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Beaver County 376 Pony League All-Stars

Schedule, Bracket for the Local 376 Pony League All-Star Qualifying Tournament

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 1 minutes read

One week from today, a 14-year old baseball team from Beaver County, including two players from Hopewell, will start the process of trying to qualify for the 2025 Pony League World Series.

The 376 All-Star team will begin play in a qualifying tournament starting next Thursday at Mt. Lebanon. The winner of this tournament will receive a bid to the World Series.

Two players from Hopewell earned a spot on this team and will go through this neat experience- Andrew Arzberger and Luke Vukovcan.

Here are the coaches and players that will comprise this 2025 376 Beaver County team.

Coaching Staff: Brian Haney, Chris Hamilton, Matt Harvey and Sean Kearney

Roster: Brandon Woefel, Brody Lindsey, Caleb Haney, Colby Cutshall, Cole Harvey, Dylan Hamilton, Gavin Latchaw, JJ Kearney, Noah Kraus, O.C. Burkhead, Arzberger and Vukovcan.

Last night, the complete list of teams in this tournament and the brackets were announced.

Here are the 13 teams that will be competing: 376 Pony League, Mt. Lebanon, Founders League All-Stars, South Hills Pony League, NCAA, Butler, Youngstown, Plum, Pittsburgh Pirates Nike, Peters Township, Johnstown, Mon Valley and Western PA Pony League.

The 376 Team will play their first game, next Thursday (June 24) against Butler at 1 PM.

If they win, they would take on the winner of the game between Mt. Lebanon/Founders League All-Stars on Friday at 10:30 AM. If they lose, they’d play the loser of the game between either Youngstown/South Hills Pony or NCAA on Friday at 1 PM.

This is a double-elimination tournament so each team is guaranteed at least two games. If you win your first game, you’re then guaranteed at least three games.

This qualifying tournament will be played at two different locations: Clint Seymore Field in Mt. Lebanon and Jefferson Field in Pittsburgh.

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

2 Hopewell Players Will Compete to Play in Pony League World Series

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 1 minutes read

Vikings Sports Now would like to congratulate two Hopewell baseball players for earning a nice accomplishment.

Hopewell’s Andrew Arzberger and Luke Vukovcan were just named to the 376 Beaver County Pony League All-Star team that will compete to qualify for the national 2025 Pony League World Series.

Following the completion of the Pony League season, selected players from Beaver County’s 16 Pony League teams were invited to a tryout to qualify for this team. Afterwards, Arzberger and Vukovcan were two of the 12 players selected to the team.

Hopewell’s Luke Vukovcan

For those not familiar, this 376 Beaver County team will compete in a qualifier tournament from July 24-27. The winner of that tournament will qualify for the Pony League World Series. Teams from Ohio, West Virginia and around Pennsylvania will be competing in this qualifier tournament.

This obviously will not be easy, but this is no doubt a neat and memorable opportunity.

Here are the coaches and players that will comprise this 2025 376 Beaver County team.

Coaching Staff: Brian Haney, Chris Hamilton, Matt Harvey and Sean Kearney

Roster: Brandon Woefel, Brody Lindsey, Caleb Haney, Colby Cutshall, Cole Harvey, Dylan Hamilton, Gavin Latchaw, JJ Kearney, Noah Kraus, O.C. Burkhead, Arzberger and Vukovcan

Luke and Andrew have played on numerous All-Star teams together since they were 7-years old, but this will be their biggest opportunity to date.

Best of luck to them and the rest of the 376 Beaver County team!

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

Hopewell Rolls in Playoff Opener Behind Vukovcan’s 16 K’s and Red-Hot Bats

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 1 minutes read

The 2025 376 Western PA Pony League playoffs opened up tonight as Coach Hoffman’s Hopewell team hosted Riverside at Raccoon Municipal Park.

These two teams matched up last week with Hopewell coming away with a tight 8-6 win.

Tonight, things weren’t close as Hopewell was dominant for 7 innings and came away with a 10-1 victory.

