Cole Morris pitches Whitemarsh to victory
Settles down after shaky start
WORCESTER >> Whitemarsh pitcher Cole Morris allowed hits to three of the first seven JP Mascaro batters he faced Monday evening. All three of those base runners scored unearned runs to give the Haulers an early lead.
Morris only allowed two more hits the rest of the way. Whitemarsh tied the game in the top of the fifth inning and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh in a 4-3 win at Methacton High School.
The right-hander struck out three batters to two walks across seven innings. The three unearned runs came on five hits.
“Fastball and finding the corners,” Morris said was working for him. “The curveball wasn’t really there for me today, but the fastball hitting the corners really helped me out.”
“Cole looked great,” Whitemarsh catcher Michael Miller said. “He was hitting all his spots — outside, inside. His curveball was a little up a lot in the zone, but when he had to throw it it was alright. His fastball command was amazing today.”
After Whitemarsh (9-1) tied the game, 3-3, in the top of the fifth inning, Morris faced a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and three runners on, Morris struck out JP Mascaro’s cleanup hitter to end the threat.
Miller helped Whitemarsh tie the game in the fifth and win it in the seventh.
In the fifth, Miller hit a one-out single, the first hit allowed by JP Mascaro starter Andrew Lasecki. Joe Redmond entered as a courtesy runner, stole second and scored on a Daulton Carlisle twoout single to tie the game, 3-3.
“(Lasecki) was throwing a lot slower, I think, than what we’ve
been seeing this year,” Miller said. “He was throwing a lot of offspeed pitches and we were just ahead of the ball. We were getting under the ball, too, popping a lot of things up. I sat back on a curveball and hit it up the middle.”
Miller led off the seventh with a double. His hard hit grounder to shortstop took a big bounce and Miller took advantage by getting into scoring position.
“It was an outside pitch,” Miller said. “I probably should have went the other way, but I got a good bounce. It went over the shortstop’s glove and I just got to second.
“If I don’t get two on that we don’t end up scoring that run. It was definitely huge that I ended up getting to second. I didn’t think I was going to, if I’m being honest. I just put my head down and really started running and I got there.”
After two outs, Joe Rauscher hit into an error and Michael Eckelmeyer, Miller’s courtesy runner, scored to make it 4-3.
Morris sat the Haulers down in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win.
Whitemarsh took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Eckelmeyer was hit by a pitch and Joe Capriotti walked before both scored when Mascaro couldn’t grab a pop up in short right field.
The Haulers (2-5-1) answered right back in the bottom of the first. Kevin Trafford led off with a double and Dan Carr hit a one-out single. Carr stole second and Trafford ran home when the throw went into centerfield. Carr crossed the plate to tie the game, 2-2, when Brandon Botta hit into an error.
Lasecki led off the bottom of the second with a single and courtesy runner Chris Spletzer advanced to second on a wide pick-off attempt. Spletzer moved to third on a grounder to second and scored on a grounder to first to put JP Mascaro ahead, 3-2.
Lasecki threw 5.1 innings. He struck out one batter to three walks and allowed three runs on three hits.
Whitemarsh 4, JP Mascaro 3