Mike Vukovcan RACOON TOWNSHIP-Having your entire roster sure has made a difference for the Coach Hoffman’s Hopewell Pony League team.
Due to a variety of things, Hopewell hasn’t been able to play with their entire roster since the start of the season when they started hot.
However, that’s changed a bit over the last week and as a result, Hopewell has gone 2-1-1 in their last 4 games, including tonight’s 8-6 win over Riverside.
Tonight was an exciting game in all aspects for the Vikings as they received strong pitching, clutch hitting and played possibly their best defensive game of the season
For the second game in a row, Hopewell got a clutch performance from their starting pitcher. Yesterday it was Mason Santamaria and today is Noah Honess.
Hopewell’s Noah Honess
Despite not getting a lot of innings this year, Honess took the mound and gave Hopewell an A+ effort. The right-hander went 5+ innings, allowing 7 hits, 4 runs (3 earned runs) and striking out 2 batters. Noah threw a career-high 93 pitches before tiring a bit in the 6th inning.
Ryan Gaguzis entered the game in the 6th inning to relieve Honess and did a tremendous job to close out the game.
At the plate, Hopewell banged out 13 hits and were led by Tyler Hoffman, who smoked the ball in all four of his at-bats. Today’s 4-4 performance comes a day after Hoffman went 3-3 yesterday against Blackhawk.
Defensively, Hopewell was outstanding as they turned a double play, received 2 clutch catches in the outfield, above average play at first base by Reed Budavich and catcher Luke Vukovcan threw out two runners attempting to steal.
The win was important was Hopewell’s playoff chances and it was one they had to earn because Riverside battled for 7 innings.
GAME RECAP:
Bottom of 1st: Riverside had runners at 1st and 3rd with 1 out, but Honess got a pop up to Vin Smetana at short and then a ground ball to Smetana which ended the inning.
Top of 2nd: Hoffman leads off with a single, stole second and scored on a line drive single to center by Budavich. Then with 2 outs, David Johnson hit a sharp single to right field, which scored Budavich. Hopewell led 2-0.
Bottom of 2nd: Honess struck out the first batter and fielded a come backer to the mound for the second out. A Riverside batter reached on a walk, but Vukovcan gunned him out as he attempted to steal second.
Top of 3rd: Vukovcan led off the inning and hit a deep ball to right center field that went to the wall. Luke was racing around the bases and tried for an inside the park home run but a perfect relay throw from right field to second to catch, got him just in time before he touched home plate.
Bottom of 3rd: Riverside scored a run and were threatening to score. With a runner at 2nd with 1 out, Honess got the next batter to ground to Smetana at short and the final out on a ground out to Johnson at second. Hopewell led 2-1.
Top of 4th: Hopewell immediately were able to get that run back. Once again, Hoffman led off with a single to right field. Tyler advanced to second on a grounder to 3rd by Budavich. Following a single by Honess, Hopewell had runners at 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Hoffman was able to score on a dropped third strike as the catcher threw down to 1st base. Hopewell led 3-1.
Bottom of 4th: Riverside loaded the bases with 0 outs and Hopewell looked to be on the ropes, but the Vikings defense came up big. The Riverside batter hit a fly ball/line drive to center field. Ryder Kostrick made the catch and made it look easier than it was as he glided to the ball. The runner scored from 3rd, but Hopewell got an important out. Then with runners at 1st and 2nd, Honess threw a ball in dirt and it skipped away from Vukovcan at catcher. However, he recovered, located the ball and fired it down to 3rd base to nail the runner trying to advance. Then with a runner at 2nd and 2 out, the final out came courtesy a grounder to Budavich at 1st base. Hopewell led 3-2.
Top of 5th: With 1 out, Vukovcan was hit by a pitch and went on to steal second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Smetana then did his job and put the ball in play, grounding out to shortstop, which scored Vukovcan. Hopewell wasn’t done as Gaguzis and Kostrick both singled and then Hoffman ripped a double to right field, which brought in Gaguzis and Kostrick. Hopewell led 6-2.
Bottom of 5th: Riverside got a leadoff walk but that was quickly erased as the next batter hit a sharp grounder up the middle, but Smetana fielded the ball, stepped on second and fired to first for the double play. I’ll date myself but Smetana looked like ‘The Wizard of Oz’, Ozzie Smith with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bottom of 6th: As mentioned earlier Riverside didn’t quit and recorded 5 straight hits to quickly tie the game at 6. Once again, Hopewell looked to be in trouble as Riverside still had runners at 1st and 2nd with 0 outs.
Hopewell’s Ryan Gaguzis
However, that’s when Gaguzis came up big and did his best pitching of the night. First out came on a fly ball to Kostrick and the runners didn’t advance. Next batter grounded to Johnson at 2nd base. Then with runners at 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs, Gaguzis ended the threat with an inning ending strikeout. Game tied at 6.
Top of 7th: Vukovcan drew a leadoff walk on a 3-2 pitch. Luke then stole second base and third base with 0 outs. With 1 out, Gaguzis drew a walk so with runners on the corners, Kostrick grounded to second base, which scored Vukovcan. Hopewell led 7-6. Next up, Hoffman once again came up big with a line drive double to center, which brought in Gaguzis. Hopewell led 8-6.
Bottom of 7th: Gaguzis stayed on to pitch and got the job done. 1st out came on a grounder to Smetana, which was outstanding tonight at short. Second out came on a groundout to Hoffman at third. Then after a 2 out walk, the game ended on a grounder to Johnson at second, who flipped to Smetana at 2nd base.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 8 RIVERSIDE 6
WINNING IS FUN!!!
Hopewell (Team Hoffman) closes out the regular season next week with 3 games (Tuesday at Blackhawk, Wednesday at Central Valley and Thursday at Beaver).