The two storylines tonight were the pitching of right-hander Luke Vukovcan and hitting from top to bottom in the Vikings lineup. Hopewell collected 12 hits and everyone in the lineup picked up a hit.

Vukovcan, Ryder Kostrick and Mason Santamaria led the way with 2 hits apiece. As far as the run producers, Kostrick and Ryan Gaguzis both had 2 RBI, while Vin Smetana, Santamaria and Vukovcan each picked up 1 RBI apiece.

Hopewell jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead after 2 innings and with the way Vukovcan was throwing, the game was essentially over.

Hopewell’s Luke Vukovcan

Coming off a performance against Central Valley where he allowed only 3 hits and struck out 15 batters in 5.2 innings, you’d think it would be impossible to better that.

However it happened as Vukovcan pitched a complete game, 1-hitter, allowing 1 unearned run and striking out a career-high 16 batters.

Vukovcan’s fastball was dominant as he was able to spot it both on the inside and outside corners.

Luke struck out the first 7 batters of the game before getting two ground ball outs to David Johnson at second base.

Vukovcan went on to strikeout two batters in the 4th, 5th innings before striking out the side in the 6th and striking out the last two batters of the game in the 7th.

For the game, Luke threw 89 pitches, 65 of which were strikes.

FINAL SCORE- Hopewell 10 Riverside 1

WINNING IS FUN! 

Hopewell doesn’t have much time to enjoy the win as they’ll have to travel to take on No. 1 seed Beaver tomorrow.

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

Vukovcan’s 15 Strikeout Peformance Not Enough as CV Defeats Hopewell

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 2 minutes read

CENTER TOWNSHIP- The baseball programs between Hopewell and Central Valley have a long, competitive and healthy rivalry that’s developed over the years.

Both programs are talented and successful so when their teams meet up, more times than not, it’s a competitive, well-played game.

Last night was another example of that as Central Valley avenged an earlier loss this season to earn a 5-3 come from behind victory over Hopewell.

The story line of this game turned out to be a pitching duel between Hopewell’s Luke Vukovcan and Central Valley’s Brandon Woelfel.

Vukovcan turned in a career-best performance by going 5.2 innings, allowing only 3 hits, 2 walks and striking out 15 batters. Pony League has a pitch count of 92 pitches and that forced Vukovcan to be removed in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Woelfel entered the game for CV in the 4th inning, with his team trailing 3-1 and threw lights out for the next 4 innings allowing just 1 hit and striking out 9 batters.

Hopewell took an early lead as they scored a run in the top of the first inning. Vukovcan led off with a walk, stole second and scored on a double by Vin Smetana. Hopewell led 1-0.

Central Valley tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the 1st on a 1-out triple by Woelfel, but he was stranded as Vukovcan struck out the next two batters.

Hopewell regained the lead in the top of the 3rd as Smetana and Kostrick led off with singles. With runners at 2nd and 3rd and 0 out, Tyler Hoffman grounded out to score Smetana and Hopewell led 2-1. Next up, Reed Budavich hit an RBI single to left-center field to score Kostrick and Hopewell led 3-1.

Unfortunately for Hopewell that was their last run of the game as Woelfel entered and shut them down.

That 2-run lead looked as though it could be enough as Vukovcan struck out the side in the 3rd inning. In the 4th inning, after striking out the first two batters and then hitting a batter, he got out unscathed by getting a pop up to Kostrick at second base.

In the bottom of the 5th, Luke struck out the first two batters, with the inning ending on a ground ball back to the mound.

Things started out smooth in the sixth inning as Vukovcan struck out the first two batters but then trouble started as he walked the next two batters.

Central Valley then scored a run as the runner at second stole third and scored on a throwing error. Score was then 3-2 Hopewell. With only two pitches left before hitting the 92-pitch cutoff, Woelfel hit an RBI single to left to score Noah Kraus, which tied the game at 3.

After a pitching change, Central Valley went on to score 2 more runs to take 5-3 lead.

