Malvern Prep Baseball Team Capitalizes on Sloppy Play by Marple Newtown

Marple Newtown—It's been a wet, sloppy, young season so far for Malvern Prep's baseball team, having already been drowned out of two league games. They visited Marple Newtown on a warm, sunny Tuesday afternoon, and this time the "sloppy" had nothing to do with the rain: it had to do with the home team's play. Malvern made the most of it.

Malvern started off quietly, with their first batter being thrown out at first and the next two sending pop flies up for easy catches. When they took the field, however, they made pretty short work of the Tigers. Joe Ravert struck out three of the first four batters, leaving one runner stuck on second base to end the inning.

The second inning is where Marple Newtown started to make mistakes and Malvern started to bring the noise. Nick Bateman started things off with a grounder that should have been an easy out at first, but the fielder bobbled the ball and Bateman made it safely to the bag. Bateman took a big lead off of first base and was already running full speed before Stephen Robinson knocked one deep left. That double and Bateman's head start got the latter all the way home for the game's first run.

Ravert took the plate next and drove it into deep right field, and Robinson scored. With Ravert taking a generous lead, Marple Newtown's pitcher tried to pick him off at first. The throw didn't connect, and Ravert made it all the way around to third while the Tigers chased down the ball. Joe Poduslenko stepped up to the plate next, flubbed his hit into play right in front of himself, but rather than get thrown out at first, he was nailed between the shoulder blades with the catcher's throw and preserved his single, and also allowed Ravert to dash home. Brian McDonough hit a sacrifice fly to get Poduslenko around to third, who was eventually able to make it home before the end of the inning, giving Malvern a 4-0 lead.

Marple Newtown was unable to answer in the bottom of the second, starting with an easy ground-out and a couple walks. Poduslenko made a fantastic jumping grab on a line drive that was labeled for the outfield for out number two, and the third out came when Ravert picked a runner off at first after too greedy a lead.

In the third, Ravert got another RBI when he hit a grass-cutter right through the gap between first and second basemen and into the outfield, sending Kevin Frost home from second. On the next play, Poduslenko's hit resulted in a double play, the second half of which drew the loud ire of Malvern spectators who disagreed with the call at first base.

Marple Newtown got on the board in the bottom of the third, letting Malvern know they weren't going to lay down. With bases loaded, a wicked grounder bounced high over the infielders' heads and into the outfield, sending two runners in to score, making it 5-2. In a mirror image of the top of the third, the inning ended on a double play, the second half of which drew disagreeing shouts from the other side of the spectators.

McDonough hit a single in the fourth due to a bobbled pickup, then took off running to second after a wild pitch to the next batter, which then turned into a mad dash to third when the Tigers' catcher overthrew second. Drew Hayes walked, then stole second, setting up Matt Greskoff, who found another hole in the infield and knocked in both runners, stretching Malvern's lead to 7-2.

Marple Newtown came back by knocking a triple deep into the field and sending him home on the next batter's single, and Malvern was able to hold the score at 7-3 for the remainder of the fourth inning, and the fifth came and went without much accomplished by either offense.

The sixth inning started poorly for Malvern, who saw their first two batters turn into two quick outs. Greskoff tried to bunt and took a pitch off of his leg, sending him limping to first. Bateman walked next. With runners on first and second, Ford rocked the game's first and only home run over the left field fence, making it 10-3.

Marple Newtown was able to squeeze one more run out of the sixth, and neither team scored in the final frame, ending it at 10-4.