Plumstead pulls away from Cannoneers

LANSDALE » Plumstead’s Matt McGrath had thoughts of sending a ball over the left-field fence of Weaver Field at Memorial Park in the top of the fourth inning Wednesday night. Instead, he just came away with a RBI triple to center.

“Honestly I was trying to pull it cause the short fence,” he said. “But then it was nice, little pitch, kind of just golf swung and liner over his head.”

While McGrath couldn’t connect for a home run, Grant Meiers had no trouble do so two batters later — belting a no-doubt two-run shot to left.

“I went to tag up and I was like ‘No, that’s out,’” McGrath said.

Meiers blast capped a sevenrun surge in the third and four frames for Plumstead, which erased an early 4-2 deficit against host Lansdale and rolled to a 11-4 Bux-Mont American Legion victory.

“We’ve been a little slow but then once one good inning like today we had one good inning, we all got hot,” McGrath said. “So we all just feed of each other.”

After Plumstead took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Lansdale answered with a run in the bottom of the inning then three more in the second — the last two coming on starting pitcher Jason Beideman’s triple to center — to hold a two-run edge.

But the Cannoneers’ advan-

tage did not last through the top of the third as Plumstead plate four runs in the inning for a 6-4 lead then added three more in the fourth, extending the margin to 9-4.

“I think I got there, I roped the triple and I came out and I was still sucking wind on the mound. That just kind of translated into my pitching,” Beideman said. “I needed to slow down and throw strikes and I couldn’t do it.”

McGrath was 3-for-5 with an RBI and four run scored and also picked up the winning pitching three innings in relief as Plumstead (44-1 Bux-Mont) stopped a two-game skid. Meiers was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs, Kyle Oechsle went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs while Bobby McClintock finished 2-for-4.

“I think we just swang early on the counts. They had some good pitchers and we could tell they were trying to get ahead early,” McGrath said. “So I think I hit two hits on the first pitch. Cause if you got below, they struck me out the one time with two nice curveballs.”

Lansdale (2-7-1 league) — winless in its last six — had five hits through the first two innings but only had one in the final five — a single by Ethan Weber in the fifth.

“So far this story of our season, we haven’t been getting clutch hits,” Cannoneers coach Scott McClay said. “Tonight, we put up four runs then we gave them two runs early, when we came back, we put four runs up, we were feeling pretty good. But the next inning, you can’t make a mistake on opening the door for them, which we did. You got to make the plays and we booted the bunt, that opened the floodgates and next thing you know they score four or five runs.”

McGrath led off the top of the third with a single while an error on Ethan Brader’s bunt on the next at-bat put runners on second and third. Beideman

struck out Meiers but Chris Cassini followed with an RBI single to pull Plumstead within 4-3.

After infield single by Aaron Worthington loaded the bases, Beideman was called for a balk, bring home Brader to tie the game. Oechsle then put Plumstead up 6-4 with his two-RBI double to left center.

McGrath’s RBI triple and Meiers’ two-run homer extended Plumstead’s lead to 9-4 in the top of the fourth. Lansdale loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning after backto-back walks and a hit by pitch. McGrath took over on the mount for starter Cassini and proceeded to find a way out of the jam with a strike out, a line out to third and a force out a third on a fielder’s choice.

“I wasn’t mad but I was like, ‘Come on, I don’t want to do this.’” McGrath said. “Soon as I got that first strikeout that helped a lot and then nice plays on defense.”

McGrath, a Palisades grad heading to Pitt Johnstown, threw two more scoreless to pick up the win. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out a pair.

Beideman took the loss for the Cannoneers, allowing eight runs — five earned — on eight hits. He walked two and struck out four.

“We’re a really young team. I’m one of the oldest guys, I’ve been here for three years, I’m a junior but we have a lot of sophomores, we have a lot of juniors who are playing for their first time. It’s a really young team,” Beideman said. “We got off to a good start, we beat NorGwyn and Warrington and we were looking but I think we’re just kind of spinning our wheels right now.

“I can see us in all these games. There’s a time in every single game that we’re in it and we can win. We got to break through and kind of figure out how to win these games.

Both teams are on the road for their next game. Lansdale visits HatfieldTowamencin 8:30 p.m. Thursday at School Road Park. Plumstead heads to

Barness Park Friday to face Warrington at 7 p.m.

“Very young team, as far varsity-type, high school, as far as any playing time at that level, there’s only a couple players that actually have seen the field. So this a good experience for them,” McClay said. “They’re learning, but they’re learning the hard way but they’re learning. But so far our coaching staff, we’re pretty pleased with the progress that we see. We’re not winning games but we are winning in our players getting better.

“If we can just cut back on the mistakes and giving up four or five run innings and keep it to one, we’ll be better.”

Plumstead went out to a 2-0 lead Wednesday night with two runs in the first. McGrath, who started the game with an infield single, scored the opening run after an errant throw to third on a double steal. Meiers, who went to third on the error, came home when Worthington was caught in a rundown between first and second.

Lansdale cut the Plumstead lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first as Hunter Evan’s single plated Eric Jesberger.

In the bottom of the second, base hits by Chris McLean and Jack Yunaska gave the Cannoneers two on with one out and Beideman brought home both for a 3-2 lead with his two-RBI triple to center. Luke Vandegrift’s RBI sacrifice fly to right on the next at-bat put Lansdale up 4-2.

“Actually, it’s funny, my leg was not feeling good because on the one catch I made (in the first) I stepped awkwardly so my groin was feeling a little pulled so I was telling the guys I don’t think I can run very hard,” said Beideman of his triple. “But I hit it hard off the bat and was like you know what I’m going for three on this, it was over his head, coach (Kevin) Manero was waving me around, so I went for it.”

Plumstead tacked on its final two runs with an Oechsle RBI single up the middle in the sixth and Brader RBI double down the third-base line in the seventh.