That was more than enough for Woelfel as the struck out the side in the top of the 7th to end the game.

FINAL SCORE: CENTRAL VALLEY 5 HOPEWELL 3

That was the final regular season game of the year for Hopewell (Team Hoffman) as they’ll start the 2025 Pony League playoffs next week. Best of luck to them along with Hopewell’s other team (Team Reed), which plays their final regular season game tonight.

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

Hoffman and Honess Lead the Way to Exciting 8-6 Win Over Riverside

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 5 minutes read

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).

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

Hopewell Pony League Squeaks Out 5-4 Win

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 2 minutes read

BEAVER FALLS- For a variety of reasons, the Hopewell Pony League squad (Team Hoffman) have had a hard time playing consistent baseball.

As we enter the back half of the season, the Vikings need to string together some wins or they’ll be on the outside looking in of the Pony League playoffs.

Tonight, Hopewell traveled to Beaver Falls, in a game they needed to find a way to win.

Things didn’t look good as they trailed 4-1 late but were able to squeak out a 5-4 win. It certainly wasn’t pretty but a win is a win.

Hopewell actually took a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning as Luke Vukovcan led off the game with a double and scored on an RBI single by Ryan Gaguzis.

Beaver Falls then scored the next 4 runs, 3 of which came in the 1st inning.

Vukovcan entered in the 2nd inning and pitched the next 2 innings, recording all six of his outs via strikeouts.

Gaguzis entered in the 4th inning and needed to keep Beaver Falls off the scoreboard and that’s exactly what Gags did.

In the 4th inning, Gaguzis got two ground ball outs, one to 2nd baseman David Johnson and the other to 3rd baseman Noah Honess.

Hopewell’s offense finally got going in the top of the 5th inning as they scored 3 runs to tie the game.

Anthony Ventresca led off with a walk, followed by back to back singles by Vukovcan and Mason Santamaria. With the bases loaded and 0 outs, Gaguzis grounded out which scored Ventresca. Hoffman then reached on an error, which scored Vukovcan. Hopewell then tied the game at 4 on an RBI double by Ryder Kostrick.

More good Gaguzis pitching and Hopewell defense in the 5th inning. The first out came courtesy a groundout to Honess, who played solid defense at third. After a strikeout, the inning ended on a pop up to Vukovcan at short.

With the game tied going to the final inning, Ventresca led off and reached out on error and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Vukovcan then collected his 3rd hit of the game but Ventresca was thrown out at 3rd. However, Vukovcan advanced to second on the throw to third.

Hopewell then took advantage of wild Beaver Falls pitching as Vukovcan advanced to third on a wild pitch and also scored on one. Hopewell led 5-4.

Gaguzis stayed on to close thjngs and he got the job done by striking out the first two batters and the game ended on a groundout to Johnson at second.

FINAL: Hopewell 5 Beaver Falls 4

Hopewell will return to action tomorrow when they travel to Blackhawk.

 

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

Hopewell vs. Hopewell Last Night in Pony League Action

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 2 minutes read

RACOON TWP– The Western Pa. Pony League Organization has 16 teams this season ranging from Beaver, Beaver Falls, Blackhawk, Ambridge, Central Valley, New Brighton and Riverside. Many of these team enter multiple teams, which is the case with Hopewell.

Last night, the two Hopewell teams squared with Coach Hoffman’s squad taking on Coach Reed’s group at Racoon Municipal Park.

These two teams are evenly in terms of talent, although Team Hoffman’s team was missing a key contributor. That aside, it was a close game until late when Team Reed pulled away with big 5th and 6th innings to away with a 15-9 win.

Here’s a look at some of the standout performers from tonight.

TEAM REED:
-Jaxsen Covalt: 2 for 4 at the plate with 3 runs scored, 1 walk and 1 RBI. Covalt also entered the game in the 3rd inning and pitched 2 scoreless innings, striking out 3.

-Andrew Arzberger: 4 for 5 at the plate with 4 RBI. Andrew also pitched the last 2 innings, striking out 6 batters.

