KELLER, DEFENSE LEAD GENERALS
Fort Washington blanks Roslyn in first round of playoffs
If David Keller was fazed in the top of the first inning Thursday, it was impossible to tell.
Despite letting the first two Roslyn batters he faced on base, Keller remained stoic as he tried to avoid putting his top-seeded Fort Washington Generals in an early hole in the first round of the Lower Montco Legion playoffs. When his fielders spun an inningending double play behind for a scoreless frame, Keller knew he was in a good spot.
As they have all season, Keller and his defense meshed well as Fort Washington topped Roslyn 3-0 at Upper Dublin High School.
“It definitely wasn’t all me, I have to give it to the defense,” Keller said. “Without them, I don’t know where we would be.”
Keller lives in the Upper Dublin school district but attends Dock Mennonite Academy, where he spent the spring as the Pioneers’ No. 2 pitcher behind Daniel Sabath and mostly caught. For the Generals, he’s been the staff ace and put together back-to-back nohitters earlier this season.
On Thursday, the right-hander had to contend with a potent Blue Hawks lineup and some adverse conditions early on. The game’s first two innings were played in
a steady rain, which Keller said prompted him to make some adjustments on the hill.
For Roslyn, which had four hits and three runners reach via walks, it was a number of issues adding up that cost them chances to score.
“That’s a problem we’ve had the last four or five games now, I had hoped things would change with it being a playoff atmosphere but we seemed to run into a lot of the same problems,” Roslyn coach Mark Troyer said. “That first inning was critical. We had first and second with nobody out and if we bring those runs in, it brings a different energy to the club.”
Fort Washington recorded seven hits off Roslyn starter Paul Poppert, but got all of its offense from one source in third baseman Brian McPeak. McPeak, a rising junior at Upper Dublin, was one of the last guys on the roster this summer but has made a big impression.
In the first inning, McPeak belted a two-out double that brought in Matt Hebling and Jake Dianno, allowing Fort Washington to capitalize off the momentum the inning-ending double play provided.
McPeak, who also pitches for Fort Washington, provided the only other RBI of the game with a thirdinning sac fly to deep left that scored JT Breslin, who has doubled earlier in the frame.
“Brian McPeak had a tremendous game for us and he’s been tremendous for us all year, he’s hitting close to .450 as a sophomore,” Fort Washington manager Gary Bonitatibus said. “He came on strong at the end of the high school season. He’s actually double-rostered to the (junior Legion) team but he’s playing so well he has to be in our lineup right now.”
Keller got plenty of help from his middle infielders in shortstop Justin Horn and Heblin at second. Horn started the 6-4-3 double play that ended the first inning while Hebling made a great play in the second on a Nick McClay grounder that netted an out and held two Roslyn runners on base.
In the fourth, Tom Bassetti hit a liner right back at the mound. The ball glanced off Keller, who tumbled to the ground where he had a great view as Horn charged in and fired to first in time.
“I just sat and watched it,” Keller said with a smirk.
While the Generals lost some key players from the last few seasons, Keller and his teammates knew they had the potential to be pretty good. Once guys fell into their places and in Keller’s case, got back into a grooce, things took off for the regular-season champs.
“It’s kind of hard to explain but it’s really about being myself honestly and not trying to change anything,” Keller said. “That’s really it.”
The task now is finishing that off with an LML tournament title, which the program hasn’t done since 2014.
“If you get the first two games, you’re in the driver’s seat and that’s what the goal was,” Bonitatibus said. “We preached that the whole year and hoped that good things would happen and that’s what happened for us tonight.”
Fort will play the winner of Huntingdon Valley and Jenkintown while the loser of that game will face Roslyn in an elimination game. Jenkintown and Huntingdon Valley were washed out Thursday and will play Friday at 5:30 at Lower Moreland.
“We have to go one game at a time, and hopefully we’ll find ourselves at the final game,” Troyer said. “We just want to give ourselves the opportunity to make something happen.”
Roslyn 0000000—040
Fort Washington 201000x—370
2B: Brian McPeak (FW), JT Breslin (FW), Greg Cooper (FW)