Baseball: Posavec, Knights quiet Red Raiders
NORTH PENN 11, COATESVILLE 1 (SIX INNINGS)
North Penn's Cinderella run is still alive.
Moving to within two victories of their second state crown in five seasons, the upstart Knights, making the most of nine hits, thumped District 1 champ Coatesville, 11-1, in six innings Thursday in a PIAA Class AAAA baseball quarterfinal at Spring-Ford.
After finishing tied for third place in the Suburban One League Continental Conference and placing fourth in districts, Kevin Manero's squad is a surprise semifinalist.
Against the Red Raiders, North Penn struck for five runs, on only one hit, in the home third; added four markers in the fourth; and brought on the 10-run mercy rule on Bobby Scott's two-run single in the sixth.
"We've kept things rolling with strong pitching, good defense, and timely hitting," senior catcher Eddie Posavec said.
Taking over where ace Brian Maher left off in Tuesday's 1-0 shutout of District 11 titlist Parkland, fellow senior righthander Dylan Borawski scattered three singles and walked just one. Coatesville's only run, in the fifth, was unearned.
"Dylan came out and threw strikes," said Posavec, a Binghamton commit who went 2 for 4 and scored two runs. "He was hitting his spots, using his off-speed stuff to his advantage."
Next for the Knights (15-10) is a Monday semifinal, at a site and time to be determined, against District 1 rival Pennridge, which ousted District 2's Wyoming Valley West Thursday.
In 2009, when North Penn captured state gold, Manero was an assistant on former skipper Bob McCreary's staff.
"You have to appreciate how hard it is to get here," he said. "We're fortunate to still be playing. Hopefully, moving forward, we can take advantage of it."
In taking a 5-0 lead in the third, the Knights, who went 9-5 in the Continental Conference, were aided by three walks, a throwing error on sacrifice-bunt try, and a hit batsman. The only hit was Posavec's bunt single toward third base.
In the fourth, following RBI singles by Brady West and Posavec, Jared Melone's ground-rule double to center field upped the advantage to 7-0 and chased Coatesville starter C.J. Martinez.
Scott welcomed reliever Cesar Asadi with a two-run single to left, plating Posavec and Melone, to make it 9-0 and set the stage for his sixth-inning clincher.
Melone, called up from the jayvee team in the middle of the season, went 3 for 3 with two runs; Scott was 2 for 3 with five RBIs; and West and Anthony Cameron also scored twice.
The Red Raiders, after winning their fifth district title, closed with a 21-7 record.
Coatesville 000 001-1 3 1
North Penn 005 402-11 9 1
WP: Dylan Borawski. LP: C.J. Martinez. 2B: NP-Jared Melone 2, Bobby Scott.