Mikulski, Nor-Gwyn quiet Quakertown
Left-hander helps Hawks win fourth straight in weather-shortened contest
UPPER GWYNEDD >> Nor-Gwyn’s Gavin Mikulski found himself in a quick jam Wednesday night, the first two Quakertown batters collecting hits to give the visiting Blue Jays runners at the corners with no outs in the top of the first inning.
The Hawks left-hander, however, made a fast diagnosis of what his issue was on the mound.
“Feel like I had the same consistent miss, I was missing up a lot.” Mikulski said. “So it definitely helps having one consistent miss rather than throwing the ball all over the place cause mentally that can really confuse a couple of pitchers if they’re missing the ball up and low. So being able to hone in on what I’m doing wrong and only having one problem to fix I was able to adapt.”
A liner snagged by first baseman RJ Agriss turned into an unassisted double play and a groundout the following at-bat got Mikulski out of the inning unscathed. And from there he kept the Quakertown offense quiet.
“That started with three bats, three solid pieces of con
tact so it definitely put me in a little bit of a daze,” Mikulski said. “And as soon he made that play it definitely gave me an extra spark of confidence to finish that inning for my team.”
Nor-Gwyn, meanwhile, broke the scoreless tie in the fourth on Zach Warner’s two-out, two-RBI single then added another in the fifth to earn a 3-0 victory over the Blue Jays at Hostelley Field in a contest called in the sixth inning after storms rolled through the area.
“In the bullpen all three pitches were working so I felt really confident going into the game,” Mikulski said. “But we’ve been beating teams by a small margin and we know that we can perform better so today we just wanted to put an exclamation point on our season and start beating teams down pretty well.”
Quakertown’s Dan Qualteria led off the first with a double to left center with Peyton Kochel collecting a bunt single the next at-bat but those ended up being the Blue Jays’ lone two hits off Mikulski.
The lefty allowed just one walk in his completegame shutout, that coming with two outs in the sixth. But the North Penn grad – committed to play at Eastern University – proceeded to get his fifth and final strikeout of the night.
“Working at the field, I have a job as well to keep me busy, I have a gym membership that I’ve been trying to go to as many times as I can, just keeping my body in fit,” Mikulski said. “I don’t want to slack off any time just because I’m not with North Penn, you know. Just maintain the same progress I had earlier in the high school year and just moving forward with it.”
In the bottom of the sixth, Steve Corrado reached on an error while Spencer Heilveil
singled to put two on with no outs before play was halted due to the weather. The game called soon after, giving the Hawks their fourth straight win – the last loss having come at Quakertown 10-5 June 26.
Nor-Gwyn is now tied for first in the Bux-Mont with Hatfield-Towamencin and Perkiomen at 14 points – both Nor-Gwyn and Perk are 7-2 in league play while H-T is 7-1. Quakertown (53) sits fourth at 10 points. The regular-season champ earns one of Bux-Mont’s two berths in the Region 2 Tournament.
The Hawks visit Perkiomen 7 p.m. Thursday while Quakertown hosts Doylestown 7 p.m. Friday.
“When know a lot of the Hatfield guys and an advantage we have over them is experience and age,” Mikulski said. “So we want to go out there and we just want to dominate and we know we can do it. So that’s what we’re going to do for the rest of the season.”
Nor-Gwyn gave Mikulski all the run support he needed in the fourth. Sam Cohen started the bottom of the frame with a double to left while Joey Christian’s walk gave the Hawks two on with no outs.
After a wild pitch advanced both runners, Cohen got out after a rundown on a Corrado fielder’s choice but Christian went to third on the play. Corrado stole second, putting runners on second and third with Warner driving in both with his two-out single for a 2-0 lead.
“He’s actually a DH in my position so I was kind of pressuring him, I was kind of cracking jokes, telling him he’s got to perform,” Mikulski said. “And that’s exactly what he did.”
Nor-Gwyn tacked on a third run in the fifth. Agriss led off with a walk, went to second on a groundout then scored from there after an error on an Evin Sullivan grounder – Agriss reaching down with his left hand to touch the plate and make it 3-0.