Zach Boop stays hot, pitches Neshaminy past Pennsbury
He continued his strong comeback from an injury
After missing all of last season with a lower-back injury, Zach Boop has been a lights-out hurler for Neshaminy early in this season.
The 6-foot-4, 185-pound righthander has a 0.00 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 26 innings. He has yielded only six hits.
Boop twirled a one-hitter against Pennridge, a two-hitter against Council Rock North and a no-hitter with 12 whiffs against Abington.
His latest stellar outing, Tuesday afternoon against Suburban One League National Conference rival Pennsbury, lifted the visiting Redskins to a 1-0 victory in Fairless Hills.
Boop mixed a fastball, change-up, and knuckle curveball while limiting the Falcons to three hits and fanning six in a 99-pitch, complete-game effort.
"My off-speed pitches weren't really working well, so I mostly went with my fastball," he said. "I was trying to throw strikes and get them to hit ground balls."
Boop said doctors could never pinpoint the exact nature of his back injury.
"The only thing they told me to do was rest," he said. "Missing my junior season, especially since's it a big year for being recruited, was frustrating."
Working in the offseason with Neshaminy pitching coach Pat "Coach Squid" Devlin, also an instructor at the Bucks County Baseball Academy in Trevose, greatly aided his comeback.
The Redskins, guided by first-year coach Dan Toner, improved to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the National Conference with Tuesday's victory.
Toner, who was a catcher at Council Rock North (class of 2001) and utility player at West Chester, was an assistant under Pennsbury boss Joe Pesci for the last six years.
"We know each other's coaching tendencies pretty well," Toner said. "It was a fun, intense atmosphere."
Despite Boop's time away from live action, the 18-year-old is bound for Division I Lehigh. Bucknell, Millersville, and Penn State also expressed varying degrees of interest.
"He does a good job of mixing up his pitches. He's able to dominate at times with his fastball, and he's got good off-speed stuff," Toner said.
Neshaminy's only marker against the Falcons (6-3, 3-1) came on Brian Nicolas' sacrifice fly to center field, driving home Owen Foraker, in the sixth. Foraker led off with a single, stole second base and moved to third on Anthony Rapposelli's infield single.
Pennsbury's Billy Bethel, a senior righthander bound for Chestnut Hill College, gave up five singles and induced eight groundouts while suffering the loss.
Neshaminy 000 001 0 - 1 5 1
Pennsbury 000 000 0 - 0 3 2
WP: Zack Boop. LP: Billy Bethel.
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