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HS BASEBALL: Tamaqua knocks off Pottsville

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Bo Rottet set the tone on the first pitch of the game.

The Tamaqua junior then made it stand up with some big pitches to finish it.

Rottet opened the game with a triple and wiggled out of jams in the final three innings to lift Tamaqua to a 4-2 victory over Pottsville in a Schuylkill League Division I first-place showdown Monday night at Steidle Field.

The victory moves the Blue Raiders (12-3, 8-1 D-I) into sole possession of first place in the Division I standings.

Rottet hit the first pitch of the game from Pottsville's Eli Nabholz off the fence in left field, racing to third base with a game-opening triple.

With all of the emotions of a first-place battle and playing in front of a capacity crowd, it was just the start Tamaqua wanted.

Two batters later, Matt Roberts put the Blue Raiders ahead to stay with a two-run homer that cleared the 333-foot sign in right-center field.

"I knew it was probably going to be a good pitch," Rottet said of his triple. "I just wanted to start the game off strong.

"It definitely fired up the team, and it definitely fired up Matt Roberts, because he hit a shot. To lead 2-0 in the first inning against Pottsville, that was a great start."

Roberts battled back to a full count against Nabholz before crushing a pitch to right-center for his second homer in as many games.

"Off the bat, it felt pretty good. I knew it would be off the wall or over the fence," Roberts said. "Rounding first base and seeing it go over, it felt great to know we just got up 2-0 in the first inning.

"Momentum is everything in a game like this," Roberts continued. "If you're ahead in momentum, you're most likely ahead in the game."

Tamaqua rode that momentum the rest of the game.

Ace Brett Kosciolek started the game for Tamaqua and pitched three scoreless innings before being replaced by Connor Hartung to start the fourth.

On a limited pitch count in his recovery from a shoulder injury, Kosciolek gave up two hits, struck out three and walked none.

Of his 39 pitches, 25 were strikes.

"We wanted to get three innings out of him," Tamaqua coach Jeff Reading said. "He's coming along. We're trying to build gradually with him, and see how he is. He threw well today, which was very good to see."

Tamaqua extended its lead to 3-0 in the third when Rottet reached on an error and later scored on an error.

The Crimson Tide (8-8, 7-2) battled back against reliever Connor Hartung, as Travis Blankenhorn hit a solo homer in the fourth and then made it 3-2 with an RBI single in the fifth.

Rottet entered with two outs and runners on first and second in the fifth and fanned Mike Kuperavage to end the inning.

Pottsville had runners on second and third in the sixth with one out and first and second with no out in the seventh, but Rottet was able to escape both times.

He induced a pair of grounders to get out of trouble in the sixth, then struck out Blankenhorn and got Kuperavage to hit into a game-ending double play in the seventh.

"When Connor got into a little bit of trouble in the fifth inning, I was motioning Coach to put me in," Rottet said. "He put me in and I was able to get that strikeout. That got me going.

"I struggled a little in the sixth and seventh innings, but I was able to get out of it."

Pottsville left eight runners on base and committed five errors. John Toomey finished 3-for-3, while Blankenhorn and Darion Jacoby each had two hits.

The Crimson Tide close their league slate with two games against Panther Valley on Wednesday and at Jim Thorpe on Thursday.

"There were missed opportunities," Pottsville coach Mike Welsh said. "We had our chances. We had guys in scoring position. Hat's off to Tamaqua. They made the pitches and made the plays when they had to make the plays.

"They're a quality team. You have to be ready to play a better ball game than we did early on. In the beginning of the game, they hit the ball hard and got those runs, but we didn't back up our pitcher as well as we needed to."

The victory started a tough stretch for Tamaqua, which travels to North Schuylkill today, visits Blue Mountain on Wednesday and hosts Pine Grove on Thursday.

While Monday's win doesn't clinch anything, it puts the Blue Raiders in a good position.

"We're taking it one day and one game at a time," Reading said. "It's a big win, but it's one win. We have three more games to play this week, and every one of them is big."


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