3 loss to Post 625: Turning double-digit strikeouts into a near-similar number of walks.
“We did a little better,” Moatz said. “We had some early bad pitches, but we made it hard on their pitcher by not swinging at those pitches.”
The nine free passes the Bears drew included four during their breakout fifth inning, when they scored five times to go ahead for keeps. Jared Waldman and Sean Sutterby each walked with bags full to cap an outburst that featured Pat Wieand’s two-run double.
“That was key, being down 3-1 was huge,” Waldman said. “My teammates kept on adding to it. It was a good inning for us ... getting rested. We kept hitting with confidence,”
Waldman boosted Boyertown’s confidence with a solid complete game on the mound. He scattered six hits, walked none, struck out two and kept the Blue Jays from adding to their run total over their final atbats ... all in under 100 pitches.
“I knew our pitching needed to be stellar today,” Waldman said. “I gave it all I had. This could be my last time pitching here, so it was the best way for me to go out.”
“He was bold today,” Moatz added. “He was big at bat, too, getting on base three times.”
Boyertown’s fifth-inning bataround started off with Chase Mercon drawing a walk, finishing Quakertown starter in favor of Andrew Nace. Chris Davis then sin
gled to left-center, and Caleb Harrison walked on a full count to set the stage for Waldman forcing a fourpitch free pass and run.
Following Wieand’s twoRBI double, Sam Legerton brought another run in when his grounder to short got him safe on a muffed throw.
“I thought their pitcher was tiring, and he was losing it at that point,” Moatz said. “We made him throw pitches. We came up with a couple hits, too, which was good to see.”
Quakertown broke up both the no-hitter and shutout in the bottom of the third. Successive singles by Sean Brennan, Sam Rice and Nate Barnes preceded Bradley Barnes reaching base on a muffed relay throw, enabling both Brennan and Rice to score.
Boyertown got on board in the top of the fifth, bunching four hits on the way to its run. Jared Waldman and Sean Sutterby singled before Pat Wieand hit a shot to center that brought Waldman home.
The Blue Jays regained a two-run lead in the bottom half of the fourth, Adam Ritter hitting a leadoff double and scoring off a Brennan single.
Boyertown drops opener to Post 625
Only one thing could have made Adam Schultz’ night complete Friday: Pitching a complete game.
The dictates of the American Legion baseball pitch count left Schultz one out short of achieving that. But he still gets considerable credit for hurling Post 625 past Boyertown, 5-3.
Schultz racked up 10 strikeouts against a pair of walks, and he shut the Bears down after the third inning. The Wildcats supported his mound efforts with the tying run in the fourth, and the margin of victory in the fifth.
“He hit 103 on his last batter,” 625 manager Rich Spatz said, “so we had to pull him. But it all worked out.”
The ‘Cats, making their first-ever visit to a stateregional tournament, took a 1-0 lead in the first inning with Angel Velez’ single driving in Nick Sager. It scored again in the third, Andrew Torres singling Sager home, for a 2-1 lead Boyertown overtook with a pair in the bottom of the frame.
A Sager grounder to second base pulled the Schuylkill/Berks second seeds even with Boyertown in the fourth, Josh Rehr (single) coming home on the play. In the fifth, Rehr doubled home Velez after Torres (single) was awarded home plate off a balk by Boyertown reliever Tony Xanthopoulos.
“We’re excited. We want to prove we belong,” Spatz said. “(Friday night) went a long way toward that, and we’re hoping to continue.”
Boyertown’s first run in the second inning came off a Billy Coleman single that drove in Caleb Harrison, who was hit by a Schultz pitch and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches. In the third, Pat Wieand scored off a Chase Mercon fielders’choice play before Sam Legerton (walk) came home off Chris Davis’ sacrifice fly to right.
Schultz’ double-digit strikeout total was a particular concern of Boyertown manager Rick Moatz.
“He threw pitches we shouldn’t have swung at,” Moatz said. We got ourselves out. We weren’t getting ahead in the counts.”
Friday’s game proved a microcosm of a season that saw Boyertown finish third in the Berks County League, then get edged by Norchester in their playoff title game, 2-1.
“The way we lost (Friday) is the way we’ve played all season,” Moatz said. “We’ve got to play a cleaner game.
“It’s going to be a long haul. Whether we can come back and pitch well, make harder outs ... that will be the key.”