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Chester County Press

Hornets’ hitting stings Longhorns, 13-5

04/05/2022 04:10PM ● By Richard Gaw

Photo by Richard L. Gaw        After a shaky start, Oxford pitcher Joe Kelly held Unionville scoreless for three innings en route to the Hornets’ 13-5 victory on April 4.

 

By Richard L. Gaw

Staff Writer

If for some reason the rules of high school baseball were to be changed and seven-inning games were reduced to one inning, the Unionville Longhorns varsity baseball team would have hopped back on their bus with a 3-0 victory over Oxford on April 4.

Thankfully for Oxford, however, the rules remain the same, and on the support of the rule and some significant offensive power, the Hornets banged out 14 hits in a 13-5 victory in early-season Ches-Mont League play.

The Longhorns got to Oxford starter Joe Kelly early, when the game’s lead-off batter Grant Hineman reached first on a pop-up that was muffed by catcher Connor Booth, and after reaching second, he scored the Longhorns’ first run on a single to center by Unionville starter Nick Diehl. Drew Delcollo then singled to left, and after a pick-off attempt at second was overthrown, Diehl advanced to third and Delcollo to second, and both came in to score on a two-RBI single by Sean Regenye.

Diehl got out of an early jam in the first when with one away, he loaded the bases on successive singles by Tim Haftl, Connor Reilly and Booth. On a comeback liner hit to him by Danny Wyatt, Diehl grabbed the ball, spun and tossed to Delcollo at second, who threw on to first to complete a rally-killing double play.

The Oxford bats began to come alive in their half of the second, when they scored four runs to give them a 4-3 lead. The run-scoring barrage was highlighted by a bases-clearing double by Owen Rector, who later came in to score on a throwing error by Diehl. After Delcollo scored his second run to tie up the score in the third, Kelly held the Longhorns scoreless for the next three innings, and became the beneficiary of three runs in the third inning on a double by Michael Matuszewski, a single by Thomas Matuszewski and a single by Rector. In the fourth, Oxford extended their lead to 8-4 when Ryan Dewees was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a double by Michael Matuszewski and scored on an infield single by Thomas Matuszewski.

Oxford jumped to an 11-4 lead in the fifth inning against new Unionville pitcher Carter Parise that began with Rector’s third hit of the game. With one out, Wyatt lined a single to right that drove in Rector. Later in the inning, Haftl scored on a sacrifice fly by Dewees and a single by Michael Matuszewski that drove in Booth.

In the sixth, the Hornets tacked on two more runs on a homer to left by Rector and a sacrifice fly by booth that scored Haftl.

In the seventh, Hineman singled and later scored to round out the scoring.

With the win, Oxford improved to 2-1 on the early campaign, and will travel to West Chester East on April 6 and return home on April 8 for a game against Sun Valley. Still winless on the season, Unionville will host Bishop Shanahan on April 6 and Great Valley on April 11.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].