Pine Forge's Nick O'Donnell was looking pretty good on the mound to start the game. He went through three batters after hitting the leadoff batter in the first inning. To start the second, he forced the first two batters out in succession with a grounder to first and a fly to left field.
Then, all of a sudden, things quickly turned sour for Pine Forge and Media took advantage. O'Donnell hit a batter, then walked the next. Rob Brown hit a shot into center field and then two fielding errors in a row led to Media scoring four runs and taking a huge lead.
From that point on, Media never looked back and downed Pine Forge, 9-3, at Logue Field for the Babe Ruth 13-15-year-old state tournament on Saturday night.
Pine Forge's pitching woes continued into the third, as pitcher Brandon Campbell loaded the bases a total of four times, and twice walked in a run before an overthrow to the second baseman on an attempted pickoff let another run in.
"They hurt themselves. We don't make a whole lot of errors (either)," Media manager Jim Peel said. "You got to capitalize (on them) and I thought we scored runs when we needed to off the errors because we certainly didn't hit the ball the way we can today."
Media's offense collected just five hits, three of which came in its second inning scoring burst when Brown, Nate Sides and Ryan Eisenacher all hit three singles in a row. Media was walked 12 times and had two batters reach by being hit by pitch and Peel was disappointed, knowing his team has the ability to hit the ball.
"My team normally hits a little better, so hopefully tomorrow they bring the whooping sticks," Peel said laughing. "It's nice to get a win when you get good pitching and good fielding and it's a shame the other team had to make some errors, but you have to capitalize when you can when you're 15 years-old."
Brown gave up little on the mound for Media. Through his five innings, he struck out nine while allowing just three hits, all of which occurred in the third inning.
Mike Murphy hit a triple right down the first base line to the corner of the fence that drove in Austin Kooker, who reached just safely on an infield single. Two batters later, Brandon Campbell hit a double into the gap in center that brought Murphy in to make it an 8-2 game.
Media's pitching staff was solid for the rest of the game and aside from the 3-hit third inning, the trio gave up just one combined hit in the other six.
"Rob's a good pitcher, Nate doesn't pitch as much...and Ronnie's lights out for the last inning," Peel said. "He'll pitch every last inning of every game. When we're at that point (he doesn't give up any runs). He's left handed, he throws hard."
O'Donnell, Campbell and Joey Stankowitz could do little to keep Media quiet throughout the night. While Media had just five hits - all singles-it was mental mistakes and errors that cost Pine Forge the game.
"A lot of people look at it and say 'Blue was calling different games.' You don't have to miss by an inch to miss, misses are misses," Pine Forge manager Sean Kooker said. "Sometimes people try to force (things). This is our first tournament experience. Sometimes you have to get past the nerves."
Pine Forge's only other run came in the sixth inning after Campbell reached on a fielder's choice and O'Donnell was walked. Sides attempted to pickoff Campbell on his way to third, but over threw the third baseman, allowing Campbell to safely reach home.
Media 9, Pine Forge 3
Media143 010 0-9 5 2
Pine Forge002 001 0-3 4 5
Nick O'Donnell, Joey Stankowitz (6) and Brandon Campbell, Mike Murphy (3). Rob Brown, Nate Sides (6), Ron DiMatteo (7) and Bill McCarthy. WP-Brown. LP-O'Donnell.
Top Media hitters: Nate Sides 1-3, 2 runs; Ryan Eisenacher 1-3, RBI; Ron DiMatteo 1-4, RBI; Andrew Sardilla 1-3, run; Peter Muavero 2 runs; Bill McCarthy 4 BB, 2 runs; Rob Brown 1B, RBI. Top Pine Forge hitters: Austin Kooker 1-4, run; Mike Murphy 3B, RBI, run; Bialey Ruch 1-3; Brandon Campbell 2B, RBI.
Records: Media 1-0, Pine Forge 0-1.
Bensalem 4, Wayne Co. 3
Wayne Co.100 000 2-3 8 4
Bensalem100 020 1-4 6 4
Patrick Pierce and Ben Corbin. John Farinella and Joe Wnuk. WP-Farinella. LP-Pierce.
Top Wayne Co. hitters: Alec Babyak 2-4; Noah Box 2-4, RBI; Patrick Pierce 3-4, 2B, RBI. Top Bensalem hitters: Joe Wnuk 2-4, 3 RBIs.
Valley West 5, Altoona 3
Altoona001 000 1-3 8 2
Valley West300 002 x-5 9 1
Nick Lytle and Austin Pope, Luke Adams (4). Charlie Karchner and Jeremy Budgeon. WP-Karchner. LP-Lytle.
Top Altoona hitters: Joel Reighard 2-4; Tanner Snyder 2-3, 2 RBIs. Top Valley West hitters; Charlie Karchner 2-3, 2B, RBI; Jeremy Budgeon 2-4.
