Baseball: Phantoms' Rally Falls Short

With the spring weather’s unrelenting assault on the high school sports schedule, one of the most important aspects of a baseball season has gone by the wayside. Practices have been virtually non-existent or have been forced inside the confines of the PAHS gym.

“We haven’t gotten to practice much this spring,” said Phantoms manager Jack Sturgeon. “It’s no excuse for our inconsistency, but it has made it difficult to work on specific areas when the only time we are on the field is for a game.”

What Phoenixville has been able to work on has been hitting the baseball and again on Monday the fruits of that labor were displayed, as Tom Romano and Jon Wheel each banged out a homerun in a 14-9 loss to Owen J. Roberts, which saw the game end with the tying run in the on deck circle for the Phantoms.

“We get ourselves psyched out when we play them,” said catcher Jack Ashburn. “They have such a history of being a good club. We beat ourselves sometimes before we take the field. We need to give them one good beat down, and maybe that would help our confidence when we face them.”

Owen J. Roberts (8-3 in league play) jumped on Phantoms starter Mike Jones, who has been a workhorse for Phoenixville all season, by posting five runs in the first and two in the second.

After settling in a bit, Jones did set the Wildcats down in order in the third, before giving way to sophomore hurler David Palman, who allowed just one earned run in four innings of relief.

“David did a nice job,” said Sturgeon. “He is just a 10th-grader. It was good for him to get his feet wet. He throws strikes, which is huge when you come into any game situation. We need to stop beating ourselves with our mistakes in the field.”

Following a disastrous fourth inning, in which three runs were scored after what would have been an inning ending ground out and the Wildcats increased their lead to 10-1, the Phantoms refused to quit as Wheel cut into the bulge by crushing a two-run round tripper in the home half of the inning.

“We never give up,” added Ashburn. “As long as we have at bats left, we always have a chance. We have been hitting the ball well all year. We need to stop putting ourselves in a hole. We have given away three games like that so far.”

The Phantoms, 4-6 in league play, loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning and sent 10 men to the plate, scoring four runs before Ashburn grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game, with the tying run in the on deck circle.

“In that situation we were doing all we could to get on base,” said Ashburn. “Early in the count I was looking for a pitch to drive, or even to draw a walk. The last pitch was a strike, so I just tried to hit somewhere and force them to make a play.”

Phoenixville will have little time to regroup, as they will host Pottsgrove on Wednesday at Doc Kennedy Field, then travel to Pottstown on Friday before returning home to host the Vikings of Perk Valley on Monday.

“We have got to stop getting ourselves in that position,” added Ashburn. “Our pitchers have done a great job so far. Having one more arm would really help us, but we just don’t have the numbers that the bigger schools have.”

“Our pitching and defense are not where they need to be at this point in the season,” added Sturgeon. “We need to turn it around right now to salvage this season. Our guys need to start believing in themselves. I know what we are capable of, but they have to believe in themselves.”

Owen J. Roberts   520 300 4 – 14 11 2

Phoenixville          100 211 4 – 9 10 4

E-OJR 2, Phoenixville 4. DP-OJR 1. 2B-Raifsnider 3, Ponto, Gillenwater, Bennett, Allen, Ashburn. 3B-Ammon. HR-Romano, Wheel. SB-Pinelli, Patete, Megay, Gillenwater, Funk, Bennett. SF-Patete. LOB-OJR-7, Phoenixville-5.

Owen J. Roberts   IP  H   R  ER  BB   K

Muscovitch (W)          5     8    5     5       1    5

Funk                                1.1   2    4     2       3    1

Koch (S)                         .2    0    0     0      0    0

Phoenixville

Jones (L)                      3    5     7      7      4    3

Palman                          4    6     7      1      2    0

Owen J. Roberts

                                                   AB   R   H   BI

Pinelli ss                                                    3     2    1    0

Brady 2b                                                    5     2    1    0

Patete 3b                                                    2     3    0    1

Raifsnider c                                               4     0    4    3

Megay cf                                                   0     2    0    0

Ponto dh                                                    4     2    1    2

Muscovitch p                                            0     0    0    0

Thomas ph                                                1     0    0    0

Megay rf                                                   1     0    0    0

Gillenwater 1b                                          4     1    2    2

Bennett cf                                                 4     1    2    2

Keene lf                                                    4     0    0    0

Funk rf-p                                                  3     0    0    0

Boehmer ph                                              0     1    0    0

TOTALS:                                35   14   11  10

Phoenixville

                                               AB   R   H   BI

Kaye rf                                                   3     0    1    1

O’Hara ph                                               1     1    0    0

Sierzega 2b                                             3     0    0    0

Yenchik ph                                              0     1    0    0

Romano cf                                               2     1    1    1

Kawchak ph                                             1     1    0    0

Allen ss                                                   3     1    1    0

Arney ph                                                  0     1    0    1

Ammon 1b                                               3     1    1    0

Nattle ph                                                  1     0    1    1

Wheel 3b                                                  3     1    2    3

Warren ph                                                 0     0    0    1

Fina lf                                                       4     0    0    1

Ashburn c                                                  4     0    1    0

Ferguson cr                                                0     1    0    0

Naile dh                                                     2     0    1    0

Jones p                                                      0     0    0    0

Ferguson ph                                               1     0    1    0

TOTALS:                               30   9   10    9