Olympians edge Lehighton in baseball

It was windy, it was cold, and it certainly didn’t feel like baseball season for a matchup between Schuylkill League Division 1 rivals Jim Thorpe and Lehighton.

Luckily for the Olympians, they were able to generate some heat to stay warm — getting hot from the plate late in the game Thursday to come away with a narrow 6-5 victory over the Indians in the Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Game of the Week.

Timely hitting was key for Thorpe throughout the day, and it was needed as this one was tight from the onset. Each team got the bats going in the first inning, scoring two runs apiece.

Noah Snisky got the first of his two hits on the afternoon, leading off with a single and scoring on a passed ball two batters later. Evan Dart also knocked in a run with a single.

Lehighton (2-1) showed resiliency during the day, battling back to make things interesting each time it looked like the Olympians were going to pull away. The Tribe matched Thorpe’s first-inning effort with Chris Whiteman and Zach Crum scoring runs. Mike Bozilesky knocked in one of the runs with a groundout to second.

“It’s tough to get the bats going early in the year with the lack of field time, and today timely hitting was the difference,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Joe Marykwas. “We didn’t get that in our first two games.

“We’ve been stressing to be aggressive at the plate and hunt fastballs, especially when guys are on base, and the kids did a great job with that today.”

The big inning for the Olympians (1-2) came in the sixth. With the score knotted at three, Thorpe put together four hits and scored three runs, to carry a 6-3 advantage into the bottom of the sixth.

Zach Searfoss, Dale Edwards, Justin Marykwas, and Lucas Boyle all had hits in the inning, with Marykwas and Boyle knocking in runs.

However, Lehighton wouldn’t go away, scoring two runs to get within one heading into the seventh and final frame. Zach Crum, who was the hottest hitter of the day with three hits, came through with a leadoff triple, Bozilesky added a third RBI, Randy Bongiorno contributed an RBI double, and Logan Wentz came through with a single to make it 6-5.

“We have some work to do, we know that, but I liked how our kids battled back throughout the game,” said Lehighton head coach Brian Polaha. “Credit has to go to Jim Thorpe because they played well today, they didn’t make mistakes, and they got a few more hits than we did.

“We just have to be better at the plate. Every pitch matters, and I thought we gave too many at-bats away. We’ll continue to work and get better.”

In the seventh, Thorpe turned to senior pitcher Marykwas to finish out the game. After pitching six strong innings and striking out seven, Marykwas added two more strikeouts, including the game-ender, putting down the Tribe in order to clinch the victory.

“He’s a senior, he’s been a varsity pitcher for a few years now, and he just did a good job of throwing strikes and getting out of trouble at times,” said Coach Marykwas. “We also did a nice job defensively today. We didn’t hurt ourselves and made some nice plays. I thought this was a well-played game that we can certainly build off of.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME ... The Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Player of the Game was Jim Thorpe’s Snisky. In addition to having a pair of hits, Snisky had a strong defensive performance at shortstop. The Times News and Lehigh Valley Health Network will select a Player of the Game at every Game of the Week.

LEADING OFF ... Jim Thorpe got its leadoff batter on base in each of the first four innings.

Jim Thorpe 200 103 0 - 6 9 0

Lehighton 201 002 0 - 5 8 3

Marykwas and Schwartz; Heery, Deem (6), Whiteman (7) and Wentz. W - Marykwas. L - Heery.