Pennridge

Paul Croyle as Pennridge (78-1 league) bounced back from Wednesday’s 11-1 fiveinning loss to Souderton to give their Bux-Mont tournament chances a boost.

“We needed a great effort from (Hewitt) and we got it,” Pennridge coach Rocky Wright said. “(Ian) Kacergis is away so we don’t have him tomorrow and we play Pottstown tomorrow. We’re going to pitch by committee, I guess, and hopefully we beat them.

“I figured, starting tonight, we needed three wins to get to the playoffs and this is one of them.”

Garrett Zimmerman collected two of Lansdale’s three hits off Hewitt, finishing 2-for-2 with a pair of singles and a walk. After leaving two on in the first, the Cannoneers (2-121) stranded a run in three straight innings starting in the fourth.

“They had a clutch hit both of those innings where we didn’t get any clutch hits,” Lansdale coach Scott McClay said. “Actually, I believe we had three hits, two of them were in the first inning. Just like last night against Warrington (a 10-3 loss), we had two hits. You can’t win baseball games with two hits.”

“And we’re struggling, our guys are struggling hitting the ball. Twelve strikeouts tonight, that’s difficult. You’ve got to be able to hit the ball.”

Cannoneers starting pitcher Ethan Weber took the loss despite a solid effort on the mound. The right-hander gave up two runs — both earned — on five hits in five-plus innings. He walked five, struck out four and hit one batter.

“When he does throw his breaking ball — which I think he has one of the better breaking balls because it actually drops off the table,” said McClay of Weber. “It’s not a slider, it’s a breaking ball that actually drops, that’s the toughest ball to hit at the high school level. So when he’s throwing that, he’s tough to hit. He did a real nice job for us tonight.”

Pennridge visits Pottstown 11 a.m. Saturday while Lansdale plays Sunday hosting Hatfield-Towamencin as part of the Cannoneers’ First Annual Day at the Ballpark. A slate of four games at Memorial Park begins at 9 a.m. and finishes with Lansdale vs. H-T.

Pennridge took a 1-0 lead Friday night in the top of the second. Tyler Wright was hit by a pitch with one out but was forced out at second on a fielder’s choice by Brendan Knouse. Kevin Knapp kept the inning going with a two-out walk. Witner followed with a RBI single to left to plate Knouse while Knapp was thrown out trying to reach third on the play.

In the fifth, Pennridge loaded the bases with no outs and two walks sandwiching a Fantaskey single. Croyle’s RBI sacrifice fly to center field brought home Hayden Maltby to make it 2-0 while Fantaskey was out trying to advantage to third. With a runner still on second, Weber got a fly out to center to keep Lansdale within two.

The Cannoneers’ best chance for a run came in the first. Chris McLean led off with a single but was thrown out trying to steal second. Erik Jesberger drew a one-out walk with Zimmerman singling to right on the next at-bat. Hewitt, however, collected back-toback strikeouts.

In the fourth, Lansdale put its first two on after a Zimmerman single and Trevor Sliker getting hit by a pitch. But Zimmerman was forced out a third on a sacrifice bunt attempt and Pennridge ended the inning with a 6-4-3 double play.