By: Jordan Hirsh
April 22, 2023
FAIRLESS HILLS, PA. – The Pennsbury Falcons (8-2) shutout the Pennridge Rams (0-11), 6-0, on Friday to move into first place in the SOL Patriot Division.
The Pennsbury bats came to play early as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st, after back-to-back doubles by seniors Ryan Zuckerman and Joe Tiroly. Zuckerman then found himself ahead in the count, 2-0, in the 3rd inning, and promptly deposited a fastball over the middle of the plate into the bushes beyond the left-center field fence to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead.
“First at-bat I swing first pitch. I had a curveball, so I knew I was gonna get something else,” said Zuckerman. “I was ahead in the count, [Matt Gunning] threw a fastball, and I took advantage of it.”
Pennsbury would add another run in the 3rd and two more in the 4th to grow their lead to 6-0, a score that would hold for the remainder of the game.
On the mound, freshman flame-thrower Keller Bradley, was outstanding. After allowing a couple of hits in the first two innings, he settled in nicely, and was able to cruise the rest of the way. Overall, Bradley went 6 innings, allowed 5 hits, no walks, and struck out 8.
Early in the game, it was clear that the Rams’ plan at the plate was to sit fastball and adjust to anything else. They did a good job of making hard contact off of Bradley’s heaters, which typically sit in the upper-80s.
As the game progressed, however, Bradley was able to mix in his breaking pitches quite nicely, throwing sliders and curveballs over the plate early in counts to get ahead, and throwing them off the plate with 2 strikes to pick up Ks. He also commanded his fastball on the outside corner to righties very well throughout the game, which allowed him to break sliders and curveballs off the plate with 2 strikes, producing a ton of swings-and-misses.
“As a freshman, getting innings on a team like this, it’s incredible,” said Zuckerman, speaking about Bradley after the game. “He’s doing well, he’s handling it well, and it’s only gonna get better from here for him.”
Derek DiLorenzo would come on to pick up the final three outs in the 7th for Pennsbury, and shut the door on a nice bounce-back win for Pennsbury, after they dropped a game to a tough North Penn team on Wedneaday.
The Falcons now sit atop the SOL Patriot Division as they enter a busy stretch of their schedule with the regular season beginning to wind down. The team understands that in order to position themselves well for playoffs, they have to take care of business against teams they are expected to beat.
“We all just knew we had to come out and we had to make a statement,” said Zuckerman. “It was a huge momentum game for us. We have a lot of games in a short period of time, and taking care of business today, it’s just a part of it.”
Pennsbury will look to make it back-to-back wins on Tuesday, when they head to Souderton to take on the 5-4 Indians. As for Pennridge, they will look to pick up their first win of the season on Tuesday at home, when they take on the 6-4 Neshaminy Skins.