Wolverines Down Top Two Seeds in Playoffs

 Wayne – 10 Aston – 2

Aston – The Wayne Wolverines erupted for nine runs in the first inning and coasted to a 10-2 victory on Sunday that eliminated regular season champion Aston from the playoffs.  It was a good weekend for the Wolverines who had eliminated the regular season league runners-up Narberth just the day before.

While Wayne was battering host Aston with nine runs, it was also getting bruised itself.  Aston pitchers managed to hit Chris Ballard, Drew Mohoric, Christain Loos, and Brooks Bentz with pitched balls in the first inning.  Wayne only needed four hits in the inning from Bentz, Andrew Rufo, Ryan Kraus, and Mark Ducceschi for its biggest single inning of the season.  Ducceschi and Ballard scored two times each in the inning.

Consecutive singles by Mohoric, Steve Mazanek, and Sean Murphy in the second gave Wayne its tenth and final run of the game.  Catcher Rufo stroked four hits on the hot evening.

Mazanek was an ace on the mound for the Wolverines.  He limited Aston to seven hits and walked just one in the complete game effort.

Wayne made just one error in the game and was aided by two fine defensive plays.  Center fielder Ducceschi tends to make the difficult plays look routine with his speed and nose for the ball.  He robbed Aston’s Ed Toy of a hit in the sixth on a fine running catch deep in left center field.  With one out, shortstop Bentz made a diving play in the hole and threw from his back to second baseman Mohoric to force Eric Voicheck.

Narberth's Matt Siciliano avoids the tag of Ryan Kraus at third base
in seventh inning action at Narberth on Saturday.
(Photo by Marcia Mohoric)

Wayne's leadoff hitter Mark Ducceschi had hits on
his first three trips to the plate on Saturday at Narberth

Wayne – 14 Narberth – 8

Narberth – Sean Murphy came off the bench and went 3 for 3 as Wayne eliminated #2 seed Narberth on Saturday 14-8.

Brooks Bentz and Ryan Kraus had RBI singles in the first inning as Wayne took the early lead 2-0.  Matt Siciliano and Anthony Fulginitti singled in the home first and Narberth took the lead right back 3-2.

Wayne left fielder Christian Loos blasted a long double to start the second inning and scored on Mark Ducceschi’s single to tie the game at three.  Wayne took a commanding lead in the third inning as Drew Mohoric singled and scored on Murphy’s RBI single.  Ducceschi then pounded his third hit of the day—a two RBI shot to centerfield.

The red hot Murphy singled to start the five run fifth inning that put Wayne up 12-3.  Chris Ballard, Andrew Rufo, and Drew Mohoric followed with singles to do the damage.  Murphy and Ballard singled in the sixth and Bentz hit a sacrifice fly for two more Wolverine runs.

Ryan Kraus pitched 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win for Wayne.

(Photo by Marcia Mohoric)

Nether Providence – 4 Wayne – 3

Radnor – Mike Collins pitched a five hitter in the opening game of the playoffs last week and Nether-Providence scored four unearned runs to beat Wayne 4-3.

Andrew Rufo’s double to deep left field in the third scored Chris Ballard and Brooks Bentz to put Wayne on top.  With Wayne leading 2-1 in the fifth inning, the Wolverines made three costly errors and Brad Wenzel and Evan Cline added singles to put Nether Providence up 4-2.

In the home seventh, Ballard launched a double to right field and Bentz knocked him home with a single to left.  Rufo reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, and moved to third on a passed ball, but Wayne was unable to come up with the timely hit to tie the game.

Nether Providence – 3 Wayne - 2

Radnor – On Monday night, Wayne and Nether met for the third time in five days with the winner of this game earning a trip to the championship game versus Roxborough.  For the second time, Nether’s Mike Collins and Wayne’s Brooks Bentz hooked up in a pitchers’ duel.

This night, the ball just seemed to fall Nether’s way.  Collins was fooled by a Bentz curve ball to leadoff the game, but his check swing got caught up in the high grass at Varsity Field and he beat out a single.  Then Matt Hanser’s bunt hugged the line for a single.  With a stolen base, a ground out, and a sacrifice fly, Nether had the first two runs of the game.

With two outs in the third, Wayne caught fire with the top of its lineup.  Mark Ducceschi, Chris Ballard, Brooks Bentz, and Andrew Rufo singled and Wayne had tied the game. 

Brad Wenzel and Evan Cline singled in the fourth and Nether loaded the bases, but Wayne shortstop Steve Mazanek ended the threat by turning a double play on a fine play on a grounder hit up the middle.

K-RAUS
Wayne's Ryan Kraus struck out a team high nine batters in Wayne's 3-2 win over Roxborough at Odorisio Park.

Mazanek, Kraus Lead Wolverines Into Playoffs

Wayne – 11 Nether Providence – 0

Media -- The Wayne Wolverines won their final two games of the regular season behind outstanding pitching performances by Steve Mazanek and Ryan Kraus.

On Thursday, Wayne traveled to Strath Haven Middle School to take on Nether-Providence in a game that Nether would rather forget.  Wayne scored early and scored often and dumped Nether 11-0.

