‘Stoga begins new win streak with victory over Lower Merion

TREDYFFRIN — The Conestoga baseball team saw its seven-game winning streak halted Monday in a loss to Radnor. But Wednesday afternoon, the host Pioneers may have started another winning run as they came back in the late innings to defeat visiting Lower Merion, 3-2, in a key Central League match-up.

Pioneers’ catcher, Landon Jones, ripped a run-scoring double in the bottom of the sixth inning for the winning run. Conestoga (7-5 Central League, 8-7 overall) pitcher Henry Fuerst, who threw a five-hitter, stranded a runner for the Aces (8-5, 10-5) at third base in the top of the seventh inning to preserve the victory.

“The last time I was at bat, he threw me three straight change-ups,” Jones said. “So, I was expecting the same thing and he hung one up in the zone and I hammered it.”

Lower Merion bolted out to a 2-0 lead with two runs in the top of the second inning on just one hit. Fuerst hit lead-off man Charlie Parsons to start the inning. Calvin Rendle then laid down a bunt that Fuerst fielded cleanly, but his attempt to nail Parsons at second base sailed into center field, and the Aces had men on first and second with no one out.

After getting the next two batters out, Matt Hartstein ripped a two-run double to left field and Lower Merion had an early 2-0 lead.

“I threw the bunt away and you really have to try to get it out of your mind and get onto the next batter,’ Fuerst said. “And today I was able to mix my fastball and slider, and after some early command problems, I started to locate pretty well.”

The game stayed 2-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning as Aces’ starter, Justin Heck, was setting down the Pioneers attack with not much problem. Conestoga did put two men in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Heck struck out Jones with men on second and third.

But in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Pioneers finally cashed in. Josh Lee led off the inning by drawing a walk. James Quici followed with a single to right field and the Pioneers were in business with men on first and second and no one out.

After a double steal by the two base runners, Cooper Banks Evers hit a long sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Lee and the Pioneers were down 2-1. Quici went to third base on the play, and scored when Chase Cherny hit another sacrifice fly to tie the score 2-2.

The Pioneers rallied again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Brendan Soura drew a one-out walk against Heck to get things started. After Heck struck out Kurt Tharnsih for the second out, Soura stole second base. Jones came to the plate and ripped a RBI rocket down the third base line, with Soura scoring easily and the Pioneers had a 3-2 lead.

“Henry was really good on the mound today,” Jones said. “He battled through some long innings and never gave in. As a team we are coming together at the right time and we hope to make the district and state playoffs.”

Lower Merion made things tough on Fuerst and the Pioneers in the top of the seventh inning. Brody Slesky riped a one-out double to put a man in scoring position with one out. Slensky then stole third base, but Fuerst struck out Nick Dragut and ended the game by getting Parsons to ground out to third base. Thus the Pioneers had a very impressive win against one of the top teams in the Central League.

“The whole vibe around the team is different from last season,” Fuerst said. “We have great chemistry and we have team dinners and the energy is very high right now. We were not playing as a team early in the season but that has all changed now.”

Conestoga 3, Lower Merion 2

Lower Merion                     020 000 0 – 2

Conestoga                            000 021 x – 3

2B — Jones. Hartstein, Slensky.

WP — Fuerst. LP – Heck.