Whitemarsh takes command in 4th, tops Valley Forge

UPPER MERION » For Jesse Balcer, the fourth inning was all about approach.

The Whitemarsh third baseman was patient to start the frame, working a leadoff walk and aggressive in his second time up in the inning, mashing an RBI double. In between, his teammates had taken that spark and ran hard with it, ending the frame with six runs after 11 guys had gone to the plate.

That was all the momentum pitcher Zach Chandler needed to take care of the rest as Whitemarsh topped host Valley Forge 9-5 Thursday night in GNALBL play at Upper Merion Area High School.

“We realized they were short on arms so we needed to be more selective and that really helped a lot,” Balcer said. “Once we started to extend the atbats, they were quick-pitching a bit but we did a good job of settling in, extending the at-bats and getting runners on base.”

Thursday’s game started off as an exchange in spells of momentum until Whitemarsh’s big fourth inning. Jake McGrath staked Valley Forge to emphatic early 2-0 lead with a two-run home run off Chandler in the bottom of the first inning.

Whitemarsh tied it 2-2 in the third when Jacob Nunez scored on a passed ball and Michael Orensky laced an RBI double to score Zach Redican, but the deadlock didn’t last long. VF’s Chris Clerkin gave his side the lead back with an RBI single in the bottom of the third and he later scored on Mark Clayton’s