HAMPTON TWP. — The underdog role doesn’t bother the Hopewell High School baseball team, not in the least.
For the second straight game this playoff season, the Vikings upset a higher-ranked foe, this time defeating second-seeded Knoch 8-6 on Monday at Hampton High School
“There are a lot of parallels to last year (when the seventh-seeded Vikings reached the WPIAL semifinals and the PIAA playoffs),” said coach Mike Shuleski. “We know we’re going to play quality teams, and it will take a total team effort.”
Every batter either got a hit, scored a run or drove home a run for Hopewell – but it was more the way that the Vikings played as a team that made the difference. There were errors in the field and missed scoring opportunities at the plate, but those were kept as isolated instances rather than a run of bad luck.
“It was a great win as a team,” said senior right fielder Tyler Sabo, who reached base all four trips and scored three runs. “We take everything in stride, but we knew we had to hit to win.
“We play in a really tough section, and that prepares us well.”
The Vikings needed that preparation early. Knoch scored an unearned run in the first, but Hopewell tied it before an out was recorded in the second when Mark Phillipi’s grounder scored Sabo. However, what could have been a big inning ended when Jake McGovern’s line drive down the first base line was turned into an inning ending double play.
Knoch took its final lead of the game in the third inning on another unearned run, but Hopewell responded with three runs of its own — aided by consecutive wild pitches — but another rally ended with a line drive double play to the first baseman to end the inning.
The Vikings extended the lead to 8-2 in the fifth by taking advantage of two Knoch errors. Against most teams, a six-run lead with Joe Rock on the mound would have been comfortable, but Knoch produced three straight hits in the fifth to cut the lead.
With starting pitcher Joe Rock’s pitch count looming, Knoch felt it had a chance.
“Every time I pitch, I know the other team is looking to extend my pitch count,” Rock said. “I just try and throw strikes and not let things affect me.”
Rock, an Ohio University recruit, left with one out in the sixth, but senior Tyler Pigoni came in, struck out the first batter he faced and only allowed one ball to leave the infield.
“You can’t ever envision all the possibilities of the way a playoff game can go,” Shuleski said. “But these guys rolled with the punches and never let one mistake become two. I’m proud of that.”
The underdog Vikings are now guaranteed to play at least two more games — the WPIAL semifinal against either section foe New Castle or West Mifflin and either the WPIAL championship game or the third-place game to advance to the PIAA playoffs. That’s just fine with this team, which has a roster that includes nine seniors.
“It was very important to win so we can keep playing,” Sabo said. “I love to play this game.”