Fox Chapel tops Knights in opener
The air was chilly and pitch counts were prevalent, but baseball returned to Pullman Park Friday afternoon.
Knoch used four pitchers and managed only four hits in a 7-1 season-opening loss to Fox Chapel.
"We wanted to take a look at a few pitchers today and see what we've got,"Knights coach Curt Schnur said. "You learn something every time you play a ballgame. Hopefully, our kids learned a few things today."
Cullen Hinderliter, the last of Knoch's four hurlers Friday, is the ace of the staff. He struck out four batters in two innings.
John DeWalt pitched the first inning for the Knights and was nicked for two runs. Nathan Junk surrendered three runs in three innings and Andrew Wirtz tossed a scoreless fifth.
The Knights committed five errors — two on errant pickoff attempts — and allowed three unearned runs.
"Defense is considered a strength of ours, but our pitchers are also our fielders,"Schnur said. "We had a few guys playing out of position with all of our switches."
Fox Chapel made the most of its seven hits, with five of them going for extra bases. Shortstop Josh Barbara, who hit .442 last year, led the Foxes with two triples and a single, three runs scored and two RBI.
Charles Williams contributed three RBI, delivering a sacrifice fly to cap a two-run first inning and adding a two-run single in the seventh.
"I think it's a little cold this time of year to be starting regular season games, but I understand the reasoning behind it,"Fox Chapel coach Don Schobert said. "We have a tight time frame to get games in."
The Foxes finished 3-12 last season and return only two starters — co-captains Harner and Louis Cuercio — to their lineup.
Junior pitchers J.T. Healy and Donnie Sipple combined to strike out 11 and walk six. Healy started the game for the Foxes and was pulled in the fourth inning after throwing 72 pitches.
Sipple struck out the side in the sixth and seventh innings. He walked the bases loaded and threw two wild pitches in the fifth, but the Knights couldn't score.
Knoch stranded nine runners on the day.
"We had our chances in a few innings,"Schnur said. "The clutch hit wasn't there today. But they'll come."
Dale Gallo's RBIsingle in the third inning produced Knoch's lone tally of the day.
Fox Chapel 201 200 2—7 7 1Knoch 001 000 0—1 4 5WP: Donnie Sipple (4Z\c IP) 7 strikeouts, 4 walks.
LP: John DeWalt (1 IP) 0 strikeouts, 1 walk
Fox Chapel (1-0): Andrew Harner 2-3B 1B 2-RBI3-R, Josh Barbara 2B 2-RBI, Charles Williams 1B 3-RBI, J.T. Terwilliger 2B, Sean Griffith 2B
Knoch (0-1): Sam Stone 1B, Dale Gallo 1BRBI, Robert Zanella 2B, Nathan Junk 1B
Monday: Knoch at Freeport
