Small ball leads to big inning for Blackhawk baseball
CHIPPEWA TWP. — For the second time this season, the Blackhawk Cougars faced off with the Hopewell Vikings. But this time the game featured two of the premier pitchers in the WPIAL.
The last time these two teams played, Blackhawk scratched out a win behind a trio of pitchers who struck out seven batters, walked six, and only allowed two earned runs. Senior Michael Turconi closed that April 11 game, throwing a perfect seventh inning, while striking out three.
This time around, Turconi got the start and threw six strong innings, allowing only two hits, while striking out 10 and walking one as the Cougars (12-0, 10-0) defeated the Vikings, 4-1, in a Section 2-4A matchup.
For the first three innings, Vikings senior left-hander Joe Rock matched Turconi pitch for pitch. He didn't allow a hit and struck out three. But then Blackhawk's Zach Zuchelli put down a seemingly harmless bunt single.
“That was our first hit the whole game, and that kind of created the whole inning for us,” Blackhawk coach Bob Amalia said.
Turconi followed with a single to left, and Andy McClymonds reached on another bunt single to load the bases.
After Rock struck out Marco Borello for the first out of the inning, Johnny Nixon put down another bunt. Zuchelli came roaring home and was called safe on a bang-bang play that had the Hopewell faithful screaming in disagreement.
The play was upheld after a discussion between Hopewell coach Mike Shuleski and the home plate umpire, but the big inning wasn’t over. Rock struck out the next hitter, but couldn’t avoid a deep-fly RBI double by Carson Gray that cleared the bases and gave Blackhawk a 4-0 lead.
“Joe Rock is probably the best pitcher we are going to face all year, and he maybe didn’t have his best stuff, but I think the key to the win was the bunts,” Amalia said. “Then Carson had that big hit with two outs.”
Four runs were all Turconi would need to secure the win for the Cougars, as he continued to dominate on the mound, striking out four more over his next two innings of work before McClymonds closed it out in the seventh inning.
Facing Rock, Turconi knew that he would have to bring a little extra in order to out pitch his opponent on Friday.
“I mean everyone was ready to play today, all day that’s all everyone was talking about, it was definitely a good thing for us,” Turconi said.
While the Cougars remain undefeated in the section, Hopewell falls to 6-4 in section play and 8-7 overall on the season.