Mike Vukovcan Center Township- After a sweep last week of Hampton, the Hopewell High School baseball team got themselves back in playoff contention.
The Vikings returned to action today against Central Valley, with both teams tied for the final playoff spot. With that being the case, these next two games against CV would be huge for both teams.
Hopewell softball and youth baseball is sponsored by Lisa McCoy, your neighborhood State Farm agent.
Unfortunately, Central Valley took the lead in this two-game set by coming away with a 5-2 victory. Daniel McIntosh got the start for CV and was dominant, going 6 innings, allowing just 2 hits, 2 earned runs and striking out 8 batters.
Hopewell was only able to collect 3 hits- Kingston Krotec, Ben McDonald and James Gill.
After Hopewell took a 1-0 lead in the 4th inning, Central Valley answered with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-1 lead.
Hopewell scored a run in the top of the fifth to get within two but CV quickly responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame.
David Medich got the start for Hopewell and went 3.2 innings, giving up 3 hits, 4 runs (1 earned run), walking 3 and striking out 3. Ben McDonald pitched the final 2.2 innings, allowing 1 run and striking out 3.
Weather permitting, these two teams will square off again tomorrow with Kingston Krotec getting the start.
While this might not technically be a must-win game, it’s as close as you get. If you’re looking for a good omen, Hopewell found themselves in must-win situations recently against Ambridge and North Catholic and Hopewell came away with wins.
The person on the mound in both of those games? Kingston Krotec.
First pitch tomorrow is scheduled for 4 PM.
