ORWIGSBURG — In baseball they’re called “the little things.”
Two-strike hitting. Putting the ball in play with runners on base. Making the routine play defensively.
In the battles between the top five Schuylkill League Division I baseball teams this season, it will be those “little things” that will decide the outcome.
That was certainly the case in Tuesday’s clash between Pottsville and Blue Mountain at rainy Allen Greenawalt Field.
The Crimson Tide got key two-strike hits from Eli Nabholz, Ryan Kalinich and Darion Jacoby and capitalized on five Blue Mountain errors to capture a 9-2 victory over the Eagles.
The victory moves Pottsville (4-2, 2-0 D-I) into a first-place tie with idle North Schuylkill (3-1, 2-0) atop the Division I standings. The loss was the first of the season for Blue Mountain (4-1, 2-1).
“We put some balls in play and they kicked a couple of them here and there,” Pottsville coach Mike Welsh said. “It worked out to our advantage.
“Putting the ball in play, making things happen, it’s high school baseball. When you do that in high school baseball, usually good things happen.”
The game was a pitching matchup of Division I recruits, and the Penn State-bound Nabholz and Towson-bound Dean Stramara proved their talents over the first four innings.
With roughly 5-6 professional scouts in attendance, Stramara fanned seven through four innings and Nabholz whiffed five despite a steady rain and cold conditions.
Pottsville opened the scoring when
Jacoby reached on a two-out error, went to third on a two-strike single to right by Nabholz and scored as part of a double steal.
Blue Mountain answered in the bottom half when Zach Martin’s RBI single plated Adam Hull to tie it.
Each team had chances but couldn’t convert. The Eagles had two runners on in the second but didn’t score, while the Crimson Tide stranded two runners in scoring position in the fourth.
“We had scoring opportunities a couple of times. All you’re asking your batter to do is put the ball in play,” Blue Mountain coach Tom Kramer said.
Pottsville broke through in the fifth.
Kalinich led off the frame with a single to center on an 0-2 pitch. Travis Blankenhorn then worked a walk, but Stramara fanned Ty Painter.
Jacoby put the Crimson Tide ahead 2-1 with a single to left on a 1-2 pitch. After an intentional walk to load the bases and a strikeout, Brandon Daubert hit a grounder to second that was misplayed, allowing two runs to score and giving Pottsville a 4-1 lead.
“You have to be aggressive with two strikes. You can’t go down looking,” Welsh said. “Our guys battled. I thought they had some really good at-bats from the middle of the game on, and it showed.”
Blue Mountain mounted a rally of its own in the bottom of the fifth, as Hull was hit by a pitch, Stramara doubled, Sean Greenawalt walked and Martin was hit by a pitch to make it 4-2.
With the bases loaded and one out, however, Nabholz took over, fanning Austin Krammes and Justin Hammer to get out of the jam.
In his five innings of work, Nabholz allowed five hits and two runs, striking out eight and walking four. Stramara went 5.1, giving up five hits and six runs, striking out 11 and walking four.
“It wasn’t just that inning. It was a dogfight the whole game. Both sides played real hard,” Nabholz said. “Dean pitched through it, and I had to adjust and pitch through it.
“That was a pivotal moment. You visualize that type of thing, you put yourself in that situation a bunch of times and you let your body take over and get it done.”
Pottsville broke the game open in the latter two innings, as Blankenhorn launched a two-run homer in the sixth and the Tide added three unearned runs in the seventh.
Of the nine runs Blue Mountain pitchers allowed, only three were earned.
Blankenhorn made sure there would be no Blue Mountain comeback, retiring all six batters he faced over the final two innings, striking out four to record the save.
“I think we’re a better team than we showed today,” Kramer said. “Pottsville executed better than we did today.
“We just didn’t get the job done at crunch time today. You have opportunities, you build opportunities, and that’s all you can ask for. Today, Pottsville cashed in their opportunities, and we wasted ours.”
Game Summary
POTTSVILLE (9) — Blankenhorn ss-p 4 2 2 3, Painter 2b 3 0 0 1, Jacoby cf 5 2 2 2, Nabholz p-1b 3 0 1 0, Liptock cr 0 0 0 0, C. Hinchliffe c 3 0 1 0, Barnes cr 0 1 0 0, Daubert lf 4 0 0 0, O’Pake 1b 0 0 0 0, Spehrley rf 0 0 0 0, G. Hinchliffe dh 4 1 1 0, Wapinsky rf-ss 3 1 0 0, Kalinich 3b 3 2 1 0. Totals 32 9 8 6.
BLUE MOUNTAIN (2) — Hull 3b-cf 3 2 2 0, Stramara p-ss 3 0 1 0, S. Greenawalt ss-3b 3 0 0 0, Bobbin lf 0 0 0 0, Oliver p 0 0 0 0, Martin dh 2 0 2 2, Krammes 1b 3 0 0 0, Hammer 2b 3 0 0 0, Kyslinger c 2 0 0 0, Werbacher cr 0 0 0 0, D. Greenawalt rf 3 0 0 0, Barton cf-lf 2 0 0 0. Totals 24 2 5 2.
Pottsville (3-2, 2-0) 100 032 3 — 9
Blue Mtn. (4-1, 2-1) 100 010 0 — 2
E — Pottsville 0, Blue Mountain 5. DP — Pottsville 1. LOB — Pottsville 10, Blue Mountain 7. 2B — G. Hinchliffe, Stramara, Martin. 3B — C. Hinchliffe. HR — Blankenhorn. SB — Jacoby, Liptock. CS — Hull. S — C. Hinchliffe.
Pottsville IP H R ER BB K
Nabholz W,2-0 5 5 2 2 4 8
Blnknhrn Sv, 1 2 0 0 0 0 4
Blue Mtn. IP H R ER BB K
Stramara L,0-1 5.1 5 6 3 4 11
Oliver 1.2 3 3 0 2 1
HBP — by Stramara (Nabholz), by Nabholz (Hull, Martin). PB — Kyslinger.