TAMAQUA — Eric Wapinsky didn’t give up hits often in Pottsville’s Schuylkill-Berks Legion League game Thursday against Tamaqua, but the Blue Sox got hits at crucial moments.
In the eighth inning, the Lions pitcher returned the favor.
Wapinsky delivered a two-out, two-run double to break a 5-all tie and Brandon Daubert followed with a two-run homer to rally Pottsville to a 9-6 victory in eight innings of drizzling rain.
“I just tried to get under one, tried to lift one up, get an RBI,” Wapinsky said. “And it worked out.”
The rally started on Marcus Renninger’s three-run home run to right-center in the sixth that tied the game 4-4 and gave Pottsville’s offense a jolt.
Wapinsky’s double to deep center field scored Ryan Kalinich and Aiden Liptock to give Pottsville a 7-5 lead. Daubert launched his homer over the left-field fence to make it 9-5.
“I tell my pitchers, don’t try to just blow it by them. It’s not going to happen,” Tamaqua manager Todd Heisler said. “Locate your pitches, mix them up. They just threw them straight down the middle and (Pottsville) hammered away.”
Tamaqua scored an unearned run on Kalinich,
who relieved Wapinsky after the seventh, for the game’s final run.
Wapinsky held Tamaqua hitless through 2.2 innings before Pete Baddick hit his third home run in as many games over the left-center fence, giving the Blue Sox a 1-0 lead.
Owen Bates’ RBI double in the fourth scored brother Adam Bates, who reached on an error, on a hit-and-run from first. Brandon Rex then drove in Owen Bates on a blooper to right that dropped between two Lions to give Tamaqua a 3-0 lead.
Rex, the No. 7 hitter, finished 3-for-4. Baddick had the only other multi-hit game for the Blue Sox, going 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
Pottsville (3-9-1) got back-to-back singles from Alex Everly and Kalinich to open the fifth, chasing Tamaqua starter Casey Rother in favor of Harry Moll. Wapinsky drove Everly home with a sacrifice fly to right field, but Kalinich was left stranded on second.
The Lions stranded six runners on base in the first five innings, five of them in scoring position. Meanwhile, five of Tamaqua’s first six hits drove in runs.
Nate MacDonald’s RBI double on a hit-and-run with Baddick at first base scored the Sox’ run in the fifth. Then Connor Hartung led off the sixth with a home run to left-center.
Still, Wapinsky stranded six runners, struck out six and walked only one.
“We’ve been saying all year our pitchers have pitched well, Eric has pitched well when he’s been on the mound,” Pottsville manager Tyler Heffner said. “He battled through some tough breaks. It shows what kind of resilience he has to come up there and get a big hit, too.”
Daubert hit a one-out double down the left-field line in the seventh and scored on Mike Kuperavage’s single to the right-center gap to tie the game at 5 and force Tamaqua to the bottom of the seventh.
The Blue Sox (6-9) got runners on first and third in the seventh before Wapinsky induced a flyout and snagged a comebacker to get out of the jam and set up his game-clinching double the next inning.
“I was just trying to get in the groove, get some confidence behind our players,” Wapinsky said. “We haven’t been winning lately, but we just tried to string some hits together, lower the errors and get the win.”
The Lions’ victory hands Tamaqua its second straight defeat and, in conjunction with Valley View’s 6-2 win over Schuylkill Valley on Thursday, knocks the Blue Sox out of first place in the North Division.
Pottsville won for the first time since the Lions split a doubleheader with Oley/Topton on June 21.
“It was a tough day to come out and play, to get focused,” Heffner said. “I thought the guys battled, which they have all year. It was a good bounce-back win and I think it’s going to do a lot for us.”
Valley View 6
Schuylkill Valley 2
MIDDLEPORT — Ken Ross had two hits and scored in Valley View’s three-run first inning as the West Enders beat the Falcons in a Schuylkill-Berks Legion League game stopped by rain after five innings.
Ross and Chase Schaeffer each scored on wild pitches and Hunter Bordner hit an RBI single for Valley View in the first inning.
Ross hit an RBI single in the second inning and Hunter Herb doubled home a run in the third as Valley View took a 5-1 lead.
Ayden Erbe and Ian McCole each singled home runs for Schuylkill Valley.
VV (6-5) 311 01 — 6 5 2
SV (2-10-1) 100 01 — 2 4 1
R. Schaeffer; McCole, Schwalm (4), Reese (5). W — R. Schaeffer. L — McCole.
HITS: Valley View — C. Schaeffer, Ross 2, Bordner, Herb. Schuylkill Valley — Erbe, McCole, Middleton, Knerr.
2B — Herb.
Junior Teeners
DeAngelo’s White 4
Shenandoah 2
Pitchers Andrew Buchinski and Jim Mickshaw combined for a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts as DeAngelo’s White advanced in the Schuylkill Teener League Junior Division playoffs.
Mickshaw got the win when DeAngelo’s White scored three runs in the seventh inning. Two runs scored on a single by Giovanni Dunn.
Adam Toothaker had two hits and an RBI for the winners. Mickshaw had the other RBI.
Game Summary
POTTSVILLE (9) — Kalinich ss-p 4 1 2 0, Liptock rf 3 1 1 0, Wapinsky p-ss 4 1 2 3, Daubert c 5 2 2 2, Kuperavage 3b 3 1 1 1, Siminitus cf 2 1 1 0, Renninger lf 4 1 1 3, Robison 1b 3 0 0 0, Everly 2b 4 1 1 0. Totals 32 9 11 9.
TAMAQUA (6) — Baddick c 5 2 2 1, MacDonald 2b 4 0 1 1, Titus 3b 4 0 1 0, A. Bates ss 4 1 0 0, O. Bates 1b 4 1 1 1, Rother p 0 0 0 0, Moll p 0 1 0 0, Hartung dh 3 1 1 1, Rex cf 4 0 3 1, Lehman rf 3 0 0 0, Fedor lf 4 0 0 0. Totals 35 6 9 5.
Pot. (3-9-1) 000 013 14 — 9
Tam. (6-9) 001 211 01 — 6
E — Pottsville 4, Tamaqua 0. DP — Tamaqua 1. LOB — Pottsville 8, Tamaqua 9. 2B — Wapinsky 2, Daubert, MacDonald, O. Bates. HR — Daubert, Renninger, Baddick, Hartung. SB — Renninger, MacDonald 2, Titus, Rex. CS — Rex. S — Liptock. SF — Wapinsky.
Pottsville IP H R ER BB K
Wapinsky W 7 8 5 4 1 6
Kalinich 1 1 1 0 2 1
Tamaqua IP H R ER BB K
Rother 4 3 1 1 4 4
Moll L 4 8 8 8 3 5
HBP — by Wapinsky (MacDonald). WP — Moll. PB — Baddick. T — 2:25.