Methacton storms past Spring-Ford

It has been a roller-coaster week for Methacton's baseball team.

The Warriors opened a key three-game Pioneer Athletic Conference stretch with a win over Division I-bound righthander A.J. Bogucki and Boyertown. Then, in a big letdown, they fell to Perkiomen Valley.

Friday afternoon in Worcester, scoring three runs in each of their last two at-bats, catcher Clayton Harwick and company closed with an 11-7 triumph over fellow title contender Spring-Ford.

"It's been pretty wild this season," Harwick said. "Pretty much every team can beat every other team in the league. This is going to go down to the wire."

With two PAC-10 games remaining, Methacton is 11-5 in league play. The Rams, hurt by five errors early in the game, slipped to 10-6. Phoenixville, which was idle Friday, is 10-4.

"We'd like to win at least one of two games next week," Harwick said. "If we can win both games, I think we'd get a top seed in the league playoffs. That's what we really want."

Harwick, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound senior and West Chester recruit, went 3 for 4 from the cleanup position against Spring-Ford. He also plays first base and occasionally pitches.

"As a catcher, he has a great relationship with the pitchers, he has an extremely good arm, and he receives well," Warriors coach Paul Spiewak said.

Harwick, a lefthanded hitter and righty thrower, rotates behind the plate and at first base with junior Glenn Seymour. Harwick is expected to be a catcher or outfielder at West Chester.

With the Rams kicking the ball around, the Warriors (12-5 overall) scored three runs in the first inning and two in the third.

"We gave up runs at the beginning of the game and then gave up some more runs," Spring-Ford coach Bruce Brobst said. "Ultimately, that's what cost us the game."

Down by 5-0, the Rams (11-7) scored three runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to move in front, 6-5. Connor Murphy's two-run double to center field produced the tying and go-ahead runs.

With two out in the home seventh, Harwick's single to right-center was followed by a pair of walks. Kyle Lowery's two-run single and a wild pitch, allowing Danny Damato to score, made it 8-5.

In the sixth, Zach Harman's infield single and Tyler Kirkpatrick's double to right-center led to the removal of hard-throwing Spring-Ford righthander Tyler Eckman.

"To finally chase Eckman was huge for us," Spiewak said.

Spring-Ford 000 331 0 - 7 8 5

Methacton 302 033 x - 11 10 0

WP: Trip Hagner. LP: Tyler Eckman. 2B: SF-Ryan Cass, Connor Murphy; M-Tyler Kirkpatrick.