PLYMOUTH, KELLER BLANK TROOPER
Keller strikes out 10, Swenda and Hutchinson both homer in Plymouth’s shutout victory
LOWER PROVIDENCE >> With Mason Keller on the mound, Plymouth’s offense didn’t need to do too much against Trooper Monday evening.
Anthony Swenda’s solo home run in the top of the sixth inning was all Keller needed, but Mike Hutchinson followed Swenda with a home run of his own to give the Diamonds some breathing room in a 2-0 Perkiomen Valley Twilight League win at Gaugler Field.
Keller struck out 10 batters in seven innings of work. The Dock Mennonite grad and rising sophomore at Immaculata walked two batters and surrendered four hits.
“I was just throwing fastballs and trying to work on some things,” Keller said. “Obviously I was throwing a little high, but we’ll get that down a little bit. Offspeed wasn’t working too well, but the splitter I had was working alright enough I guess to get
batters out.”
The right-hander was perfect through the first three innings. He lost his perfect game to start the fourth inning and then his no-hitter to put runners on first and second with no outs. After a one-out intentional walk, he got back-toback outs to end the threat and leave the bases loaded.
Keller, who recorded his first win in his third start, also stranded runners on first and second in the fifth inning and left the bases loaded to end the game in the seventh.
“My freshman year at Immaculata I was dealing with a lot of pressure situations,” Keller said. “I’m used to those kind of roles. I just pitch like I normally do and good things usually happen. I just have to stick to being myself.”
Trooper starter Sachael Sciarretta matched Keller for the first five innings, allowing no runs on three hits. After tallying the first out of the sixth, the Upper Merion duo of Swenda and Hutchinson hit back-toback home runs to nearly identical spots over the left field fence.
“It was just a curveball and I threw my hands at it,” Swenda said. “I was just missing a little bit (in first two at-bats) and then caught the last one.”
Cole Whitton came on in relief to record the final two outs of the sixth. Luke DeLeo finished the game with a scoreless seventh.
Josh Pedorenko led off the bottom of the seventh for Trooper with a single and, after back-to-back outs, Drew Armstrong and Steve Leonard both singled to load the bases. With the tying run on second and winning run on first, Keller got a groundout to second base to end the game.