ALLENTOWN \u2014 What began as a dandy, quick-moving matchup between two fine left-handed pitchers morphed into a high-scoring meeting between two of the area\u2019s best high school baseball teams with the sun disappearing and the wind picking up Tuesday at Dan Venet Field.<\/p>\n
With senior southpaw Aidan Heaphy starting things off and freshman right-handed pitcher Matt Geiger closing out the game with his impressive curveball, the Hun School varsity squad was able to head home with an 11-7 victory over Allentown High in a game that seemed more like a fall ball contest, especially with the way the weather disintegrated as the teams combined to score 13 runs over the final two innings.<\/p>\n
Babson College-bound Heaphy and Redbirds junior left-hander R.J. Davis kept the first five innings moving along swiftly with the Raiders clinging to a 3-2 lead. Heaphy and Davis both struck out six and walked three during their stints on the mound.<\/p>\n
However, when the first two hours ended and the sun\u2019s warmth went away, walks became a little more commonplace as four new A\u2019town pitchers saw Hun score four runs in each the sixth and seventh innings before two new Raiders\u2019 pitchers witnessed the Redbirds scoring five runs over that same stretch.<\/p>\n
With the visitors holding a 7-6 lead after six innings, Geiger finished up to earn a save in his first varsity game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pitchers were pounding the (strike) zone to start the game,\u201d Hun\u2019s No. 2-hitting senior shortstop John Rossman said. \u201cI realized the umpire had a small zone, so I had to shrink my zone along with him. It was a matter of shrinking my sight lines and focusing on situational baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rossman adjusted as well as anyone in the game. In his final three at-bats, Rossman connected for a hit. He singled with two outs in the fifth to put the Raiders up, 3-1, when Will Sassman, who had singled and stolen second base, scored.<\/p>\n
With two on and two outs in the top of the sixth, Rossman doubled in both runners. Then, in the same situation in the seventh, he singled in two more to lead head coach Tom Monfiletto\u2019s squad to its 11th win.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of what I try to do is put up long at-bats in big spots,\u201d said Tufts University-bound Rossman, who was 3-for-4 with five runs batted in. \u201cThe team gets behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The late-game eruption was a far cry from the way the game began. The visitors scored a pair of runs off Davis in the second, but the Redbirds got solo runs back in the fourth (RBI single by John Ryel) and in the fifth (RBI single by Damian Porras) to put some pressure on Heaphy before his day was done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had been pitching in relief. This was my first start,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI felt good. My change-up was going down the middle. When you go against a good pitcher like (Heaphy), you want to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis did all he could to help keep head coach Brian Nice\u2019s 6-5 team in the hunt, which is the effort Allentown needs going against its tough schedule.<\/p>\n
The Redbirds backed their pitchers by showing fight. After seeing Hun bat around and score four times in the top of the sixth, the home team did the same in the bottom of the frame.<\/p>\n
With the help of a two-run single from Terril Tift Jr., it was rinse and repeat for the Raiders in a four-run seventh. A\u2019town loaded the bases again in the bottom of that frame, yet could only score when Max Kleinz singled in John Ryel.<\/p>\n
Hun (11-2)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 020\u00a0 \u00a0 014\u00a0 \u00a0 4\u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 \u00a0 11\u00a0 10\u00a0 1<\/p>\n
Allentown(6-5)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 000\u00a0 \u00a0 114\u00a0 \u00a0 1\u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 7\u00a0 \u00a0 7\u00a0 1<\/p>\n
2B: Lilienthal, Rossman (H), Porras (A); RBIs: Rossman 5, Lilienthal, Echternacht, Sassman, Tift Jr. 2 (H), Baker, Kleinz 2, Porras 2, Ryel (A).<\/p>\n
WP \u2014 Heaphy (2-0); LP \u2014 Davis (0-2); S \u2014 Geiger (1).<\/p>\n
ROBBINSVILLE 19, TRENTON 0<\/p>\n
ROBBINSVILLE \u2014 Ravens freshman Colin Makkay threw a five-inning, two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts to lead them past the Tornadoes.<\/p>\n
Josh Yoo and Gavin Hopkins went 2-for-2 for R\u2019ville. Yoo and Nick Wysokowski knocked in three runs apiece, while Hopkins had two RBIs.<\/p>\n
Singles by Warlin Paulino and Liansel Perez were all the offense Trenton could muster.<\/p>\n
Trenton (5-6)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a00(\u00a0 0)0\u00a0 \u00a0 00\u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 0\u00a0 \u00a0 2\u00a0 1<\/p>\n
Robbinsville(7-4)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a00(13)2\u00a0 \u00a0 4x\u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 \u00a0 19\u00a0 10\u00a0 0<\/p>\n
2B: Wysokowski (R); 3B: Yoo, Makkay (R); RBIs: Hopkins 2, Bunnell, Wysokowski 3, Yoo 3, Makkay (R).<\/p>\n
WP \u2014 Makkay (1-0); LP \u2014 Kelly (0-1).<\/p>\n
PDS 12, SOUTH HUNTERDON 0<\/p>\n
LAMBERTVILLE \u2014 The Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak by shutting out the Eagles in five innings.<\/p>\n
Owen Ehrenkranz tossed a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts. Gavin Ross went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs.<\/p>\n
PDS (3-8)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 120\u00a0 \u00a0 18\u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 \u00a0 12\u00a0 15\u00a0 1<\/p>\n
S.Hunterdon(4-5)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 000\u00a0 \u00a0 00\u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 0\u00a0 \u00a0 1\u00a0 2<\/p>\n
2B: Filis 2 (PDS); RBIs: Ross 3, Filis, Zieselman, Kelemen, Chiavarone, Roitburg 2, Carabelli 2 (PDS).<\/p>\n
WP \u2014 Ehrenkranz (1-2); LP \u2014 n\/a.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN \u2014 What began as a dandy, quick-moving matchup between two fine left-handed pitchers morphed into a high-scoring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,18736,305,28517,9520,915,28,726,10356],"class_list":{"0":"post-172513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-burlington-county","12":"tag-high-school-sports","13":"tag-hunterdon-county","14":"tag-mercer-county","15":"tag-new-jersey","16":"tag-pennsylvania","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-top-stories-trt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}