Pennridge beats Hatboro-Horsham on two-hitter
Pennridge skipper Tom Nuneviller has been around baseball a long time and knows that players such as Danny Long don't come along too often.
Pennridge skipper Tom Nuneviller has been around baseball a long time and knows that players such as Danny Long don't come along too often.
Sadly for Nuneviller and the Rams, Long's high school career is winding down. The smooth-fielding shortstop and hard-throwing righthander will soon take his talents to Monmouth.
"It's pretty nice to have a Danny Long on your team," Nuneviller said. "I'm glad he's on our side."
Long pitched three innings of scoreless relief and delivered an RBI single Tuesday as visiting Pennridge eased to a 6-1 victory over Hatboro-Horsham in a Suburban One League Continental Conference matchup.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior notched five strikeouts in earning a save. He and starter Nate Coyle combined on a two-hitter.
"He puts it up there pretty well," Nuneviller said of Long's fastball. "And his breaking ball was working."
After Coyle walked the first two batters in the fifth and was pulled, Long induced a fielder's choice grounder to third base and punched out the next two batters.
"When you're up by five runs, you're just trying to throw strikes," said Long, who was a savvy point guard in basketball.
The Rams improved to 6-4 and 4-2 in conference action despite a slow start at the plate. Hatters junior righthander Colin Kennedy, a La Salle recruit who whiffed eight in four innings, struck out the side in the first.
Said Nuneviller: "When you come to Hatboro, you know you're going to face some good pitching."
The bottom of Pennridge's order touched Kennedy for two runs in the second. No. 8 batter Jason Souder plated Andrew Fantaskey (two-out double to left-center field) and Luke Nuneviller (hit by pitch) with a double to left.
"We've had a tough time stringing hits together, so it was good to see us hit the ball hard," Long said.
Pennridge's four-run fourth was highlighted by another Souder double, Mitch McLeod's two-run triple to left-center, and Long's run-scoring single to right-center.
Hatboro-Horsham (5-5, 3-3) managed its only run on Kennedy's two-out RBI single in the third.
Long plans to be a two-way player at Monmouth.
"I fell in love with the campus, it's not too far from home, and the coaches are great," the 18-year-old from Sellersville said.
Pennridge 020 400 0 - 6 6 2
Hat.-Horsham 001 000 0 - 1 2 0
WP: Nate Coyle. LP: Colin Kennedy. 2B: P-Jason Souder 2, Andrew Fantaskey, Kyle Yoder; HH-Billy Carr. 3B: P-Mitch McLeod.
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