Pennridge holds off C.B. South, 4-3

Dylan Tice was in the middle of a post-game interview when he was interrupted by a fan who wanted to offer a concise synopsis of Pennridge's 4-3 Suburban One Continental Conference win over Central Bucks South.

''I almost had a nervous breakdown,'' he said, echoing the sentiments of most of the home faithful at Second Street Playground in Perkasie.

Pennridge (5-1 overall, 1-1 league) cruised into the seventh inning with a 4-0 lead. At that point, while Rams starting pitcher Jared Schaffer had racked up a high pitch count, the Titans (2-2, 1-1) had managed just two hits -- and none since the third inning.

But by game's end, South had crept to within 4-3 and Tice was on the mound, staring at a bases-loaded scenario with a 2-2 count on Titans No. 5 hitter Doug Prikockis. A second straight Rams meltdown was entirely possible.

Not this time, as the Pennridge junior fired an inside fastball that caught Prikockis looking, allowing the Rams to escape with their confidence relatively intact.

After rolling off four straight non-league wins, Pennridge opened Suburban One play by sprinting out to a 5-run lead on Central Bucks West on Wednesday, only to watch the Bucks put together a 10-run inning in hanging a 14-10 defeat on the Rams.

And after six strong innings, Pennridge seemed poised to waste a strong mound outing by Schaffer.

''That would have really hurt,'' Tice admitted. ''We'd have started out 0-2 in the league, and we expect really big things this year. Two losses to start the league would have been tough.''

A standout since he first stepped on the field as a freshman, Tice normally hurts opponents with his bat, glove and legs. This time around, however, Pennridge coach Tom Nuneviller needed Tice's arm and poise.

''He wants the ball,'' Nuneviller said. ''He's a gamer. He's in the thick of things; that's just the way he is. That's the competitor that he is, and I've got confidence to put him in there.''

The top of the seventh started innocently enough as Schaffer retired the leadoff hitter via a groundout. But Brian Weaver followed with an infield single, and back-to-back walks loaded the bases. At that point, Nuneviller came on to get his junior starter.

''I went with my heart a little bit,'' he explained. ''I left Jared in, and he said he was OK. I probably should have gone out and gotten him after the first batter in that last inning. But he'd been looking pretty strong.''

Lefty reliever Ryan Trauger struck out the first hitter he faced, but Brian Happ followed with a two-run double, and after a walk re-loaded the bases, Nuneviller turned to Tice.

It wasn't easy; Tice walked cleanup hitter Joe Mullin to force in South's third run. But finally, he reared back and whiffed Prikockis to earn a save.

After scrounging out a first inning run on a double-steal executed by Ryan Metzler and Ray Puskar, Pennridge struggled for much of the afternoon against Titans starter Pat Dundon before finally breaking through in the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles by Dan Wolfe and Tim Eversole. Brad Hess added a sixth-inning insurance run via a run-scoring single to left-center.

C.B. South000 000 3 -- 3 4 2

Pennridge100 021 x -- 4 11 1

Dundon, Cush and Mullin. Schaffer, Trauger (7), Tice (7) and Wolfe. W: Schaffer. S: Tice. L: Dundon.

Ron Kohl is a freelance writer.
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