Recap

After falling to 0-2 with back-to-back losses to Section 1 opponents, Township Varsity needed to turn things around quickly and they did just that in a big way on Saturday afternoon at home against Exeter. With temperatures rising into the mid-70’s, Sophomore Ryan Jones got the start for the Blue Streaks and was ready to impress from the start.

Jones struck out two Exeter batters in the first inning to amp up the Blue Streaks as they looked to break their 14 inning scoreless streak early in this game. Brenden Moshos, batting lead off for Township, took the 2nd pitch he saw and bombed it over the right field fence to give his team an early 1-0 lead. Jones helped his own cause with a single and was advanced on a Colin Yablonski double to put runners at 2nd and 3rd for Kyle Musser with 1 out. Musser grounded out to score Jones from 3rd to give MT a 2-0 lead. Matthew Peipher drove in another early run on a hard ground ball through the infield and the Blue Streaks were off and running with a 3-0 lead after 1 inning.

Jones continued to mow down Exeter batters through the first 4 innings allowing only 2 hits and getting out of the 3rd and 4th with facing only 3 batters each. A 4-6-3 double play from Drew Sassaman to Ben DeMarco to Luke Wenger helped end the top of the 4th quickly. Musser and Peipher picked up singles in the bottom of the 3rd, but were unable to score to extend the 3-0 lead.

Township’s lead grew in the 4th thanks to a Sassaman single, DeMarco dropped 3rd strike, and Jones single to pad the lead at 5-0. Sassaman had scored on a wild pitch during Jones’ AB. Exeter was able to get to Jones briefly in the top of the 5th after a series of hits plated 3 runs for the Eagles. Yablonski extended the Blue Streaks’ lead again in the bottom of the 5th by doubling and later scoring on a wild pitch. Jones’ day was done after 5 solid innings on the mound and he was replaced by Colin Fitzgerald with a 6-3 lead. Fitzgerald, making his first mound appearance with Varsity, held Exeter in check over the final two innings of the afternoon with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings. Moshos put an exclamation point on this win with another solo homerun to right field in the bottom of the 6th. Moshos’ two homeruns in this game already match his homerun total from all of 2018. With the 7-3 win, MT now stands at 1-2 on the season.