Late-night heroics for Tigers

Petrongolo puts Lansdale in control

UPPER MERION >> One strike away from defeat, Lansdale’s Paschal Petrongolo lifted a towering fly ball over the head of Valley Forge center fielder Nick Rowland, allowing Ricky Gorrell and Matt Hanson to race home for the tying runs on Tuesday night.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play. With two strikes, I just wanted to shorten up and make something happen,” said Petrongolo. “You can’t let the game end on a strikeout.”

Moments later, Matt Sperling’s bloop single allowed Petrongolo to score, putting the Tigers ahead for good. Dillon Tagle’s RBI single padded the lead, and Lansdale would hold on for a come-from-behind 7-6 victory that suddenly has the Tigers in firm control of the semifinal playoff series, up two games to none.

“Any time you go into the last inning down by a couple runs, it feels good to come out with a win,” Petrongolo said. KEY CONTRIBUTORS >> Gorrell smacked a pair of doubles and a triple and scored three times.

Hanson had three hits, including a triple, scored twice and knocked in a pair of runs. And Dan Morrin struck out four in his two and two thirds innings of relief, picking up the win for top-seeded Lansdale.

“It’s huge (to go up 2-0). That’s the position you wanna be in, especially heading back home,” Petrongolo said, “and especially with our pitching staff and as strong as it is, and as much confidence as we have.

“Our guys go out there and give us a good, strong start and then we have a couple mid relievers to come in and shut it down. So we’re in a very good spot heading into Game Three (Wednesday night at Lansdale). BACK AND FORTH >> Lansdale jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to a leadoff double by Gorrell, a triple by Hanson, and then a ground ball by Wenger that pushed in Hanson.

Back came seventhseeded Valley Forge.

The Bucks chipped away with an RBI single by Andrew Boykin in the first then tied it on a sac fly to center by Joe Zglezewski in the second.

Valley Forge went up 3-2 in the third on Ryan Richter’s solo home run to left.

The Tigers then tied it 3-3 in the fifth on Hanson’s RBI single but then Valley Forge built a 5-3 lead in the fifth on a two-run single by Drew Taylor.

Bucks starter Rob Barth pitched into the seventh, giving up a double by Gorrell and a single by Hanson before striking out Wenger and Rob Zinsmeister.

On a 1-2 count, Petrongolo’s towering shot brought Lansdale back.

The Bucks would cut it to 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh when Jaden Himmelreich drove in Ryan Murphy, but Morrin retired the next two batters to end it.