Alex Eells

Junior Colin Carr had two hits in three at bats in his first opportunity starting in left Field.

The Methacton Warriors Baseball Squad opened up Pioneer Athletic Conference completion with a huge comeback win against Owen J. Roberts. This game was full of ups and downs as the Warriors led 2-0, 4-1 and 8-5 but were down going into the final inning, 5-4. In the end, Methacton knocked off the Wildcats 8-5 behind a big three-run top half of the seventh inning. Sophomore Nick Trigone came in to shut down the final two innings, giving him his first win as a varsity player.

Game Recap

Evan Jones was back on the bump for the second time in as many weeks. But before he could even step onto the mound, the Warriors were up two thanks to a Nick Remish tank to center field, well over the 342 foot wall. Following the game, I was able to present that ball to him, to which he was shocked. Remish was given the game ball by coach Spiewak, but when I gave him his homerun ball, he quickly handed the game ball over to his sophomore teammate, Nick Trigone. Liam Greenberg scored on Remish’s home run. Greenberg went on to have three hits, following the role of a leadoff man, to get on base.

Jones proceeded to strike out the side, and Methacton scored a third run in the top of the second, on a Greenberg single. That was preceded by a Colin Carr infield single, where the OJR second basemen made an errant throw that went over the first baseman, allowing Carr to advance to second. Then he got to third on Dom Lamafa’s ground out. That was Carr’s first run as a varsity player, and certainly an important one. This was his first opportunity stepping up to the plate, and he made good work of it, with two hits, one run and an RBI. 

Jones ended off the day giving up four hits, walking two and striking out nine. Following the game, coach Spiewak has this to say, “With Evan on the mound, you feel pretty good at two to nothing and then the pitch count [got high]. [OJR] battled early. They ran some deep counts, and as soon as you see the pitch count go up, you realize, we might be in a dog fight here.” Coach continued to say Jones’ pitch count was around 70 today and that it would be going up as the season goes on; it was at 60 last Wednesday. 

Chase Nolan entered in the bottom of the fifth, following a Tommy Kratz double which led to a run in the top half of the inning. Kratz stole third base and scored on a throwing error on OJR’s third baseman. OJR scored three runs in the fifth to tie the game and another run in the sixth to take the lead before a huge top of the seventh from Methacton. The two batter was up, Nick Remish, which was the perfect spot for the Warriors to rally a comeback, now down by one. The Warriors side grew increasingly louder throughout this inning as they knew this would be it. This was a game the Warriors led for all but one half inning but it was now time to either win or lose.

Remish was hit by a pitch on a three-one count, then Kratz was pitched around, four straight balls, to bring up Chase McNally. Prior to McNally, OJR made a pitching change, which did not work too well. His first pitch ended up being a passed ball, advancing both Kratz and Remish into scoring position. McNally eventually walked, bringing up Carmine Maro. Maro grounded into a fielder’s choice, but because there were zero outs, it did not matter. Methacton could take a sign of relief; the game was tied. Now with runners on the corners, Bryce Lohsen came up to bat. He was walked on a 3-2 count, setting up Nick Trigone, who singled on a ground ball that just got past the diving first baseman. That hit scored two, and the Warriors led 7-5 now. The final run of the game came from a deep shot by Colin Carr who had two hits in four plate appearances. His two non-hits were also deep shots to center field. This final one happened to be a sac fly scoring Lohsen who advanced to third on the Trigone single. 

All that was left was for Nick Trigone to earn his first win on the mound. The first batter grounded out to Maro at second. The second batter struck out swinging, and the final batter sent a deep shot to center, which carried, but Greenberg was there to make the catch, ending the game. 

Batting Order:

This is how the Warriors lined-up against OJR:

1. Liam Greenberg (CF)
2. Nick Remish (3B)
3. Tommy Kratz (1B)
4. Chase McNally (RF)
5. Carmine Maro (2B)
6. Bryce Lohsen (SS)
7. Evan Jones (P)
8. Colin Carr (LF)
9. Dom Lamafa (C)

A couple changes took place today, most notably Colin Carr in left field. Chase McNally shifted from center to right, and Liam Greenberg went from left to center. Greenberg and McNally will move around all season long depending on who is with them. Coach Spiewak shifted the top of the lineup as well, going with the lineup above as opposed to last game’s: Maro, Kratz, Remish, McNally.

“We are gonna have a couple positions, where we will be rotating some guys, but Colin has earned it, he’s had good swings: two hits, and one of the hardest hit balls of the day was caught in center. And he had the sac fly,” said Coach Spiewak who went on to talk about how unselfish his guys are. He added that there will be other guys getting opportunities in the outfield in the upcoming games. There are a few notables who have been out there taking reps who did not get an opportunity yet. Jack Wertz and Connor Watson, both seniors, will likely get an opportunity in the outfield within the next few games, if not the next game against Lansdale Catholic.

Next up:

Methacton will face Lansdale Catholic tomorrow, March 27 in a non-league contest. This game was originally scheduled for Monday, but due to rain it will now be played on Thursday. Coach Spiewak told me the planned starter was Chris Sander, but with Nick Trigone, who was the expected starter on Friday, pitching on Wednesday, he may not have enough rest to start come Friday. Sander, Carr, Kratz and Remish could all see time on the bump in the next two days. Methacton will face Spring-Ford on Friday. The Rams just fell to Perkiomen Valley on Wednesday.