Mike Vukovcan HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP– It was ugly night in terms of the weather and with the outcome of the game determined early, it was only a matter of could they make it an official game before the sky’s opened up.
Fortunately, they were as the Hopewell Colt team overwhelmed Quaker Valley, 15-0.
As he’s done season, Payton Korker turned in a quality outing as he got the start for Coach Singletary’s team. PK went 3 innings, didn’t allow a hit and struck out 4 batters.
In the field, Hopewell battled the conditions and made all the routine plays, including a nice play at short by Jake Knobloch and second baseman Collin Davis showing some nice range to track down a ball in short right field.
At the plate, Hopewell’s hitters showed nice discipline as Quaker Valley’s pitchers were wild but when the ball was in the zone, the Vikings hit it.
In the bottom of the 1st, Davis led off the game by getting hit by a pitch. Next up, Knobloch doubled to left field, moving Davis to third. Both runners then scored as James Gill clobbered a ball to deep left field, Hopewell led 2-0. This is the second game in a row that Gill has displayed power. Yesterday against Weirton, Gill nearly hit one out to right-center field, which went for a double.
The next 3 Hopewell hitters (Korker, Josh Gill and Luke Vukovcan) all walked. After a James Gill scored on a wild pitch, the 4th run of the inning scored on a sharp single to right field by Parker Hoth.
Korker had an easy 1-2-3 top of the second inning. In that frame, first baseman Camden Hoth made a nice scoop on a throw from Knobloch at short.
Hopewell then put the game away in the bottom of the second by plating 9 runs.
Davis led off with a single to right-center field, which was followed by Knobloch getting hit by a pitch and James Gill and Korker. The walk to Korker brought in Davis and Hopewell led 5-0.
Next batter, Josh Gill reached on an infield single, which brought in Knobloch, Hopewell led 6-0. After a bases loaded walk to Chris Shiel which brought in James Gill, Vukovcan hit a line drive single to left center field to bring in Korker, Hopewell led 8-0.
The final 5 runs of the inning scored on a bases loaded walk to Camden Hoth, an RBI single by Davis and 3 on an error by the Quaker Valley right fielder on a flyball from Knobloch.
In the top of the 3rd, Quaker Valley got a runner to third base with 1 out but Korker struck out the next two batters.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 15 QUAKER VALLEY 0
The win improves Hopewell’s record to 3-2 and they’ll return to the field next Tuesday when they travel to Beaver.
