Collegeville hands Valley Forge first loss

UPPER MERION » Collegeville’s Drew Jarmuz struck out his first two at-bats Wednesday night against Valley Forge, but more than made up for it in his third trip to the plate.

The White Sox first two batters were retired in the bottom of the fourth inning before an error, single and walk loaded the bases with two outs. Jarmuz stepped to the plate a belted a grand slam to centerfield, highlighting Collegeville’s 8-3 win over Valley Forge at Heuser Park.

“The two at-bats before I struck out,” Jarmuz, who believes he hasn’t hit a grand slam since Little League, said, “so I was just sitting on my pitch and got it in the right zone. I was happy to execute on it.”

Jarmuz’ home run extended a 2-0 lead to 6-0 and put the White Sox in cruise control until the final out of the seventh inning.

Collegeville got on the board first in the bottom of the second

inning. Drew Frankenfield reached on a fielder’s choice and Brian Hartsell singled with two outs. After Mike Kerns was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Cole Luzins ripped a two-run single to bring home Frankenfield and Hartsell.

The White Sox added runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Kerns plated Hartsell with a double in the fifth and Lenny DelGrippo singled home Kyle Feaster in the sixth.

While the offense was putting runs on the scoreboard, Collegeville starter Randy Frankenfield was putting up zeroes. The lefty blanked the Bucks for four innings, striking out six batters to no walks while allowing four hits.

Bret Clarke came on in relief and threw the final three innings. He struck out seven batters to one walk and allowed three runs on eight hits.

The win improves the second-place White Sox’ record to 3-2 while handing first-place Valley Forge its first loss, dropping the Bucks’ record to 8-1.

“It feels good,” Jarmuz said. “We had a tougher game (Tuesday), almost came back – a little bit ugly early on. It feels good to get a good win, for sure.”

Luke DeLeo started for the Bucks and took the loss. He allowed eight runs on 10 hits in five innings, striking out four batters to two walks.

Mike Kelly led the Valley Forge offense, going 4-for-4 with a run scored from the leadoff spot. Kelly and Eric Beideman each had RBI doubles and Ryan Murphy had an RBI triple.

Collegeville and Valley Forge will meet again Monday, Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m. back at Heuser Park.