Xanthopoulos strikes out 11 in Bears’ win over Twin Valley
By his own admission, Tony Xanthopoulos wasn’t much of a power pitcher last summer.
The Boyertown Bears hurler said he struck out just seven batters the entire season.
Heading into this summer, Xanthopoulos added a bit of a velocity and improved his changeup to give him another offspeed offering along with his curveball.
The fruits of those efforts were apparent Thursday night against Twin Valley in Berks Independent League action. Xanthopoulos allowed just one hit and two walks in six innings to go along with 11 strikeouts to lead the Bears to a 4-0 win.
“Today was definitely my most on,” Xanthopoulos said. “They were chasing every high fastball I would throw, so I just kept giving it to them. So far this summer, it’s been going a little similar to this, but today was definitely my best.”
Xanthopoulos struck out the first five batters he faced Thursday night and tallied nine strikeouts through the first three frames. He said he threw a first pitch breaking ball to each of the first 12 batters he faced, keeping the Twin Valley offense offbalance through his six innings of work.
Twin Valley’s lone hit came in the third when Ryan Chapman lined a single up the middle. A walk in the fifth and a walk in the sixth were the only other two runners Xanthopoulos allowed.
Ethan Martin finished off the dazzling pitching performance by striking out two hitters in a scoreless seventh inning
“He was just mixing in curveballs and we weren’t hitting them,” Twin Valley manager Billy Reardon said of Xanthopoulos. “We just didn’t have the two-strike approach we want to have. There were a lot of strikeouts. It’s tough to win when you strike out that much.
Xanthopoulos was aided by a few sharp plays from his defenders. Colin Eisenhard stopped a ball in the hole at third base and made a strong throw over to first for an out. Ethan Martin made a leaping grab at shortstop to rob Twin Valley of a hit. Max Knittle tracked down a ball near the line in right field to keep another hit off the board.
“It was just all around good defense,” Xanthopoulos said. “We didn’t need much of it, but when we did, they stepped up.”
Fresh off a 12-run game against West Lawn on Tuesday, the Bears bats stayed hot to open up Thursday’s contest against Twin Valley.
Chase Mercon and Martin hit doubles followed by a single from Eisenhard to put the Bears up 2-0 after one. Mercon hit a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth to account for Boyertown’s other two runs.