-Liam Rankin: Liam had a 2-run single as part of his teams 6 run 5th inning. Rankin also made a couple nice plays defensively at 3rd base.

-Some of the other Hopewell kids with RBIs last night for Team Reed were Nico Yannessa, Ethan Adams and Connor Reed.

TEAM HOFFMAN:
-Ryan Gaguzis: 2 for 2 at the plate, along with 2 walks. Gags also scored 3 runs and made an above average play in center field.

-Tyler Hoffman: 1 for 3 at the plate, along with a walk. Tyler scored 2 runs and also drove in 2 runs with a triple. Hoffman also played a solid game behind the plate.

-Luke Vukovcan: 2 for 4 at the plate. Luke drove in 3 runs and also scored 2 runs. Luke started for Team Hoffman and went 4.1 innings allowing 5 earned runs and struck out 6 batters.
-Noah Honess: Noah drove in 2 runs tonight for Hopewell.

*The biggest difference in tonight’s outcome was team defense. Team Hoffman’s squad committed an uncharacteristic 7 errors, compared to just 1 for Team Reed. It’s almost impossible to win making that many errors, especially when you’re going up against a quality opponent.

Next up for both teams- Team Reed will take on undefeated Beaver tonight. Best of luck guys. Team Hoffman has a day off before they’ll host Riverside on Thursday.

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

Vukovcan/Honess Combine to No-Hit South Side

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 2 minutes read

Hookstown– After having two games earlier this week postponed because of rain, the Hopewell Pony League team (Team Hoffman) returned to action tonight against South Side and it was a thing of perfection.

In their most complete game of the season, Hopewell blanked South Side 7-0, which was headlined by a combined no-hitter from Luke Vukovcan and Noah Honess.

Vukovcan pitched 4.2 innings and was dominant, recording 11 of his 14 outs via strikeout. The only thing that didn’t allow him to go further was pitch count as Luke threw a career-high 92 pitches.

Honess relieved Vukovcan and was outstanding , keeping South Side off balance with a nasty curveball. Noah went 2.1 innings, allowing 1 walk and striking out 2 batters.

Game Highlights-  

*Top 1st: South Side got a runner to third base with 1 out but Vukovcan went on to strike out the next two batters.

*Bottom of 1st: With 1 out, Reed Budavich singled to center field and eventually scored on an RBI double to right-center by Vukovcan. Hopewell led 1-0.

*Top of 2nd and 3rd: Vukovcan struck out 5 of the 6 South Side hitters.

*Bottom of 3rd: Vin Smetana led off with a single, which was followed by Budavich reaching on an error. After Vukovcan loaded the bases with a 1-out walk, Honess brought in Smetana with a ground out to second. Hopewell led 2-0.  Next up, David Johnson recorded an infield single, which brought in Budavich. On the play, Vukovcan scored on some South Side miscommunication between infielders, Hopewell led 4-0.

*Top of 4th, Vukovcan walked two batters but with 1 out, he got help from his defense as 1st baseman, Mason Santamaria fielded a sharp ground ball for the second out. With runners at 2nd and 3rd, the inning ended on a strikeout.

Hopewell’s Noah Honess

*Top of 5th, Honess replaced Vukovcan and inherited 2 runners with 2 outs. After walking his first batter to load the bases, Honess got the next batter to ground out to Smetana at shortstop. Hopewell leads 5-0.

*Bottom of 5th, Honess leads off inning with a single, which was followed by Johnson getting hit by a pitch and a hard single to left by Santamaria to load the bases with 0 outs. Then after 2 outs, Smetana reached on a fly ball error to right field, which scored Honess and Johnson. Hopewell led 7-0.

*Top of 6th, the first out came on a fly ball to Budavich in center.  Then with 1 on, Honess recorded a strikeout and on the pitch, catcher Tyler Hoffman threw out the runner trying to steal second.

