Phantoms' Bats Silenced by Boyertown's Budding Ace

BOYERTOWN-There's a saying: some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you.

The bear has pinpoint control of his fastball and no matter how hard you try you just can’t get a good piece of it.

Such was the case on Friday as Phoenixville traveled to Bear Stadium in Boyertown, where sophomore A.J Bogucki rolled out the welcome mat with an 11-strikeout performance.

“He had really good stuff,” said Thomas Romano, the only Phantom to record a hit off of the Bears right-hander. “I hit a 1-2 curveball that he made a mistake on. I was just looking drive it somewhere and it found the gap. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the run in to support Colin [Ammon] who a great game as well.”

Bogucki did not allow a Phoenixville base runner after the third inning as Tony Sierzega got the Phantoms, who dropped to 4-5 in the league, on the board by roping a sacrifice fly. That fly succeeded in scoring Jack Ashburn, who had been hit by a pitch and advanced to scoring position following a sacrifice bunt by Andy Kaye, then alertly snagging third base as a low curveball got by Bears catcher Kyle Weller.

Bogucki was not only hurler mowing through a line up as Phoenixville starter Colin Ammon worked his way efficiently through the vaunted Boyertown attack and had outstanding placement of his fastball to complement a very effective curveball that got even Boyertown manager Todd Moyer’s attention.

“Man, he had a nasty curveball today,” said Moyer. “No wonder our guys were backing off and not making good contact. I could see the movement from my coaching box at third; he [Ammon] did a great job. It’ a shame that one of the pitchers had to lose today.”

Ammon struck out two and walked three, while scattering seven hits. He only allowed multiple hits in one inning, the fifth, where the Bears had two singles with the inning.

The Phoenixville defense came up big in the fifth as left fielder Vinny Nattle rushed in to field a base hit by Kyle Weller. Nattle hit cut-off man Jon Wheel, who then cut down Boyertown’s Steve Price at the plate, with a laser accurate throw to Jack Ashburn, who blocked the plate and applied the tag, ending the inning and the Bears' last scoring threat.

“Colin pitched his butt off today,” said Romano. “That was a great play at the plate. Colin deserved to win today, but we just couldn’t get the bats going like we have all year.”

“They are very good lineup with a lot of dangerous hitters,” said Bogucki. “I was really successful with my fastball today. It was going exactly where I wanted it to. The key was to get ahead and have them swinging at balls just off the plate. They are very aggressive at the plate and I knew I had to be careful throwing first pitch strikes.”

Bogucki retired the Phantoms in order over the final four innings. The closest to getting a base hit was Ammon, who crushed a ball to deep center field that Jared Von Doren was able to back track and snare in his outstretched glove.

“I felt really good today," Ammon said. “My curveball just came to me in the middle innings. I had good location on my fastball all day but my curve developed in about the third inning. They weren’t hitting it so we kept throwing it. They are a very good hitting team.”

Next the Phantoms will host Owen J. Roberts, who came back from three runs down in the top of the sixth at Perkiomen Valley Wednesday night to claim a 4-3 win, at Kennedy field on Monday at 4 p.m.

Player                        AB  R   H   RBI

ANDY KAYE rf.............      2   0    0    0

TONY SIERZEGA 2b......... 2   0    0    1  

THOMAS ROMANO cf....... 3   0    1    0  

SHANE ALLEN ss..........    3   0    0    0

COLIN AMMON p..........    3   0    0    0

JON WHEEL 3b.............       3   0    0    0

VINNY NATTLE lf..........     1   0   0    0

MIKE JONES 1b............        2   0   0    0 

JACK ASHBURN c...........    1   0   0    0

BRETT NAILE pr..........      0   1   0    0

Totals...................                  20   1   1    1

Player                                    AB  R  H  BI

MATT PURNELL 2b..........     3  1   1  0

STEVE PRICE 3b...........          1  1   1  0

JARED VON DOHREN cf..... 3  0   0  0

KYLE WELLER c............       2  0   2  2

BRETT GREY pr...........         0  0   0  0 

ALEX JAZLOVIETCKI lf.....  3  0   1  0

AUSTIN HEIMBACH 1b......  3  0   1  0

DALTON WEEKS rf........ .     3  0   1  0

DAN O'CONNELL dh.........    1  0   0  0 

AARON BOGUCKI p..........    3  0  0  0

JEFF SUNDSTROM ss........    0  0  0  0

Totals...................        22  2  7  2 

PHOENIXVILLE........   001 000 0 - 1 1 1

BOYERTOWN........... 101 000 X - 2 7 0

E - WHEEL. DP - PHANTOMS 1. LOB - PHANTOMS 2; BEARS 7. 2B - ROMANO; PURNELL;

JAZLOVIETCKI; HEIMBACH. HBP - ASHBURN. SH - KAYE; PRICE. SF - SIERZEGA;

WELLER. SB - PRICE 2; VON DOHREN; WEEKS; O'CONNELL.

PHOENIXVILLE            IP    H  R  ER  BB  SO

COLIN AMMON.......     6.0   7   2   1    3    2

BOYERTOWN              IP   H   R   ER   BB   SO

AARON BOGUCKI..... 7.0   1   1    0     1     11 

Win - BOGUCKI (1-1). Loss – AMMON (0-1). 

HBP - by BOGUCKI (ASHBURN). PB - ASHBURN; WELLER.