BUTLER, Pa. (EYT/D9) — John Irwin has never done anything like it in nearly two decades of coaching baseball.
(Above, Trey Fleming)
But here he and his A-C Valley/Union baseball team were at Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Historic Pullman Park on a Thursday that started out gloomy and drizzly in the early afternoon and ended with sunshine at dusk.
Seven hours. Three games. One day. A rare triple-header, necessitated by the fickle weather this spring.
Three wins: 24-0 and 16-2 over Forest and 8-5 over Keystone. A 3-0 day for ACV/U.
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
“Three games — that’s a lot. I mean, that’s a lot of baseball in one day,” said Irwin, A-C Valley/Union’s head baseball coach. “This is the first time we’ve ever played three games, and unfortunately, we have to with the weather. We got three wins. That’s great.”
A-C Valley/Union scored 15 runs in the top of the fourth inning to key the 24-0 win in the first game against Forest. Bailey Crissman got the victory on the hill, striking out all nine batters he faced.
A pair of six-run innings propelled ACV/U to the victory in the second game.
Chase Ruth got the win in relief, going two innings. Max Lowrey struck out three in his one inning.
Things were much tougher in the third game against Keystone.
The Panthers led 3-2 after three innings, but a four-run outburst by A-C Valley/Union in the top of the fourth gave the Knight Falcons a 6-3 lead.
Two more runs in the top of the fifth made it 8-3.
Keystone got those two runs back in the bottom of the fifth.
Chaz Renninger went 3-for-4 and Aiden Sell drove in two for the Panthers.
Gary Amsler got the win, striking out five in four innings. He gave up five runs, but only two were earned.
Ryan Cooper pitched three no-hit innings, striking out five, to earn the save.
“He’s got he’s got the closer mentality,” Irwin said. “Gary was off early and then was hurt by a couple errors, but he picked himself up and got it going again. I’m proud of all the kids. We threw a lot of arms today and they all they all pitched well.”
Just about everyone had a big day at the plate in the triple-header for ACV/U.
Perhaps fittingly on a three-game day that a player named Trey would have one of the biggest.
Trey Fleming went 7-for-12 with a double, triple and seven RBI in the three games.
“He’s been hitting it all year,” Irwin said. “We had him in the leadoff spot early and he was doing a good job. Unfortunately, Ryan (Cooper) was in a little bit of a slump in the three spot, so we moved Ryan to leadoff. Both of them have reacted well to that.”
Fleming said he knew he and his teammates were in for a long day, but they welcomed the chance to get out on the field.
“It was exciting to get to play so many games in one day,” Fleming said. “It’s kinda very rare to play a triple-header and win all three games. It feels good. We’re on our way to our goal of making the playoffs.”
It was Keystone’s first game in two weeks.
Panther coach Nick Banner said being in the gym for practices and only playing four games so far this season has hurt tremendously and contributed to the 0-4 record.
“We were happy to get out here,” Banner said. “We haven’t been outside in two weeks. A lot of it is we haven’t been outside and we’re making errors that wouldn’t happen if we were outside. We had baserunning mistakes because we haven’t been outside to practice them. Games have been our practices.”
A-C Valley/Union (6-3) has been relatively fortunate by being able to play more games than most teams.
Even if it took a triple-header to do it.
“It’s a benefit for us having nine games in,” Irwin said. “We’re hoping we don’t get into any four- or five-game weeks like some of these other teams are going to have to do and go deeper into their rotation. We’re hoping that benefits us.”
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
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