*Top of 7th, Coach Hoffman let Honess finish it out and Noah kept the no-hitter intact. First out came on a grounder to Santamaria at third. Out No. 2 came via a grounder back to Honess at the mound. Then the game ended as Honess recorded a strikeout.

Final: Hopewell 7 South Side 0

Hopewell/Team Hoffman improves to 3-2 and returns to action on Tuesday against Blackhawk.

 

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

Hopewell Pony (Team Hoffman) Battles to Earn 9-7 Win Over Ambridge

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 3 minutes read

Raccoon Township- Winning is rarely easy and that was certainly the case tonight for Coach Hoffman’s Hopewell Pony League Team.

Tonight, the Vikings took on the Ambridge Bridgers at the Raccoon Township Municipal Park. It was a game of ups and downs as Hopewell fell behind early, then took the lead, saw Ambridge come back to tie before retaking the lead for good in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Bottom line is that in the end, Hopewell came away with a 9-7 to improve their record to 2-1.

Ambridge scored 2 runs in the top of the 1st and were looking to add more by starting pitcher Ryder Kostrick kept things together. With the bases loaded and 1 out, Kostrick struck out the next two batters to limit the damage.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the 1st inning, Hopewell answered with 3 runs of their own. Vin Smetana and Ryan Gaguzis led off the inning with walks. Then with 1 out and runners at 2nd and 3rd, Luke Vukovcan hit a ball deep in the hole at shortstop, the SS then threw the ball past the Ambridge 1B, allowing both Vin and Ryan to score. The game was tied at 2-2.

After Vukovcan stole second, Reed Budavich hit a hard single to center scoring Luke, Hopewell took a 3-2 lead.

Kostrick had a very easy 1-2-3 second inning, striking out 1 batter and getting the other two on ground outs.

Hopewell added to their lead in the bottom of the second. With 2 out, Anthony Ventresca drew an important walk and advanced to second on a passed ball.

Up came Smetana and after getting down 0-2 in the count, Vin fouled off 4 pitches before hitting an opposite field single to right field, scoring Ventresca. Smetana advanced to second on the throw to the plate which was important as he then scored on a single to left by Gaguzis. Hopewell now led 5-2.

Ambridge scored a run in the 3rd to get within 5-3 but Hopewell answered with a run of their own. Vukovcan hit a double to the gap in left center and would eventually score on a wild pitch. Hopewell led 6-3.

Hopewell’s Ryan Gaguzis

Gaguzis replaced Kostrick in the top of the 4th inning and made quick work of Ambridge. ‘Gags’ struck out the side and needed just 11 pitches.

Gaguzis started the 5th inning with another strike out but then Ambridge got a few base runners and scored a run to make it 6-4.

Hopewell’s Reed Budavich

Reed Budavich entered the game with runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and struck out the first batter for the second out. Ambridge then plated another run to make it 6-5 and had a good chance to tie the game.

With a runner at 3rd and 2 outs, Budavich threw a ball past Vukovcan at catcher. The runner at 3rd base broke for the plate, Vukovcan was able to quickly find the ball and flipped it to Budavich at home, who tagged the runner. Hopewell led 6-5 going to the bottom of 5th.

Hopewell was able to get that run back in the 5th. Vukovcan led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. After stealing second, Vukovcan scored on a hard hit single to right field by Kostrick. Hopewell led 7-5.

Ambridge tied the game in the Top of the 6th but the Vikings once again had an answer.

Noah Honess got things started with an infield single, which was followed by another walk to Ventresca. Then after Ambridge turned a double play, Gaguzis drew an important walk.

With runners at 1st and 2nd, Hoffman ripped a single to right center field scoring Ventresca. Gaguzis advanced to 3rd on the throw home. That was important was Ryan scored on a wild pitch. Hopewell now led 9-7

Vukovcan came on to close and he did just that. The first Ambridge batter hit a ball in front of the plate and Hoffman came out from catcher and fired down to first.

Then Vukovcan retired the next hitter on a called third strike.

The game then ended with another strikeout, this time via a swing and a miss.

