Michael Jilleba of Atlantic Reign slides home, beating the tag of North Penn pitcher Daniel Cho.
By Rich Bevensee
After suffering a heartbreaking, walkoff loss a day earlier and essentially getting knocked out of the playoffs, the North Penn Cannoneers were simply looking to close out the fall season with a victory.
Bud Murphy figured that would be a good time to grab his bat and put his powerful swing on display one more time.
Murphy, a senior at North Penn in Lansdale, Pa., enjoyed his finest game of the weekend, going 3-for-3 with two doubles, a triple and an RBI in leading the Cannoneers to a 6-2 victory over Atlantic Reign on Sunday in the 17/18U Wood Bat division of the Halloween Mash at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“He’s an absolute stud,” North Penn coach Adam Soley said of Murphy, who is committed to Division 2 Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “I think he’ll be a power guy at the next level.”
In three games this weekend the 5-11, 190-pound Murphy went 6-for-10 with a home run, a triple, two doubles, four RBI and four runs scored.
“It’s all the training I put in and keeping it simple in the box,” Murphy said. “I try to hit the ball hard wherever the ball is thrown. It’s about availability to make contact all the time and swinging at my pitch.”
Last spring Murphy enjoyed a strong junior season at the plate for North Penn High, batting .362 with 18 RBI. He said his power surge began a year ago.
“Around sophomore year is when I really started working on it, getting my A-swing off every time,” Murphy said. “It took a lot of gym work. Doing explosive plyometrics, twitchy stuff, and also getting the strength on, more muscle. Get bigger, stronger, faster as my high school coach (Kevin Manero) always says, and then develop your swing based on that.”
The Cannoneers (11-5-1), from Lansdale, Pa., finished 2-1 in pool play but missed the 17/18U four-team playoff. Their lone setback was a 10-9 walkoff to Combat 2027 Select which finished 3-0. North Penn led 9-7 but yielded three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Logan Waynick connects for an RBI single in the fifth inning for the Cannoneers.
Atlantic Reign righty Eddie McGoey had a low- to-mid 70s fastball and an offspeed arsenal that had the Cannoneers stymied for four innings. The second time through the lineup is when the Cannoneers opened fire.
Wyatt Pope’s bat fueled rallies which allowed North Penn to score six runs across the fifth and sixth innings.
“The first time through the lineup we weren’t as competitive as we should be,” said Pope, a senior at North Penn. “We kind of just rolled into the game. The key was timing and location. We knew we’d get going eventually.”
Against Atlantic Reign of River Vale, N.J., North Penn trailed, 2-0, going into the home half of the fifth. McGoey, a junior at Glen Rock, was terrific for four innings, pitching a two-hit shutout with five strikeouts.
“He (McGoey) did a pretty good job,” Soley said. “I don’t understand how he dominated – that’s a good lineup we have, so it was crazy for a while. Luckily they got rolling at the end there.”
In the bottom of the fifth, the Cannoneers’ Chris Reed reached on an infield error and scored on Pope’s triple to left center. With one out Garrett Adams lofted an infield pop up which fell in for a hit due to miscommunication.
With runners on first and third, Connor Robinson grounded to third which set up a potential double play but Atlantic Reign didn’t have anyone covering second and it was too late to get the speedy Robinson at first, so Pope scored on the play.
Cannoneers leadoff hitter Logan Waynick, a North Penn senior and a Widener commit, roped a two-out single to left to score Adams for a 3-0 lead.
In the sixth, Chase Paskewich led off with a single and scored on a Bud Murphy triple. George Apostolidis reached on an outfield error, allowing Murphy to score, and Pope drove in Apostolidis with a sacrifice fly.
North Penn righty starter Daniel Cho didn’t allow a hit in his three innings of work and he yielded one run mostly on six walks with four strikeouts. Will Rittenhouse went four innings and allowed one run on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Atlantic Reign broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third when leadoff hitter Michael Jilleba walked, advanced to second on a Matthew Pizanzie sacrifice bunt, then came around to score on two wild pitches.
The lead grew to 2-0 in the fourth when Zach Herskovic and Zach Gatti began the inning with base hits. Yanniel Coplin-Severino moved them over with a sac bunt, and Herskovic scored on James Evans’ RBI groundout.
McGoey’s final line was six runs allowed in five innings on eight hits and no walks with five strikeouts. Evans retired three batters in the sixth.