Dylan Orr takes a big rip for the PA Rebels in Week 2 of the Super 17 Invitational.
By Rich Bevensee
The PA Rebels 2027 National squad had just scored two runs without the benefit of a base hit to break a tie, but still needed another stroke to salt the game away.
Up to bat came Chase Rudderow with the bases loaded and one out. Without a doubt he was looking for a fastball to drive. Falling back on his winter training to foul off a pair of offspeed pitches, Rudderow finally got the pitch he sought and stroked a two-run single which ensured the Rebels would remain unbeaten for the week.
Rudderow’s one-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning helped deliver a 5-1 Rebels victory over MVP South Shore-Fiore in Week 2 of the Super 17 Invitational Powered by Victus on Wednesday evening at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“It’s always good to persevere at bat, not just for me but for my team,” said Rudderow, a rising senior at West Chester East. “When you wait just to get the pitch you want, or even when you don’t get the pitch you want, just to fight and barrel one up always feels good.”
The Rebels, hailing from West Chester, Pennsylvania, improved to 3-0 with one game remaining, against Complete Game Colonials 2027 on Thursday.
MVP, from Levittown in Long Island, N.Y., fell to 1-1 with a contest to be played against the Rochester Seminoles on Thursday.
Tyler McLean, a 6-2, 195-pound righty and rising senior at Downington West, allowed one run in 3⅓ innings on two hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.
McLean left the game with one out in the top of the fourth having given up two walks. Dylan Orr retired the five batters he faced in relief to seal the win.
“I felt fine. It’s just that my arm felt like it was getting on the tired side,” McLean said. “I’ve thrown a lot more in games but I feel like the zone wasn’t going my way in the end. I’m very happy with how my breaking ball was working and how my changeup was working on lefties, and they were swinging and missing on the fastball.”
The stage was set for Rudderow when the score was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. The Rebels loaded the bases with two hits and a walk off MVP starter Chris Morrissey before Chris Murray was hit on the bill of his batting helmet to force in the tie-breaking run. The Rebels made it 3-1 when Billy Degler followed Murray with a bases-loaded walk.
MVP South Shore leadoff hitter Brian Kalinowski squares up on a fastball.
After Morrissey induced a fielder’s choice for the first out, Rudderow delivered his two-run single on a 2-2 fastball, a sharp liner into center.
“Watching the guy pitch, 80 percent of the time he was throwing fastballs so the entire at bat I was sitting fastballs,” Rudderow said. “I got ahead early, then got down 2-2 and was just trying to fight anything off. I got a fastball inside, fought it off and got two runs in.”
“He was battling,” Rebels coach Nestor Acosta said. “He fouled off a few, then came through with a big hit with the bases loaded. Definitely a quality at bat. Without the hit it was a good at bat. The hit made it a great at bat.”
MVP broke through first in the top of the second inning when Will Hutchinson doubled to lead off the inning. He took third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on a wild pitch with two out.
The Rebels returned the favor in the bottom of the second. Murray reached on a fielding error, stole second and third and scored on a Rudderow sacrifice fly.
Before starting the top of the fourth, McLean had allowed just two hits and one walk. But when the Rebels led off the inning by getting two runners on with one out, Acosta asked McLean to step aside for Orr.
“He could have gone as far as we wanted him to go, but he fought the whole way, making good pitches,” Acosta said.
“I really felt like my curveball was working a lot, and if the curveball wasn’t working I’d go back to my slider,” McLean said. “I had them guessing. When they started catching up to my curveball, I started throwing a fastball, which ended up making them think my fastball was more of a breaking pitch because I threw so many offspeed pitches.”