Knights start big in Bux-Mont Classic
Gifted an opportunity to wear North Penn colors one last time, the Knights’ baseball team wasn’t going to waste it.
North Penn in all but name, Knights Baseball started the BuxMont Baseball Classic looking in mid-season form early Monday night against Casey’s Place Hooligans, normally known as Quakertown. While three-plus months of limited work in game situations showed at times, two teams that had lost out on a season were back together playing baseball.
Knights baseball jumped out to a big lead and added on late to defeat Casey’s Place 13-3 in five innings on Weaver Field at Memorial Park to kick off the week-long tournament.
“We’re just going out here looking to have a great time,” Knights infielder Erik Jesberger said. “We’re writing the last chapters of our script here. Some of us are
going on to play in college but this is our last chance to play for North Penn and I can’t think of a better group of seniors to go out with.”
Jesberger and the rest of his Class of 2020 teammates were one game into their spring training trip to Florida when they were told COVID-19 had caused the PIAA to cancel all spring athletics and they had to return home. Weeks of quarantine followed, keeping the team apart physically but the seniors took charge of trying to keep everyone ready in case a chance to reunite emerged.
Plans for a send-off tournament started up quickly and last week, the six-team field for the Bux-Mont Classic was revealed. All teams will play three games this week, with the top two finishers playing in a championship game on Wednesday, August 5.
“I can’t even explain it,” Knights senior Colby Chan said. “It’s an awesome feeling being back with these guys. We worked so hard in the offseason but just being back out here, I don’t have the words for it.”
A number of the Knights’ underclassmen have been keeping busy since restrictions began to lift at the start of summer, playing in showcase events or in local leagues that have fielded teams. For the seniors who didn’t have those opportunities, their motivation was the prospect of the sendoff tournament and having their teammates ready when that announcement came.
The coaching staffs, who also lost out on a spring season, put in plenty of time and effort to give their players, especially the recently graduated seniors, the opportunity to play baseball.
“There’s a lot of things we have to do to operate independently,” Knights coach Kevin Manero said. “We have our own insurance, we have a lot of rules we’re following, players and coaches are wearing masks, using hand sanitizer and taking every precaution possible. It’s a small price to pay to be back on a field.”
Knights Baseball didn’t need long to get rolling on Monday. Quinn Holt worked around a two-out double to Casey’s Place catcher Justin Butler for a scoreless top half of the first, something Jesberger pointed to as a tonesetter.
Evin Sullivan, a rising junior at North Penn, stung the first pitch of the bottom half of the frame for a leadoff single and the Knights offense was off. Jesberger followed with a single and Chris McLean reached on a misplay in the outfield to bring up Chan.
The recent North Penn graduate, who is signed with Ursinus, zipped a ball just inside the third base line for a two-run double.
“Honestly, this group of guys, we just have a different chemistry,” Chan said. “That really showed tonight with how we came together and got things done. Having one last ride with these guys, there’s nothing else like it.”
After three more runs came in via bases-loaded walks, Jesberger, who is attending Temple and looking to play club ball, got a second at-bat in the frame and delivered a two-run single as Knights Baseball took a 7-0 lead.
“These guys are brothers, we had so much hope down in Florida getting ready for the season only to have it get cut short,” Jesberger said. “We stayed after it. I’m talking about guys going to a cage by themselves, working out on their own and once we could, running practices and getting work in. We felt like we were in midseason form.”
Casey’s Place got on the board in the fourth on Peyton Kockel’s RBI single and added two more runs on a Ty Evertt single and Ben Eichorn groundout in the fifth. Butler had a strong offensive night, adding a walk and single to his first inning double.
Chan added an RBI triple in the third inning before Knights Baseball had a bit of a lull in the fourth and top half of the fifth inning. Manero got his team together before the bottom of the fifth, reminding them this was a limited opportunity and the Knights responded with a five-run inning to end the night early.
“For anything we did tonight that was any kind of mistake, we had another guy dig deep and make a great play or come up with a big pitch to even things out,” Manero said. “Even for the guys who have been playing, this is a little different kind of baseball. Out here, one guy has to pick up another guy because they’re used to that.”
Brian Neal started the Knights’ scoring in the fifth with a two-run single and started a string of three straight singles to load the bases. Two more runs walked in before Nicky Koch, who led off the frame with a single, brought home the lucky 13th run to conclude the game.
Knights Baseball will meet Allentown RBI in a 7pm start at Hostelley Field on Wednesday.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for too long,” Jesberger said. “I said before it started, hopefully we get four games and I’m going to give it all I’ve got. As a senior, we’re writing our final chapter but we’re also passing the torch on to the underclassmen and it’s awesome to be able to do that.”
Knights Baseball 13, Casey’s Hooligans 3
KNIGHTS BASEBALL 70105–13110
CASEY’S PLACE 00012–374
3B: K – Colby Chan; 2B: K – Chan, CP – Justin Butler. Multiple hits: K – Evin Sullivan 2-4, Erik Jesberger 2-3, Chan 2-3, Nicky Koch 2-2; CP – Butler 2-2