Lansdale uses 4-run 5th to take Game 2, tie series
UPPER GWYNEDD >> Kyle Wenger did not award himself much in the way of style points for his chopper in the top of the fifth inning that found a way through the left side of the infield.
“I don’t know, it wasn’t the prettiest thing,” he said.
It more than made up for it with its effectiveness as the twoout, bases-loaded single scored a pair of runs, extending Lansdale’s lead over Collegeville to 4-1 in Game 2 of the Perky League finals.
“It was just a two-strike swing, just protecting and watched it in deep and just took it the other way and just got over the third baseman’s head,” Wenger said. “Took a nice, lucky bounce I’d say.”
Pascal Petrongolo followed with an RBI single to cap the Tigers’ four-run frame that broke a 1-1 tie with Collegeville and allowed Lansdale to even up the championship series at a game apiece with a 6-2 victory Monday night at Hostelley Field.
“We’re real happy with how we
came to play today,” Lansdale manager Jeff Murtha said. “We shook the lineup up a little bit. We’ve had the same lineup for probably 35 games this summer and tonight was the first game we went with a different lineup just to shake it up and get the offense going. Guys came out to play, we made the routine plays and we’re happy with the outcome.”
Wenger, who usually bats third, was sixth in the order Monday and finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Matt Hanson went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored while Matt Cavagnaro was 2-for-2 with a double and two walks.
“We were two of the top hitting teams in the league, so we know either way at the plate it only takes one inning to break out for either one of us,” Wenger said.
Game 3 of the Best-of-5 series is set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday back at Hostelley Field.
Collegeville pulled within 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth on a Kyle Feaster RBI sac fly to the fence in left-center field but the Tigers regained the four-run advantage in the top of the sixth on Hanson’s RBI single.
The White Sox began the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back singles from Lenny DelGrippo and Scott Young only for Nick Distasio to take over on the mound and shut the door, retiring all six Collegeville batters he faced — four by strikeout.
“Nick Distasio, he’s been our No. 1 reliever out of the pen all year,” said Murtha of the right-hander. “And in the sixth inning we had no problem going to him to get us six outs.
Distasio picked up the save while Tigers starting pitcher Gaby Almonte earned the victory, the righty giving up two runs — both earned — on five hits in five-plus innings. He walked two, hit one batter and struck out three. Almonte also flashed some defense, coming up with a stellar snag of Matt Altieri’s hard-hit liner in the first then starting a 1-6-3 inning-ending double play in the fourth.
Bret Clarke took the loss for Collegeville after coming in for starter Paul Spiewak with two outs in the top of the third. Clarke threw one inning, surrendered four runs — all earned — on three hits, struck out three, hit two batters and did not allow a walk.
Lansdale grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Cavagnaro led off with a double to right, went to third on a Matt Sperling sacrifice bunt then scored on Wenger’s RBI single up the middle.
Collegeville knotted things in the third. Cole Luzins started the bottom half of the inning with a double, advanced to third on Feaster’s fly out to center and came home on a Altieri RBI groundout to right side.
In the top of the fifth, after Rob Zinsmeister and Rick Gorrell were hit by pitches on consecutive atbats to put two on with one out, Hanson gave Lansdale a 2-1 lead when his RBI single scored Zinsmeister. Cavagnaro walked to load the bases. Clarke struck out Sperling but Wenger proceeded to put the Tigers up three by bouncing a base hit through the left side, plating both Gorrell and Hanson. Petrongolo’s RBI single on the following at-bat made it 5-1.
“I think that was the difference in the game,” said Murtha of Wenger’s twoRBI base hit. “And just the pure approach. I mean, it was a two-strike pitch that he’d try to do anything but put it in play. And what we talked about before the game as a team is tonight what we need do to win is make the routine play in the field — which I think is what we did — pitchers need to throw strikes and the hitters need to just put the ball in play and make things happen.”
HALL OF FAME >> Prior to Monday’s game, the Perky League inducted the newest members of its Hall of Fame with the Class of 2019 consisting of the Souderton quintet of Carl Motts, Jr., Kevin Motts, Scott Myers, Mike Kreider and Tony DeLude.