Hopewell Township – In their last game against Beaver, despite not getting the win, the Hopewell JV team played a solid game both offensively and defensively.
Today, the Vikings repeated that performance and took their game to another level as they turned in their best performance of the season in a 9-4 win over Ambridge.
The story of the day was the performance of the Hopewell hitters as they collected a season-high 10 hits, 3 walks and only struck out 3 times. That hit total of 10 could’ve been higher if not for a couple nice defensive plays by Ambridge.
The beneficiary of the offense was freshman left-hander Andrew Arzberger who was in command all game. Arzberger went 6 innings, allowing only 3 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), while striking out 4 batters.
“Andrew came out strong and gave me 6 great innings,” said Hopewell HC Nick Hoth. “Camden then came in and did what I needed him to do and just close the game out. Proud of both of them. Fielding was cleaner today with a few great plays from our infielders and our outfielders keeping the ball in front and limiting free bases for them.”
HOPEWELL/AMBRIDGE JV GAME RECAP:
Top 1st: Arzberger got two groundball outs, and then after allowing an unearned run, Ambridge loaded the bases with 2 outs, but Hopewell escaped it as RF Gunner Reese made a nice running catch. Ambridge 1-0
Bottom 1st: With 1 on and 1 out, Brody McCullough with a nice piece of hitting as he singled to LF, which was followed by a single to left field by Arzberger. In the last 2 games, Arzberger has done a really nice job going opposite field for hits.
Then with the bases loaded and 1 out, freshman catcher Luke Vukovcan singled to center field to drive in Jaxsen Covalt and McCullough. With a runner at 3rd and 1 out, Cam Hoth put the ball in play with a hard ground ball to second, which brought in Arzberger. Hopewell led 3-1
Top 2nd: Arzberger had a dominating second frame as he struck out the side and needed just 13 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Hopewell took advantage of a couple Ambridge errors to add to their lead. With runners at the corners and 1 out, Ethan Adams grounded out to second, but it drove in Owen Ackerman.
Next up, Covalt recorded an infield single, which brought in Reese. Hopewell now led 5-1 and they weren’t done.
McCullough with another good at-bat as he went opposite field for a single, Covalt scored on an Ambridge error. Arzberger followed that up with another hit to left field, which brought in McCullough. Hopewell led 7-1
Top 3rd: Nice Hopewell defense in the third as Ambridge had a runner on first with 1 out but the inning ended with a 5-4-3 double play (Hoth to Adams to Reed Budavich at first). Hopewell 7-1
Bottom 3rd: Hoth led off the inning with a double to right field. Ryan Gaguzis then laid down a sacrifice bunt, which moved Hoth to third base. That paid off as Ackerman delivered an RBI single to CF. Hopewell now led 8-1.
Top 4th: Nice defense in the 4th as Hoth fielded two hard grounders to third and fired them both over to Budavich. Arzberger ended the inning with a strike out.
Top 6th: More nice defense from Hoth as he made another play at third for the first out. Then with 2 outs, Budavich ranged far to his right, fielded the ball and beat the runner to the base
Bottom 6th: Hopewell scored their last run of the game in the sixth. Gaguzis led off the inning with an infield single, followed by a double by Budavich, which put runners at 2nd and 3rd. Then with 2 outs, Hopewell took advantage of a 2-out error to score run No. 9. Hopewell 9-2.
Top 7th: Hoth came on to relieve Arzberger and struck out the first two batters he faced.
Then after Ambridge scored 2 runs and with 2 outs, Hoth ended the game as he got a pop up to Covalt.
FINAL: HOPEWELL 9 AMBRIDGE 4
“I think it was a great bounce back win from the double header loss last week,” said HC Hoth. “I knew last week’s losses did not show what this team could do. Today we limited errors and put the bat on the ball more. I think our base running was a lot better tonight and we used small ball to get around the bases.”
“Tomorrow, we play them again and hope to replicate today’s events.”
Game 2 of this series is tomorrow as the Vikings travel to Ambridge. First pitch is scheduled for 4 PM.









