HEGINS — When Bob Felty Sr. looks at his Tri-Valley baseball team, he sees a lot of parallels to Schuylkill Haven’s squads from 2012 and 2013.
The veteran coach can only hope his youthful Dawgs blossom into this year’s Hurricanes.
Schuylkill Haven stayed unbeaten Wednesday with a 7-1 victory over Tri-Valley in a frigid, windy Schuylkill League Division II contest shortened to six innings due to poor playing conditions.
Danny Blugis collected a pair of hits, Ryan Fink scored two runs and ace right-hander Nick Behm yielded just four hits and struck out 10 as the Hurricanes improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in Division II.
Tri-Valley (1-3, 0-2) was hampered by five errors that led to five unearned runs. The Dawgs had three hits in the first inning to score their lone run, but only had four baserunners over the final five frames.
Felty’s starting lineup featured four freshmen, a sophomore, two juniors and two seniors, a far cry from last year’s group that lost to Schuylkill Haven in the District 11 Class A championship game.
“It’s a pleasure coaching the guys, because every one of them comes to practice this year to practice,” Felty said. “They work hard, and I know we’ll get better.
“We’ve been in every game so far, we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot by not making plays. I’ll be patient with them. It’s a great group of guys.”
Tri-Valley lost four starters to graduation and three others didn’t return for various reasons, making 2015 a rebuilding season.
For a prototype to the rebuilding process, Felty only had to look
Schuylkill Haven went 10-11 in 2012 and 11-9 in 2013 with young teams, as several key cogs on this year’s squad — Fink, Behm, Blugis, outfielder Zavier Webb, shortstop Mike Ulsh — got valuable playing experience as freshmen and sophomores.
That experience matured into last year’s run to the District 11 Class A crown and PIAA Class A state semifinals, and this year’s blistering start. So far, Haven has outscored its opponents 52-12.
Putting the ball in play and being aggressive on the basepaths have been two keys for the Hurricanes.
Haven stole five bases Wednesday, with Blayne Moyer scoring as part of a double steal in the second to break a 1-1 tie and two other runs scoring due to errors on stolen-base attempts.
“When you put the ball in play, you have a chance,” Buffington said. “You try to have good at-bats. That’s what the kids have been working on, trying to put together good at-bats every time up.
“It puts the pressure on the other team. Today, that’s what we did.”
Behm, meanwhile, came right back after throwing an inning in Tuesday’s suspended game against Minersville to take the ball Wednesday. He struggled early, as Tri-Valley’s first three batters singled. Hunter Bordner’s base hit to center plated Dawson Schwalm to tie the game at 1.
Behm recovered to strike out two batters with the bases loaded to get out of the jam, then dominated the Tri-Valley lineup the rest of the way in earning his third win of the season.
“It wasn’t a problem,” Buffington said of Behm pitching on back-to-back days. “He only threw 14 pitches (against Minersville), which isn’t even a normal bullpen for him.
“He got his work in. He was ready to go, it was a division game, and it was time for him to pitch.”
Trailing 5-1 after three innings, Felty emptied his bench, getting five more underclassmen a chance to step in against Behm.
Freshman Jake Masser started on the mound and threw 3.1 innings, with sophomore Colton Love finishing. Bordner, the Dawgs’ senior ace, is slated to throw today against backyard rival Williams Valley.
While Schuylkill Haven has lofty postseason expectations, Felty and his club are just hoping to get better game after game as the season progresses.
“We didn’t get any scrimmages in. We started playing games right away,” Felty said. “We have a lot of spots that we are pretty competitive and equal at, so we’ve been trying to juggle guys around and find our best lineup.
“We keep giving teams extra outs in every game so far. You can’t continue to do that. Our pitching has been good enough. We’re throwing strikes, we just have to make the plays behind our pitchers.
“We’ll be in every game, because our pitching is good enough. We just can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Game Summary
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN (7) — Webb cf 1 1 0 0, Kane ph 0 0 0 0, Saul lf 2 1 1 1, Cook ph 0 0 0 0, Blugis c 3 1 2 1, Fink 2b 3 2 1 0, Behm p 2 0 1 1, Conage 3b-ss 0 0 0 0, Bl. Moyer dh 3 1 1 0, Fryer 1b 3 0 0 0, Hughes 1b 0 0 0 0, Ulsh ss 2 1 1 0, Handling 3b 1 0 0 0, Browne rf 2 0 1 0, Br. Moyer cr-ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 23 7 8 3.
TRI-VALLEY (1) — Schwalm ss-rf 3 1 1 0, Lucas cf 3 0 1 0, Bordner 3b 2 0 1 1, Herb c 2 0 0 0, Poletti c 1 0 0 0, Masser p 1 0 0 0, Love p 1 0 0 0, Yoder 1b 1 0 0 0, Opozda ph-1b 2 0 1 0, Buchanan rf 1 0 0 0, Harner cr-ph-2b 1 0 0 0, Carado 2b 2 0 0 0, Kimmel ss 0 0 0 0, Boltz lf 1 0 0 0, Klinger ph-lf 1 0 0 0. Totals 22 1 4 1.
Haven (6-0, 2-0) 113 110 — 7
Tri-Val (1-3, 0-2) 100 000 — 1
E — Schuylkill Haven 1, Tri-Valley 5. DP — None. LOB — Schuylkill Haven 3, Tri-Valley 5. 2B — Blugis. SB — Webb, Fink 2, Bl. Moyer, Ulsh. CS — Ulsh, Br. Moyer, Kane, Harner. SF — Saul, Behm.
Sch. Haven IP H R ER BB K
Behm W,3-0 6 4 1 1 1 10
Tri-Valley IP H R ER BB K
Masser L,1-1 3.1 6 6 1 1 1
Love 2.2 2 1 0 1 0
HBP — by Masser (Webb), by Behm (Masser).