Prior to the start of the game, scheduled starting pitcher Steve Mazanek was suffering from severe stomach pains and it was unknown whether he’d be able to take the mound even as Wayne was batting in the top of the first inning.  The pain subsided just in time, however, and it was Nether-Providence that ended up suffering the most.

Mazanek was brilliant on the mound for the Wolverines as he earned the first shutout of the season for Wayne.  Mazanek kept the ball low and away in the hitters’ park, scattered four Nether singles, and walked just two.  Mazanek was aided by a Wayne defense that did not commit an error all evening for the second consecutive game.  Plus, catcher Andrew Rufo twice nailed Nether leadoff hitter Mike Collins on attempted stolen bases and second baseman Ryan Kraus helped start a Wayne double play that ended Nether’s second inning threat.

Wayne’s Mark Ducceschi singled to start the game and Brooks Bentz and Andrew Rufo belted back-to-back doubles.  Kraus and Nick Finger singled home two more as Wayne scored three in the first.  Kraus added an RBI single in the second as Wayne took a 5-0 lead.

In the third, Wayne sent ten runners to the plate as Ducceschi, Chris Ballard, Kraus and Finger added hits and Wayne led 10-0.  Bentz belted another double in the fifth to score the speedy Ducceschi and give the Wolverines an easy 11-0 victory.

Ducceschi, Kraus, and Finger had three hits each on the evening and Bentz cracked two doubles.  Bentz ended the 15-game regular season run with a sizzling .510 batting average.

Wayne – 3  Roxborough – 2

Wayne – Ryan Kraus whiffed a season high nine Roxborough batters and the Wayne Wolverines completed a three game sweep of defending champion Roxborough with a 3-2 win on Wednesday at Odorisio Park.  The hard throwing Kraus mixed his speeds well all night and was able to locate his curve ball with pinpoint precision.

Kraus also did the job with the bat.  Brooks Bentz started a two out rally in the first inning as he was hit by pitch for the seventh time this season.  Hot hitting Andrew Rufo then singled and set the stage for Kraus.  Kraus hit a fastball deep to left-center field for a double to score both Bentz and Rufo.

Roxborough scratched out a run in the fourth when Steve Herbetko scored on a groundout by Albert Desadario.  Jim Bernard’s double in the fifth scored Tom Devlin and the Bandits had tied the game 2-2.

In the home fifth, Mark Ducceschi singled and Chris Ballard scorched a base hit to send Ducceschi to third.  Bentz then hit a drive to center field that was caught by Nick Tinenny, but the sacrifice fly allowed Ducceschi to streak home with what was the winning run.

And, as if he hadn’t already done enough, Kraus ended the game in the top of the seventh.  With Kevin Wheeler on second base and two out, Roxborough’s coaches yelled “balk” on a trick play as Wheeler left early on an attempted steal of third.  The veteran Kraus was undaunted, however, and calmly stepped back off the mound and nailed Wheeler in a rundown to end the game.

SAFE BERNARD
Roxborough's Jim Bernard leaps for an errant throw as Wayne's Drew Mohoric beats out an infield hit
 in sixth inning action in Wayne's 3-2 win over Roxborough last week.  Mohoric advanced to second on the throwing error.

Murphy Leads Wolverines Over Narberth

                                                       
Narberth – Sean Murphy pitched four outstanding innings in relief and banged out two hits to lead the Wayne Wolverines to an 11-4 victory over league leading Narberth at Narberth Park.

Narberth took the lead in the second inning as it plated three runs behind key hits from Brian Hoffstein and Mike Brown.  Murphy relieved Wayne starter Kyle Kopp in the third inning, however, and shut down Narberth’s league leading offense.  Murphy, relying on a nasty curve ball, yielded only two hits in the remaining four innings in a game shortened to just six innings due to darkness.

The visiting Wolverines took the lead in the fourth inning as it scored four times with the  key hits coming from a two RBI single by Murphy and a base hit from Mark Ducceschi.  Narberth tied the game at four in the bottom of the fourth as Matt Cohn singled to score Adam Settle.

Ryan Kraus and Drew Mohoric delivered RBI singles in the fifth as Wayne took the lead back to stay on the rainy and cloudy evening.

Frank Burke nailed a triple to start off the sixth inning to lead off a seven hit Wolverine barrage.  Ducceschi, Brooks Bentz, Andrew Rufo, Kraus, Mohoric, and Murphy did the damage with base hits to give Wayne the 11-4 win.

On Sunday, the Wolverines lost a doubleheader to visiting Haverford 2-0 and 11-10.  In the first game, David Cassanelli and Joe Rogers combined for the Heat shutout to spoil a solid complete game pitching effort from Brooks Bentz.  Cassanelli also added two hits for the winners.

In game two, Wayne outhit Haverford 15 to 11, but lost 11-10.  The Wolverines left runners in scoring position in six of the seven innings in the loss.  Bentz belted three hits, scored three runs, and added three RBI’s; Drew Mohoric had three hits, including a double.  But, the big story for the Wolverines was the power displayed by Andrew Rufo.  The powerful Rufo pummeled the left field corner with two triples and a double and contributed three Wayne RBI’s.

Haverford got another solid performance from David Cassanelli who popped two hits and had two RBI’s and Liam McGrath who added two singles and scored two runs to win the nightcap.  Wayne fell short in the seventh after Rufo was left stranded 90 feet from tieing the game.