PINE GROVE — Frackville Red had the bases loaded in the top of the sixth with Bobby Wagner, one of its fastest runners, on third.
The offense was struggling for runs, so Frackville Red manger John Chuma tried to steal one.
It worked.
Wagner stole home after the ball was thrown back to the pitcher for the go-ahead run, and Scott Grigas did the rest with a two-hitter in Frackville Red’s 5-1 victory over Pine Grove Red in a Schuylkill County Teener League Senior Division contest Friday at Stump Stadium.
Wagner singled with one out against Pine Grove starter Jason Soper. Max Nolter and Austin Dietz then both walked to load the bases.
Domenic Dostick came on to relieve Soper, who had reached his pitch count for the night, and struck out pinch-hitter Max Schally for the second out.
With Alex Norris at the plate, Chuma decided to gamble with Wagner, sending him after a throw back to the pitcher. Wagner was halfway home before Pine Grove Red realized what was going on and Wagner slid under the tag for the run.
“The Wagner boys are probably two of the fastest kids in the league,” Chuma said. “I took notice that the catcher was throwing the ball back to pitcher and he wasn’t looking him back. The way we were hitting
today, we weren’t hitting that well, so we had him at third and I figured I am just going to take a shot at this.
“He’s so fast. When he broke, I knew he would be safe. When you have speed, you have to try and use it, so that is what we did.”
Dostick ended up striking out Norris for the third out.
Frackville Red’s bat finally came to life in the seventh with three runs, including a run-producing single by Mitch Wagner and two-run, inside-the-park homer by Bobby Wagner.
Bobby Wagner finished the night 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Mitch Wagner also stole two bases.
The two runs were enough support for Grigas, who allowed a leadoff double to Dostick in the second and one-out, infield single to Austin Dubbs in the in the fifth. Dubbs eventually scored Pine Grove Red’s only run on an error. It was unearned.
Grigas finished the night striking out five and walking one. Frackville committed four errors behind him, but also turned two double plays.
“He has a great curveball and he was just mixing them up, fastball, curveball,” Chuma said. “They are real good hitters. We tried to get them with more junk because we knew they were good fastball hitters.”
The victory allowed Frackville Red (14-2), which has already clinched the North Division title, to keep its hopes alive for a No. 2 seed in the upcoming league playoffs.
Pine Grove Red (12-4) dropped 1.5 games behind Hegins (13-2) for first in the West Division. The two are scheduled to play at 5 p.m. today at Hegins.
Hegins’ game at home against DeAngelo’s Black on Friday was postponed to Monday.
“It was a good pitching game on both sides,” Pine Grove Red manger Paul Wike said. “We just couldn’t capitalize on anything. We hit the ball right at them. That’s a very sound defensive team.”
While Grigas shut down Pine Grove Red, Frackville Red didn’t do much against Soper. He pitched 5.1 innings, walking four and striking out seven.
One of those walks was to Mitch Wagner to lead off the game. He stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield single by Bobby Wagner.
Soper came out of the game when he reached 96 pitches.
“He has a really good fastball with a little bit of movement, his curveball had good break to it and we mix the change-up in there,” Wike said. “We were establishing first-pitch strikes and he was getting a lot of first-pitch strikes. He had them off-balance.”
Schuylkill-Berks Legion
Schuylkill Valley 14
Pottsville 2
Jeff Yordy had three hits, two for doubles, four RBIs and struck out eight on the mound to lead the Falcons to a six-inning Schuylkill-Berks Legion League win over the Lions at Steidle Field.
Ian McCole had four hits and three RBIs for Schuylkill Valley, which won for the first time since June 11. The Falcons were 0-7-1 during that stretch.
J.J. Spehrley doubled for Pottsville, which has lost 5-of-6.
SV (3-10-1) 020 444 — 14 15 1
Pot. (3-10-1) 000 200 — 2 5 3
Yordy and De. Reese; Kuperavage, Daubert (5) and Daubert, Wapinsky (4), Kalinich (5). W — Yordy. L — Kuperavage.
HITS: Schuylkill Valley — Yordy 3, McCole 4, Dziczek, De. Reese, Middleton, Schwalm, Dy. Reese, Grigas, Knerr. Pottsville — Daubert, Spehrley, Kuperavage, Siminitus, Everly.
2B — Yordy 2, Dy. Reese, Spehrley.
Game Summary
FRACKVILLE RED (5) — M. Wagner 2b 3 2 1 0, Grigas p 4 1 1 1, B. Wagner ss 4 2 3 3, Nolter c 2 0 1 0, Dietz 3b 3 0 0 0, Kowalishen cf 2 0 0 0, Schally ph 1 0 0 0, Norris 1b 3 0 1 0, Rockwell lf 2 0 0 0, Crawford rf 2 0 0 0, Burke ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 27 5 7 4.
PINE GROVE RED (1) — Anspach lf 2 0 0 0, Soper p-ss 3 0 0 0, Ney cf 3 0 0 0, Kreiser c 3 0 0 0, Dostick ss-p 3 0 1 0, Wike 2b 3 0 0 0, A. Dubbs 3b 3 1 1 0, Witmer 1b 2 0 0 0, Wolff rf 1 0 0 0, Donmoyer ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 24 1 2 0.
Frack. Red (14-2) 100 001 3 — 5
PG Red (12-4) 000 010 0 — 1
E — Frackville Red 4, Pine Grove Red 1. DP — Frackville Red 2. LOB — Frackville Red 6, Pine Grove Red 4. 2B — M. Wagner, Norris, Dostick. HR — B. Wagner. SB — M. Wagner 2, Grigas, B. Wagner, Nolter, Dietz, Rockwell. CS — B. Wagner.
Frack. Red IP H R ER BB K
Grigas W 7 2 1 0 1 5
PG Red IP H R ER BB K
Soper L 5.1 3 2 2 4 7
Dostick 1.2 4 3 3 0 3
HBP — By Dostick (Nolter). WP — Grigas, Soper. PB — Kreiser.