Mike Vukovcan Hopewell Township- You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘the final score wasn’t indicative of how a team played’.
That was certainly the case of todays Middle School baseball game between Hopewell and North Allegheny.
Coming off of a 10- 0 (5 innings) loss last Monday to Seneca Valley, Hopewell was faced with the challenge of taking on North Allegheny, one of the biggest and most talent rich school districts in the WPIAL.
This was going to be a challenge for this young team but for 6 innings, the Vikings stood toe to toe with North Allegheny before things fell apart in the final inning.
My biggest take from this game was that Hopewell trailed just 6-4 going to the Top of the 6th inning and not that the final score was 18-4 (NA scored 10 runs in the final inning).
Five Positives From Today:
1. Andrew Arzberger’s Peformance: Arzberger got the start and all things considered, he pitched well. The left-hander went 3 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned runs), walked only 1 and struck out 4.
The key for Arzberger was keeping the ball down in the zone because when he did that, he was very effective. This start was definitely one to build on and be encouraged by.
At the plate, Arzberger was 3-for-3 , including an RBI double in the first inning that scored Luke Vukovcan and gave Hopewell a 1-0 lead.
2. Cam Hoth: For the second straight game, Hoth accounted well for himself on the mound. Hoth took over for Arzberger in the 4th inning and over the 4th, 5th and 6th innings allowed just 3 runs against a very good hitting team.
Hopewell’s Cam Hoth
Hoth came back out for the 7th inning and just ran out of gas. I’m going to remember his performance in the 4th, 5th and 6th innings and not the final frame. Nice job Cam.
3. Vikings At-The Plate: Hopewell was noticeably better at the plate today compared to the Seneca Valley game. In the season opener, they struck out 10 times in 5 innings. In 7 innings today, Hopewell cut that number down to 9.
Even in at least 4 of the at-bats that resulted in strike outs, the Hopewell batter battled and worked the pitcher to a full count.
Players like Ethan Adams, Ryan Gaguzis, Owen Ackerman and Reed Budavich had productive at-bats where they put the ball in play that resulted in a runner scoring or put down a sacrifice bunt when called upon to do it.
4. Ethan Adams in the Field: While the Vikings still need to clean up their defense, a definite bright spot was the defensive play of Adams at 3rd base. Adams made two putouts and caught two pop ups. Great effort in the field Ethan. Also want to mention that Reed Budavich made 3 catches in center field.
5. Luke Vukovcan at Catcher: I do my best not to mention my son in stories but Luke did a solid job behind the plate. He did a good job keeping things in front of him and his throws down to second were impressive. In fact, Luke threw out a North Allegheny runner trying to steal second in the 3rd inning and came close to throwing out a second one.
As I’ve written a few different times, this season will not be about wins and losses and instead will be all about individual development of the players. This team showed nice growth from game one to game two.
Should also point out that North Allegheny’s 9th game of the season compared to just two for Hopewell.
This Freshman team has a few days off before returning to action next Tuesday at Pine-Richland.