Final Score: Hopewell 9 Ambridge 7

Hopewell Team Hoffman has 3 games next week (at Central Valley, at Riverside and vs. South Side).

 

 

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Hopewell Pony League Baseball

Hopewell (Hoffman) Pony League Loses 3-2 to Beaver in Well Played Game

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 3 minutes read

RACOON TOWNSHIP– This evening at Racoon Township Municipal Park, Hopewell (Team Hoffman) took on Beaver in a Western Pa Pony League Game.

Beaver entered the game in first place with a record of 3-0, while Hopewell has only played one game as they defeated Central Valley in their season opener.

It’s early but it would not surprise me if these two teams met up again later in the season as both teams are talented as was on display tonight. Beaver came away with a 3-2 victory but Hopewell has a ton of positives to take away from tonight.

The most encouraging thing for Coach Hoffman has to be the pitching he received from his team tonight. The Vikings showed depth as 5 players combined to really quiet a dangerous Beaver lineup. Luke Vukovcan, Ryder Kostrick, Ryan Gaguzis, Vin Smetana and Noah Honess were all outstanding tonight.

Hopewell’s Ryder Kostrick

Vukovcan got the start and pitched the first two innings. The right-hander didn’t allow a run, 1 hit, 2 walks and struck out 5 batters. Kostrick pitched 2.2 innings, allowed 3 runs, Gaguzis got an important out in the 5th inning and Smetana and Honess pitched the 6th and 7th inning respectively and looked great.

Beaver threatened In the top of the 1st inning as they got runners to 2nd and 3rd with just 1 out. However, Vukovcan struck out the next batter and after issuing a walk to load the bases, he recorded another strike out to end the inning.

Hopewell had a great chance in the bottom of the first inning as Smetana and Gaguzis led off with singles. With 2 on and 0 out, Tyler Hoffman came to the plate and smoked a ball down the first base line. Unfortunately, the first baseman had Ty positioned perfectly, catching the ball and doubling the runner off first.

Vukovcan had an easy top of the second inning as he struck out the side and needed just 10 pitches.

Hopewell got on the board in the bottom of the second. Reed Budavich, who had three really strong plate appearances, reached on an error. Next up, Kostrick lined a ball into the right field corner for a triple, scoring Budavich. As the second baseman tried to get Kostrick at third base, the throw got past the third baseman, which allowed Ryder to score. Hopewell led 2-0.

After Beaver tied the game in the 3rd inning, Hopewell threatened to take back the lead in the 4th inning. Hoffman led off the inning with a great piece of hitting as he took a pitch the other way and dumped it into right field for a single. Vukovcan then grounded into a fielders choice and promptly stole second base. Next up, Budavich laced a ball to center field, but once again, it was right at the Beaver center fielder. The score remained tied at 2.

Beaver took the lead with a 2-out RBI single to center field so Hopewell had three more at-bats to try and tie the game.

In the Beaver top of the sixth inning, Smetana faced a small jam with a runner at 2nd with 1 out. However, Vin got out of it by getting a pop up to David Johnson at second base and then Johnson did a nice job fielding a ball at second to end the Beaver threat.

Hopewell got a runner to third base in the bottom of the sixth but couldn’t bring him home.

Honess went out to pitch the top of the 7th and was fantastic. Striking out the first batter and then after allowing a 2-out double, Honess ended the inning by recording a strikeout with a nasty curveball to freeze the batter.

In their last chance, Vukovcan led off the 7th inning with a walk and stole second. Next up, Budavich once again made solid contact but the Beaver center fielder tracked down the ball to prevent a run. Despite not recording a hit, Budavich had the best plate appearances tonight for Hopewell. Then with 2 outs, Johnson hit a ball that the second baseman fumbled and Johnson busted his butt down the first base line but the Beaver 2B recovered, got a hold of the ball and beat Johnson by half a step to end the game.

FINAL SCORE: BEAVER 3  HOPEWELL 2

Next up for Hopewell, a game on Friday night at home against Ambridge.

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